Researching Car shipping 

"JDMatt" (JDMatt) 04/23/2015 at 21:16 • Filed to: shipping, import, export, roro, car ferry, car shipping, containers, skyline

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Are you familiar with the saying “Just because you can do something, that doesn’t mean that you should.”

I feel like this saying applies to shipping 4 cars into one shipping container. Yes, 4 cars can fit, and it will make the shipping cheaper. However, wether you ship a car in a 40’ high cube container or on a car ferry you need to buy maritime insurance for the voyage. I feel more insurance claims are filed for cars shipped 4 deep in a container than cars shipped via ferry.

I don’t doubt a shipping company’s ability to load 4 cars into a container. I’ve seen youtube videos of people doing it. But UN-loading that container must be a lot harder than loading it.

I forget where I got the figure from, but shipping from Japan to the East Coast of the USA will cost $1295. I think the extra money is worth it.

[representation]

Car ferries are built for the job of shipping cars. Ro-Ro (roll on-roll off) ships like the ones pictured transport cars (new and used) by the thousands across oceans. If your driving an imported car in the United States, It arrived in the US on a boat like this.

For my project I’m hypothetically importing a 1990 Nissan Skyline GTR to America (25 year import rule!). If I were going to do the transaction for real, I’d want to have my car load and unloaded onto a purpose built ship just like any other new car.

jkm7680 > JDMatt 04/23/2015 at 21:18

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Lots of illegal stuff happens with shipping cars.

I’d estimate that shipping a car like that would probably cost something to the tune of $5,000.

JDMatt > jkm7680 04/23/2015 at 21:25

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$5,000 for the entire container? that probably depends on the route its on. And I know illegal things can happen with cars in shipping containers, I’ve seen gone in 60 seconds. Also, the lead image is from a UK news source and they said the cars pictured were stolen.

jkm7680 > JDMatt 04/23/2015 at 21:25

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For a completely personalized shipping experience is what I mean, haha.

Dsscats > JDMatt 04/23/2015 at 21:44

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I know a couple importers who swear by Ro-Ro’s.

JDMatt > jkm7680 04/23/2015 at 21:48

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I see what you mean!

Realistically I could ship a skyline in a container. But instead of filling up the remaining space with more cars, I could ship over several pallets of random stuff from japan. Wheels, engines, a jetski, Japanese kit-kats, hello kitty phone cases, pocki, etc.

Funktheduck > JDMatt 04/23/2015 at 21:58

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I think if more people applied the adage of “just because you can doesn’t mean you should” to their lives the world would be at least a little better