Orlando is the largest rental car market in the world.
But what happens to all those cars when they reach their “sell by” date? Many of them wind up in the Middle East, a region so hot for used cars that many of the big automobile importers there now have offices in Orlando to bid on previously owned vehicles when the rental car companies auction them.
Those auctions are a steady source of used autos for the car carriers calling at Jacksonville, the closest big automotive port to Orlando. The growing Middle Eastern demand for new and used cars is boosting auto exports from Jacksonville and other big East Coast auto ports.
One of the stars of Baltimore’s export growth has been Chrysler, which exported more than 100,000 new cars last year, up from 18,000 in 2009. Today, it exports 15 models, including Fiat, Jeep, Dodge, Avenger, Challenger and Chrysler 300. Chrysler told White earlier this year it expects to export 142,000 cars through Baltimore this year. “But that was before all this mess in the eurozone and the dollar gained ground against the euro.”
The cloudy outlook for global economic growth hasn’t stopped foreign automakers from shifting production to North America, especially to the U.S. “North America, in general, and the U.S. and Mexico, in particular, are fast becoming an export hub,” said George Magliano, senior principal economist for IHS Automotive. “We’ve got a lot of new sourcing here. It’s going to get bigger, and the transportation companies are getting on this bandwagon.”
But what happens to all those cars when they reach their “sell by” date? Many of them wind up in the Middle East, a region so hot for used cars that many of the big automobile importers there now have offices in Orlando to bid on previously owned vehicles when the rental car companies auction them.
Those auctions are a steady source of used autos for the car carriers calling at Jacksonville, the closest big automotive port to Orlando. The growing Middle Eastern demand for new and used cars is boosting auto exports from Jacksonville and other big East Coast auto ports.
Auto exports from North America (excluding the intra-NAFTA trade), which are running at about 1 million units a year, to grow to 2 million units by 2020. “It goes in waves,” he said. “In 2014, we’re close to 1.5 million, and then we’re at 1.9 million by 2016, and then to 2 million by 2020.”
Overseas Shipping
Whether shipping vehicles in containers or using roll on roll off cariers, ETC International Freight System will assist you with the logistics involving customs and weekly sailing schedules. Please call us at 1-800-383-3157.