The electric car manufacturer Tesla has to largely stop production in Grünheide near Berlin for around two weeks due to attacks on ships by the Yemeni Houthi rebels in the Red Sea. As transport routes are shifting, a gap has arisen in the supply chains, as Tesla announced on Thursday.
“Due to missing components, we are therefore forced to suspend vehicle production in the Gigafactory Berlin-Brandenburg with the exception of a few areas between January 29th and February 11th,” the company explained. Production will resume fully from February 12th.
The attacks in the Red Sea could generally slow down the economy, as oil is also transported through the route. The USA and Great Britain attacked Houthi rebel positions in Yemen on Friday night.
“The armed conflicts in the Red Sea and the associated shifts in transport routes between Europe and Asia via the Cape of Good Hope are also impacting production in Grünheide,” said Tesla.
Tesla has been producing electric cars in Grünheide since March 2022. Around 11,500 employees work there. Tesla wants to double production in Grünheide from the targeted 500,000 cars per year to one million per year. According to its own information, the company currently produces more than 250,000 vehicles annually. The storage capacity of battery cell production is expected to increase from 50 to 100 gigawatt hours per year. Environmentalists have concerns about the expansion.