Anyone have Europe-America RoRo shipping experience?

[r-mm]

I've done a lot of research on the actual shipping part of RoRo, that is to say, port to port, but I am looking at some vehicles in Europe that I would not be able to personally deliver to port. Can anyone tell me if they have experience with a one stop shop shipping service that will ground transport the car to port, clear export customs and load?

Thanks

[twistoffat]

Where would the cars be leaving from?

[r-mm]

Originally Posted by twistoffat

Where would the cars be leaving from?

I'm looking at a few cars, most are in northern Italy, Switzerland etc. Most of the RoRo shipping companies I've called have ports at Zeebrugge and Bremerhaven.

[jackb911]

Not sure if this will be helpful, but I used this RoRo freight forwarder to ship a 911 to Germany (Bremerhaven) via Jacksonville, FL in 2010. The cost was very reasonable - way less than cross-USA truck transport including insurance - and it was a very smooth process. Not sure if they can handle the ancillaries that you indicated but it is worth a phone call.

Here's the link: RoroCar :: roll on / roll off transportation specialists :: American Cargoes

[r-mm]

Thanks - I have the actual RoRo part covered. Wilenius Wilhelmsen has been extremely helpful in explaining all the costs, limitations etc and indeed it is very reasonable - less than $1000 from N Europe to NY. And yes, I also found that to be cheaper than the time I had a car trailered from LA to NY. However they do not interface with ground transport inside Europe.

[Justin@Athens]

Originally Posted by r-mm

Thanks - I have the actual RoRo part covered. Wilenius Wilhelmsen has been extremely helpful in explaining all the costs, limitations etc and indeed it is very reasonable - less than $1000 from N Europe to NY. And yes, I also found that to be cheaper than the time I had a car trailered from LA to NY. However they do not interface with ground transport inside Europe.

This is the same company that transports all of our cars to the states from the factory in Germany. PCNA receives everything via this carrier thru Brunswick Ga.

[spuggy]

Wilenius was the company that shipped my car back from Europe. When I went to the customs shed to pick it up, the air filter was on the passenger seat, the air filter housing was loosened from the throttle body (you can't actually clear the bolts out of a 930 air filter housing with the motor in the car - but they certainly tried), there was what felt like a sticking or partially seized brake caliper on the front when driven - oh, and a hole in the dash where a CD player used to be.

Least they didn't just snip the wires.

I went and had a chat with the agent that released the car, and he said "yes, about a dozen cars came off that ship so far with no radios that had one when they went on" and gave me the # to file a claim.

Impossible to know where the other stuff happened, but docks are busy places - I think the hold of a ship at sea for 6 weeks probably has a lot more opportunity for unobserved mischief.

For the brake caliper, it could just be chance. Or maybe someone dragged it around the docks until the brakes overheated, who knows?

What I do know is that in the other direction, the clearing agents of an entirely different company ran it out of gas (which they didn't bother to tell me until I arrived to pick it up, expecting to drive it away) - and the tattooed late-20's guy with facial piercings told me something was "wrong with the throttle" - and then proceeded to describe the decidedly non-linear characteristics of the throttle pedal on a 930 with an old-school turbo like a 3DLZ transitioning through the boost threshold.

Which actually didn't click until much later. Yeh, I'm positive that, as professionals (cue the valet from "Ferris Bueller's Day Off") they would have observed all manufacturer recommendations - like waiting until the oil was hot before applying any load.. Right.

Suggest a valet program of some sort - or disable & ship as no-op, and spring for a shared container.

They may treat new cars with respect (probably because of the risk of fallout from losing the big account), but they seem to treat older cars shipped by individuals as playthings.

[r-mm]

I just got a quote from a freight forwarder in the USA to handle everything associated with import duties. - Import Security Filing - Import Security bond - Customs clearance charges in the port of Newark, NJ - Messenger service to/from customs - Certified copy of the entry by customs as required to register your vehicle in the U.S.

All of the above came out to ~$750. Then there are port/import taxes associated with the value of the vehicle totaling 3-4%.

Does this sound about right to anyone who has used a freight forwarder?

Spuggy - did you get a payout from WW for the damage to your car? Did you need to show meticulous "before" pictures? Did you personally load it at the port of departure?