Container Shipping to Europe

The costs of moving to Europe are calculated based on several factors:

• The distance your automobile will have to travel: For obvious reasons, the longer the distance between your automobile’s current locations and its arrival point, the more expensive its hauling will be. This applies both to door-to-door and port-to-port moves.

Of course, if you want the company to pick up your vehicle from wherever you live, the price will naturally go up.

Even so, the door-to-door option is still the best, since you won’t have to deal with logistics.

• The weight/volume of your cargo, be it an automobile, a boat, or your belongings: Hauling companies will use these to determine the cost. When it comes to household items, the volume is normally the same as the weight;
• The arrival port: There will always be customs charges to be paid, but the sum each country demands differs. Your auto arrival port will affect the sum you’ll have to prepare for taxes.
• The kind of hauling you will have to use. Will you send your automobile through the air or on a ship? Although this article is geared towards sea freight moving, because it’s much cheaper and convenient, you should consider all your options before deciding. If you decide on sea freight, will it be with the RoRo method or with a container?

RoRo vs. Container Delivery

Although moving has many advantages, let us take a brief look at the Roll on Roll off option, so you can make an educated choice.

The RoRo method is used to haul all forms of motorized vehicles, including trucks, cars, boats, yachts, excavators, trailer homes, SUVs, plant machinery, and excavators. Because it’s more cost-effective and simple, many prefer it.

The RoRo method implies driving your car directly onto the ship which is going to haul it overseas. If this is not possible, the vehicle can be towed or rolled onboard. Once it’s loaded, it is then strapped in place below the deck, in a watertight area, along with dozens of other cars.

Using this method will save you money on crating, packing, flat rack loading, or port delivery. Every part of the process is done by the workers at the port.

Although the RoRo option is the most used and flexible way to haul single vehicles, it is limited by certain geographical factors. For example, it is not available across the world. There are some areas only containers can reach.

Also, if you wish to haul your belongings along with your vehicle, the RoRo option is unavailable, but you can place them all in a container.

Benefits of Container Moving

The reasons people opt for this instead of cheaper methods, like RoRo, or faster methods, like an Airplane, are as follows:

Better options and flexibility

RoRo and other methods run across indirect, fixed routes. Their speed is also very slow, and their ports are few. Because of this, you may have to haul using rail or road as well, costing you more money and time.

Because container ships haul more than just vehicles, there are more of them and there are more ports that receive them. They are also faster. Your automobile may arrive at the destination port in about 24 hours.

To minimize costs when using rail, you must optimize the space you have at your disposal. On the other hand, containers give you all the space you need at a small cost. If your vehicle hasn’t taken up all the space in your container, you can fill the rest with belongings.

Protection against theft

Container moving is one of the safest options for hauling vintage or luxury cars and items that normally attract thieves. There are only 3 people who can open your container: an employee from customs, you, and the representative of the company you’ve placed in charge of your transport.

Also, the contents are hidden inside the container, so nobody can see them. Even the ship’s staff doesn’t know what they’re carrying.

Protection from Damage

The structural integrity of every container is assured through thorough regulations. Containers must be water and air-tight, so your vehicle is safe from extreme temperatures, tree sap, dust, bird lime, rain, sun, or hail.

Before fixing with wheel chocks, it is first positioned carefully. To make sure damage caused by movement is lowered as much as possible, the automobile’s wheels are fixed in place and immovable. Older, string and wood methods don’t offer the same level of protection.

Availability

Containers are standard, meaning they are used and delivered everywhere in the world. This reduces the need to use other methods to get your car to its final destination, such as a truck or through rail.

They’re Eco Friendly

If you care about the environment, then you may want to avoid hauling through air. Ships cause the least pollution out of all options.

Container Delivery to Europe is Cheap

Compared to hauling using an airplane, it is far cheaper. What would cost you $7000 to move through air, can be moved for just $1700 using a boat.

Container Size

If you’ve decided to go with this method, the size of said container becomes very important. Depending on the size of your vehicle, boat, and/or belongings, you’ll have to choose between using a large 40-foot container and a smaller 20-foot one. Of course, containers come in other sizes as well, but those are used mostly for industrial and business shipments.

The items in a 2-bedroom home can be carried easily in a 20-foot container, and anything bigger requires the other option. To move a vehicle, a 20-foot container is all you need, but there won’t be much room left for anything else.

Full vs. Less Container Loading Options

If you have other belongings you need to deliver besides your auto, then you may require the entire space in a container to move them. However, if all you need to move is your car and you’d like to reduce costs, you can use a shared container. The pros of each option are as follows.

