Delivery delays affect sales of auto industry

Due to the grounding of cargo and passenger vessels of the Sulpicio Lines Incorporated, Cebu-based auto dealers expressed concerns on the delays of the delivery of their new cars which has in ways greatly affected the operations of their businesses.

“We are highly affected with the situation regarding the grounding of Sulpicio fleets because since it happened, we have experienced a lot of cancellations from our buyers due to delivery delays,” shared Suzuki Cebu dealership president Brian Chua in an interview with reporters.

He said that due to this situation, they have tried to adjust their stocking inventory for limited units however he said that they have experienced difficulty in planning this out because of the irregular shipping schedules.

He said that for the last three and a half years of their dealerships' operation, they have been coursing most of their new vehicle deliveries to Sulpicio.

He said that they ship around three times a week around 25 to 35 units a month, although this number has not faltered, the shipping schedule is not regular.

Chua shared that during the grounding of the Sulpicio fleets after the tragedy happened, there was no shipment for three weeks.

Right now, Chua said that to address the problem, they have made creative selling campaigns to push for stocks that they have in their inventory.

He said that there were instances when they urged their buyers to get whatever available car color they have on stock than to get something else delivered.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Cebu Incorporated president and chief operating officer Edward G. Onglatco shared the same sentiment of the delays of bringing new car orders to Cebu from Manila as almost 100 percent of their delivery allocations has been coursed through Sulpicio Lines vessels ever since the start of their operations.

Onglatco said that before the incident, Hyundai's delivery pull-outs averages to over 50 to 60 units shipped on regular basis which was done every other week greatly depending on the shipping schedules of Sulpicio Lines.

But with the grounding of the Sulpicio vessels, pull out schedules of new car deliveries is now done only once a week.

“There have been changes in the frequency of our deliveries. Before our stocking was regular which takes place every other day; but now we have to be more creative in pulling out orders only four times a month so we are having problems with customers who can't wait to get their orders delivered, said Onglatco.

Since the grounding of Sulpicio fleets, the dealerships have also tried to transfer some of their deliveries to other shipping companies.