On March 17, US automaker General Motors (GM) has announced that it has suspended production at its Shreveport Assembly in Louisiana for the week of March 21 due to a parts shortage resulting from the crisis in Japan.
GM said that it will resume production at Shreveport as soon as possible, and at this point, it has sufficient vehicles to meet customer demand. At all other plants in North America, GM continues to run normal operations.
The Journal of Commerce reported that the automobile industry is the largest US importer of goods shipped via container transport from Japan. Thus, Japan's crisis leaves the auto industry susceptible to disrupted production.
"Like all global automakers, we will continue to follow the events in Japan closely to determine the business impact, working across the organization to maximize flexibility, supply the most critical operations, and effectively manage cost," GM said in its statement.