Using the entire container:

• You’ll get the best value on your investment. Paying a flat rate for delivering everything is more economical than paying for your goods’ volume if you can fill up the entire container.
• Before you can receive your belongings from a shared container, you’ll have to wait until they are unloaded and sorted/separated from the other person/s cargo. This can take up time, and complications occur often.
• It’s better for your vehicle. Full container moving is much safer for your automobile than the alternative. Autos are heavy items that can hit other objects, damaging them or themselves.
• The port’s staff handles shared containers much more often than they do the alternative. Because it’s a routine, they pay less attention to it, and accidents may happen. When using a private container, the staff doesn’t have to sort and separate the items inside it, lowering the risk of damaging them.

Shared Containers: When moving or belongings that don’t require its entire volume(less than 20 CBM), it is a much cheaper option.

Other Costs

Besides the basic costs caused by your automobile’s weight, volume, and distance to its destination, when using a container to Europe, you should prepare for the following:

• Duty fees: Each country’s Customs will charge a duty fee when bringing something inside its borders. These vary depending on their laws, so to get an accurate assessment of what you will pay, speak to your company. You may also have to pay terminal handling and port service charges. These also vary.
• Inspection fees. Thankfully, your container will not be inspected physically thanks to the existence of modern scanning machines. Only 5% of US’s containers get a physical inspection, and the rate in European ports is even lower.

However, if the customs staff notices anything suspicious, they may choose to open your container and investigate its contents. Unfortunately, paying for this process may fall on you.

• GRI. The general rate increase happens at each year’s end to account for the added costs incurred by freight carriers. Recently, they’ve appeared more frequently, 13 times in 2012.

When firms use GRIs, the demand for their services goes down. To counteract this, they drop their prices. After a while, demand rises again and agencies implement GRIs once more. Because of this, the price of moving to Europe is ever-changing. Therefore, when deciding on a date, it’s best to set it before a GRI.

Insurance

Insuring is one of the first things people think about when hauling it abroad. However, moving is becoming less and less risky, for the following reasons:

1. Intermodal delivery: When moving to another country, you will probably use several methods, such as a ship, a truck, or a train. Thankfully, because steel containers come in standard shapes and sizes, your items can be moved across land and sea without having to load and unload them several times. Regardless if your automobile travels by truck, train, or ship, it can remain in the same container from the current home to your new one. This means it is less likely to get damaged from handling. Across the world, more than 50.000 ships have adopted intermodal delivery, making delivery much easier.
2. Tracking. With 18.000 containers traveling on the largest container ship on earth and around 10.000 containers moving on the rest, you’d think it’s difficult to tell them apart. However, the use of ISO codes allows companies to electronically track each container, so accidents rarely happen.
3. Regulation. IMO (the International Maritime Organization) makes sure moving is done according to standards.

Of course, just because moving is becoming safer by the day, problems can never be 100% avoided. If you are still worried about your cargo, speak to your company about their insurance policy. If necessary, get additional insurance for the duration.

Some companies may negate any responsibility they may have in case of an accident, so remember to check their policy. Besides this, here are a few more things you’ll find helpful when trying to ensure your moving:

• Obtain the firms insurance proof. By law, United States hauling firms must have an insurance certificate. You have the right to ask for it and to question them about their policy. Check if you’ll be covered if your automobile is damaged during delivery if you are covered for the entire value of the vehicle, or if a deductible will have to be paid.
• Documents. Any considerations and agreements you make with the company must be in writing. Otherwise, you have no way to prove these existed. If they offer you a service that does not appear in the contract, it must come in writing.
• Speak to an insurance company. Your auto insurance agency may have a policy covering your automobile when it’s being transported. However, to make sure, ask them yourself. Inquire if your insurance applies when the automobile is transported and if you have to notify them in any way.
• Loose objects should be removed from your automobile. Damage to an automobile’s interior will likely not be covered, so before you send it on its way, remove anything that’s not firmly in place. Extra change, cassettes, electronics, or CDs may turn airborne during hauling and damage your vehicle. By taking them out, the risk of theft will also be reduced. By the way, most agencies do not cover theft since it is not related to their staff’s negligence.
• Inspection. Before your automobile is taken by the firm, it will go through an inspection to verify its condition. When this inspection is made, be present and take photographs. If later on, you want to make an insurance claim, you will need proof your vehicle has been damaged during hauling.
• The landing bill. You’ll have to complete a bill of landing upon your automobile’s arrival. This is nothing more than a report you must give detailing any damages received by your automobile during travel. Check everything, the undercarriage, and the engine as well. If you do not report any losses, you cannot recover them using your insurance.

If the automobile arrives in the middle of the night, procure some powerful lights, so you can inspect everything before signing the bill. Afterward, your transaction with the company will be complete, and you won’t be able to hold them liable anymore.

In case you find damaged areas or malfunctions, write them down in the landing bill, and make sure the driver who brought your automobile signs it. You can then ask the firm to reimburse you for your losses. If they refuse to reimburse you for the losses incurred during the delivery, speak to the Better Business Bureau.