NEWS BLOG

Space, not distance, is often the real driver of cost in global automotive logistics. A standard ISO 40ft shipping container has a fixed volume, a fixed footprint, and a fixed price to move regardless of whether it carries one car or six. For logistics providers involved in containerised car transport, therefore, improving space utilisation is one of the best ways to reduce cost per vehicle and to strengthen commercial competitiveness. Better utilisation ultimately involves being able to ship more cars per container, but more than this, it’s also about doing so safely, repeatably, and in a way that integrates with your upstream and downstream handling requirements. In this article, we look at the key strategies shaping utilisation efficiency in modern containerised car transport flows.

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On paper, containerised vehicle logistics looks straightforward: one fixed-size container, one freight rate, job done. In reality, however, moving vehicles by container carriers a number of hidden costs that don’t show up on the quote sheet. These costs creep in through slow loading, wasted space, inconsistent handling practices, and reworks at destination. None of these factors are dramatic enough to trigger alarms on their own – they are all part of an operation’s risk profile – but together, they can quickly erode profit margins.

Global vehicle OEMs increasingly use containerised transport to move semi-finished units and components efficiently across borders. The growth of SKD (semi knocked down), BIW (body in white) and CKD (completely knocked down) export strategies has elevated the need for specialist racking systems capable of securing, stacking, and protecting car bodies during intercontinental transit.

When the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) enforced a major fuel reform in 2020, most industry stakeholders hailed it as a milestone in sustainable maritime trade.

The logistics sector no longer operates in isolation. An influential report on evolving logistics systems, published in March 2025, concluded that realistic progress towards Net-Zero will depend on far closer collaboration between ports, shipping lines, inland carriers, and technology providers.

Europe’s push towards cleaner freight transport is accelerating, but are its logistics networks ready for the transition?

Europe’s finished vehicle logistics (FVL) sector has entered a challenging phase. Since 2020, flat production volumes, limited vessel capacity, and ongoing price pressures are creating bottlenecks across the supply chain; from factories to final delivery.

The global automotive sector is undergoing one of its biggest structural changes in decades.

Global vehicle transportation continues to develop, particularly as OEMs diversify their products and strategies across regional and national plants, knockdown facilities, and final assembly hubs. Flows now mix fully built units (FBU), with semi-knocked down (SKD) and completely knocked down (CKD) kits, creating a more complex outbound logistics landscape. Each format introduces different engineering complexities, handling requirements, and exposure risks that must be managed throughout the shipping process. In this article, we look at five of the most persistent challenges in modern automotive transport, as well as practical ways to mitigate them across FBU, SKD, and CKD routes.