Car Shipping Options
Roll on/Roll off Vehicle Shipping
Ro-Ro vehicle shipping as it is also known is by far the most popular method of shipping a car, truck, caravan or motorhome overseas. These purpose built roll on/roll off vessels have been designed to move a large quantity of rolling cargo by sea freight at a fraction of the cost of container shipping services.
All vehicles are loaded; either driven or towed onto specially designed ships at the port of departure using fully trained stevedores. Vehicles are then secured on to designated decks, where larger vehicles such as trucks and plant machinery are loaded on to the lower decks that have higher roofs to accommodate larger sized vehicles. Smaller vehicles such as saloons and 4 x 4’s are usually loaded on to the higher decks together.
All vehicles are secured in place using ratchet straps, the larger the vehicle the more straps that are used for health and safety purposes. Each vehicle will be continually checked throughout its voyage to ensure that straps have not worked loose whilst in transit. Roll on/roll off vessels are like floating carparks, passengers are not allowed to travel with their vehicles with this option.
Container shipping
When shipping a vehicle overseas you can also opt to have it shipped in a container. Depending on the size of your vehicle, the smallest container starts at 20ft, the next size up is 40ft and there is also a 40ft high cube container available for taller vehicles such as caravans, motor homes etc. These shipping containers are either loaded at the depot close to the port and then transported and lifted onto the vessel by a crane or from outside your property.
Shipping by container offers more security in the fact that the only people who will access to the container will be yourself and customs. By shipping your vehicle in a container you also have the opportunity to load personal effects inside the vehicle meaning you won’t have to pay any additional charges to use an overseas removal company. Your vehicle will be secured inside the container with the same methods as ro-ro shipping with straps and chocks to prevent the vehicle moving during transit.
Shared container shipping – The R-Rack System
Shared container shipping can be a cheaper way of shipping your vehicle overseas, you share the costs with other shippers who’s vehicles are also destined to ship to the same country as yours. We offer weekly container services in which we can pair your vehicle up with up to 3 other customers who are also looking to save on the cost of shipping overseas.
The R-Rack system allows up to 4 vehicles to be loaded inside a shared 40ft HC container where 2 vehicles are on the floor and two are above. This allows all available loading spaces to be used within the container and helps to keep costs down to an absolute minimum.
A 40ft HC container will cost on average £1895.00 from Southampton to Auckland and Lyttelton or £1750.00 to Melbourne and Sydney. However if you do opt to send your car on the shared container services using the R-Rack system, typical costs for a saloon to Auckland & Lyttelton is £895.00 or 4 x 4’s £950.00. Typical costs to Melbourne or Sydney for a saloon car is £850.00 or a 4 x 4 £995.00. The shared container option loads at our partner’s depot in Rainham, Essex and our container services sail every week.
