Gleaming new Mercedes cars roll one by one out of a huge container ship here and onto a pier. Ordinarily the cars would be loaded on trucks within hours, destined for dealerships around the country. But these are not ordinary times.<\/p>\n
For now, the port itself is the destination. Unwelcome by dealers and buyers, thousands of cars worth tens of millions of dollars are being warehoused on increasingly crowded port property.<\/p>\n
And for the first time, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, and Nissan have each asked to lease space from the port for these orphan vehicles. They are turning dozens of acres of the nation\u2019s second-largest container port into a parking lot, creating a vivid picture of a paralyzed auto business and an economy in peril.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is one way to look at the economy,\u201d\u009d Art Wong, a spokesman for the port, said of the cars. \u201cAnd it scares you to death.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n