Faced with attacks in the Red Sea, Tesla slows down its “gigafactory” in Germany

40 km from Berlin, the endless gray building stretches along the highway, over 300 hectares. In the parking lot of the “gigafactory”, Oliver, Tesla jacket on his back, returns to his car after his last day of work. This is one of the consequences of the attacks carried out by the Houthi rebels of Yemen against ships in the Red Sea: Tesla is suspending from Monday January 29, and for two weeks, almost all of its production at its only factory in Europe.

The car manufacturer cites a shortage of spare parts linked to longer transport times, because some boats now bypass the Suez Canal. The employees of Elon Musk’s group therefore find themselves almost all technically unemployed. Employed for two years at the door manufacturing workshop, the 40-year-old Berliner has resigned himself to these two weeks of forced vacation. “With everything that’s going on, it was to be expected that it would happen one day, but it feels weird. There are no more parts and the supply chain is interrupted, the boats which deliver the equipment to us and which transport the containers have to take detours… There is nothing left. I hope things will work out so that we can return to work normally.“, he slips.

“Fragility”

The detour via the Cape of Good Hope, at the southern tip of Africa, extends the journey of container ships by 6,000 kilometers, meaning 20 days instead of 10 are needed to make the trip.

Tobias, one of the 11,500 employees, describes a case of force majeure: “This is not just Tesla’s problem but many car manufacturers’, and there’s nothing we can do about it. We are far from the Red Sea and in the end, all of this still has an impact here for many people, at Tesla. It’s shocking to see the consequences and how fragile the entire supply chain is“, he points out.

Tesla assures that production will resume in full on February 12. 250,000 electric vehicles leave the manufacturer’s German chains each year.