Supply chain woes put brakes on Europe's top cycle-makers in Portugal

Europe's starring rhythm makers successful Portugal are riding a pandemic-driven request boom, but a proviso concatenation crunch linked to Asia has enactment the brakes on.

InCycles Bike Group, a flagship successful the country's palmy export-led manufacturing clump astir the bluish municipality of Agueda, is pushing hard to enactment up of the peloton.

"We person orders done to mid-2023 but volition we beryllium capable to conscionable them?", asks export manager Filipe Mota.

The coronavirus situation saw radical "fighting to get bikes, truthful we sold a lot," says Mota successful the mediate of the 4 assembly lines that employment astir 200 workers supplying 40 brands.

But, helium tells AFP, the "boom successful orders" has led to "a shortage of precise important spare parts".

Deliveries from chiefly Asian suppliers tin instrumentality up to 2 oregon 3 years, Mota says.

When the institution started assembling bicycles for Uber, nether the Jump marque which has since been snapped up by Lime, turnover soared from 3 cardinal euros ($3.5 million) successful 2018 to 50 cardinal euros the pursuing year.

The COVID-19 outbreak reduced income to 37 cardinal euros successful 2020, arsenic radical initially stayed astatine location successful lockdowns earlier venturing retired and wanting bikes.

They are expected to stay astir the aforesaid level this year, arsenic the spike successful request led to the shortages.

"If we had the parts, we would easy person made 60 oregon 70 cardinal euros," Mota boasts. The caller mill opened past twelvemonth with capableness to churn retired 250,000 units a year, but expects to adjacent 2021 with astir 140,000.

'Cutting-edge'

The logistical nightmares are predicted to beryllium implicit by 2023, which is encouraging Portugal's 8,000 employees successful the assemblage to look guardant with optimism.

Since the nationalist relation of two-wheel industries ABIMOTA launched an export thrust successful 2015, rhythm income overseas person astir doubled, hitting 425 millions euros past year.

And for 2021, contempt the proviso concatenation woes, they could emergence by arsenic overmuch arsenic 30 percent again, according to ABIMOTA wide caput Gil Nadais.

"We person respective cutting-edge companies here, immoderate of the champion successful Europe oregon the world," helium says, citing the archetypal non-Asian steadfast to manufacture c frames, the lone mill successful the satellite wherever robots crook retired welded aluminium frames oregon the satellite person successful saddles for children.

Portugal produced 2.6 cardinal bicycles past twelvemonth and virtually each went to export. That puts the state alongside large powers Italy and Germany for rhythm exports, according to Eurostat figures.

Anti-dumping mesures

About fractional of the units came from the workshops of RTE, which supplies French sports elephantine Decathlon and is acceptable to grow its Vila Nova de Gaia factory, adjacent to Porto, and to unfastened astatine a 2nd tract successful Poland.

Beyond inexpensive labour and bully accepted skills, the assemblage has benefited from customs tariffs the European Union has slapped connected bikes imported from China.

"Without the anti-dumping measures our assemblage would not beryllium wherever it is," says Gil Nadais. He acknowledges that accumulation had begun to turn earlier the pandemic astatine a clip erstwhile it was inactive falling successful the remainder of Europe.

According to Kevin Mayne, caput of Cycling Industries Europe which represents the cycling industries connected the continent, the marketplace should proceed to turn astir 15 percent by 2030—or an other 10 cardinal units a year.

"The mean terms of a bicycle, the mean usage of a bicycle, the penetration of e-bikes… is amended successful Europe than anyplace other successful the world," helium says.

"So nary substance wherever you marque bikes, you person to beryllium superior astir Europe.

"The Portuguese manufacture and different European clusters should beryllium winners due to the fact that much companies volition astir apt present determine Europe is simply a amended agelong word investment."

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© 2021 AFP