b'32American Journal ofTransportation ajot.comTapping the brakes on auto industry recovery in 2022 After a bumpy ride in 2022, will the auto industry roll around in 23?By George Lauriat, AJOTShifting down. Its becom- athistorichighs,carswere ing clear with a new year lessflying off the lots, often sold thanthreemonthsawaythatbefore the vehicles were even 2022 isnt going to be the yeardelivered to the dealership. theU.S.autoindustrywas2022startedwithtight anticipating. The optimism ofinventories,asautomakers acceleratinggrowthenteringtried to replenish stocks after this year has slowed with eachplantdisruptionsduetothe passing quarter.pandemic.Butpartsshort-Since coming out of theagesparticularly stocks of economic pothole of the 2009the well documented micro-GreatRecession,lightvehi- chipsforcedautomakersAUTO LOGISTICS 22cle sales (cars and light trucksfor some models to cut back combined)roserapidlypla- productionwhilesupplying teauingatover17million(BRAKEScontinued on unitsfrom2015-18beforepage 33)a slight dip to 16.96 million units in 2019the first year ofCOVID-19.Inthepan-demic hobbled year of 2020, salesfellto14.47million units before making a recov-ery to just over 14.92 million units in 2021. Early forecasts estimatedvehiclesalesto crack 16 million units, a 7% increase over 2021 and pave the way for a return to some-thing approaching the 17 mil-lion unit figure posted during the 2015-2018 pre-pandemic period.CoxAutomotive,a companythattracksvehi-cle sales, noted in their first quarterforecast,Unlike 2021, the second half of 2022 willlikelybestrongerthan thefirsthalf,aprediction, which like many for 22, has been run off the road. Cox in their Q3 update of the 2022 FORECASTSisnowpre-dicting 13.7 million units of newsales,asizeableshift downward from the original 16 million unit projections. t aPPing thEB rakEsSo, what happened? The shortanswerjustabout everything. In fairness to Cox Auto-motive, whose analysis of the auto industry is often said toCHANGECHANNELbethebestinthebusiness,YOURCassandraherselfcouldnt havepredictedtheconflu-ence of disparate events thatMove cargo more efficiently. Scale operations for future growth.undermined the auto industry in 2022.Big changes are happening here. Freeport Harbor Channelalready the shortest on the Texas For starters, the forecastGulfwill soon be the deepest channel in the state. Larger vessels will be moving through our lookedrightandpositive elementsoftheforecastareport than ever before and well be ready for them with new berths and modern cranes. Best of all, stillinplay.Therewasandwe have over 500 acres of adjacent land ready for development.stillisconsiderablepentup demandfornewvehicles coming out of the COVID-19See the big picture. Its time to change your channel.period.Lotsofpeoplewere ready [including this writer] to buy a vehicle after being confined for the better part ofVisit our website or schedule a tour today.a year. It has been a sellers marketandnewvehicles aresellingathistorichighs, averagingover$47,000per1.800.362.5743vehicleapopularrefrainPortFreeport.comwas the sticker price is the price. Yetevenwithprices'