2,000 Nissan, Infiniti Vehicles Stuck at L.A. Coast

Under normal circumstances, Nissan has the ability to unload cargo shipment in half a day. But given the current situation in the United States relating to the coronavirus pandemic and the low demand for vehicles, it took the automaker three weeks before getting its vehicles offshore.

According to a Bloomberg report, about 2,000 Nissan Armada and Rogue SUVs and Infiniti sedans were held up on their way to the U.S. from Japan.

However, the situation worsened when the shipment arrived in Los Angeles but could not find a place for the cars on land due to a logjam of other vehicles that are also stuck in the ports.

The cargo ship transporting the units was the Jupiter Spirit, which is operated by Nissan Motor Car Carrier Company under the Liberian flag. After three weeks of sailing from Japan, where the automaker’s vehicles are built, the ship was made to float offshore for about a week more before being allowed to unload its cargo.

The delay was reportedly caused by the lack of space in the port to park the vehicles. Before Nissan’s shipment arrived, there were already tons of cars stuck in the port area due to the slow sales brought about by the pandemic.

It came to a point where port officials had to explore the idea of bringing the vehicles to nearby military bases and fairgrounds in an effort to ease their spaces of the unsold cars.

Other ports on the West Coast are also dealing with excess vehicles, but Bloomberg says this is likely to be temporary. Although auto shipments are expected to go down by 25 percent this year, automakers are projected to meet their consumer demand soon.

Nissan is not the only manufacturer that had to deal with thousands of vehicles being stuck in ports. In March, Hyundai also had to find a place for 34,000 vehicles shipped from its factories in South Korea.

“Nissan is optimizing the flow of the vehicles and positioning them closer to dealers for quick availability when the market recovers and customers return to showrooms,” a spokesperson for Nissan said.