Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics has delivered a shipment of Mazda vehicles to the European Port of Antwerp, including 14 models of the classic Cosmo 110 Sport. The Cosmos, which were added to 4,500 vehicles delivered to the port aboard the ro-ro vessel MV Torrens, are featuring in this week’s international Cosmo Sport rally in Gersthofen, near Augsberg in southern Germany.
The vehicles were picked up in Hiroshima for the 30-day sailing to Antwerp and from there the Cosmos were moved to Gersthofen by German finished vehicle provider Mosolf.
Meanwhile, the main bulk of the shipment, made up of models including the Cosmo’s modern descendent RX-8, will be distributed from Antwerp to Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. As well as Mosolf, Mazda is working with HN Transport, Koopman and Galliker for these deliveries.
WWL usually moves vehicles into the Benelux region through Zeebrugge but makes up to four full vessel deliveries for Mazda to Antwerp per year, as well as up to three partial loads. Antwerp is one of Mazda’s key European distribution hubs and it has been moving the vehicles through the port since 1992 using WWL, as well as K-Line, MOL and NYK.
The carmaker imports around 90,000 new cars every year through the Antwerp Car Processing Center in Antwerp. Added services here include pre-delivery inspection (handled by ICO) and several accessory installations according to Mazda Motor Europe spokesman Hans Kleyman. “The Cosmo cars got a quick quality check before release to the carrier,” he said.
The Mazda Cosmo 110 Sport, the first production car with a two-rotor Wankel engine, went into production in Japan in 1967 and 1,176 of the vehicles were made until production of them ended in 1972.
The Cosmo Sport rally has been organised by German Mazda dealer Auto Frey, with overall transport of the vehicles overseen by Mazda Motor Germany and Mazda Logistics Europe.
