Container vs RoRo

[1aquaholic]

I've always planed to finish my build with a hard side pop top so that I can fit it in a container but after doing only a little research it seems that RoRo's are the cheaper way to ship, does anyone have good info on this? It sure would be a lot less work and long term maintenance to build a solid camper shell. Thanks

j

 

[Victorian]

I just went through this. We priced out RoRo and a 20' container from Rotterdam to Vancouver BC. The difference was roughly US$10.000. If you would ship to the east coast, pricing would be roughly the same @ US$3000. Anyhow, there is no easy answer other than pricing out every single route.

 

[1aquaholic]

Great info Victorian thanks! If RoRo's are even close to the same I think it makes more sense for me to not build a poptop.

 

[gait]

most of my cost was port handling at each end.

some ro-ro don't accept some vehicles.

not all routes have ro-ro.

containers have seals.

hard part is finding good shipping agent.

US$10,000 Rotterdam - Vancouver makes my roughly $5,000 Brisbane - Kuala Lumpur for 40' hitop look cheap.

I made a solid side drop-top and only drop the top for container.

 

[Alastair D(Aus)]

ror vs container

In 2009 we shipped our Toyota troopy in a container from Sydney to Sth Korea and then meandered through Siberia and Central asia and ended up in the Uk 9mths later.

We chose the container primarily because we could have all our gear and supplies in the vehicle ready to roll. The shipping agent advised us if we used ror that the vehicle should be empty because it had to be open for the handlers to move the vehicle and 'inspectors' to look inside. They said little of value would be safe. The container was inspected in Sydney, locked and sealed with a crimp tag. It was opened in our presence in Pusan.

If you are just moving an empty vehicle then this security aspect would not count. The cost of packing all our gear in a crate and shipping it separately was just too big a hassle apart from the inconvenience and chance of major delay. we were advised if we did this to air freight the crate as there was less chance of it going astray.

cheers
alastair

 

[yabanja]

RORO

There are plenty of horror stories of RoRo misadventures. Vehicles are frequently broken into by the crew. Also your vehicle is subject to significant salt exposure if not in a container. I wouldn't consider it myself....

Allan

 

[whatcharterboat]

Here's a good link to Doug Hackney's site and his thoughts on this.
.
http://hackneystravel.com/docs/hackney-shipping-for-overlanders-13.pdf
.
Actually I think there's a pic in that pdf somewhere of me helping to load a Canter into a 40' high cube container in Brisbane bound for South Africa.
No Ro-Ro on that route and the difference between a box and surface cargo or flat rack that time was vast. Like Victorian says....you almost need to price out each route.
.
Hey, does anyone ever hear from Doug any more?

 

[yabanja]

Nice

Nice link. Hadn't seen that.

Thank you!

Allan

 

[gait]

slightly off-topic. For the Aussies AA Australia can provide insurance for carnet - I think you pay for them to be insured against your non-payment of any customs duties due. For us it was better than providing a bank guarantee - India is 4x value of vehicle.

For us, paperwork (carnet, visas, int'l drivers permit) that have to be issued in home country and insurance were bigger hassle than shipping.