RORO (Roll On, Roll Off) Car Shipping

Roll-on/roll-off car shipping, also referred to as RORO transport, is one of the primary ways that vehicles are shipped overseas and internationally. If you plan to ship a car to an international location, it’s important to understand the different options you’ll have available, as well as how the process works from beginning to end. In this post, we’ll review some of the details of RORO car shipping and explain the key points and advantages of roll-on/roll-off transport.

What Is RORO Car Shipping?

In the simplest terms, RORO car shipping is a method of auto transport that involves loading the vehicle onto a boat by “rolling” or driving it onto the ship and securing it in a cargo area. One of the reasons that RORO is such a popular method of transport is that it simplifies the loading and unloading process so that the shipper can more easily accommodate the shipment of multiple vehicles at once.

In order to use RORO transport, you’ll need to have the vehicle delivered (or driven) to the nearest shipping port for loading. This part of the transport process is called overland shipping (see below), which is done via the standard method of auto transport on a truck designed to haul vehicles. Once the vehicle arrives, it is then “rolled on” to the ship where it is secured in a cargo area to prevent it from moving during the transport process.

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RORO v. Container Shipping

The other option of overseas transport is container shipping, which is a little more labor intensive. Container shipping, as you might expect, involves loading the vehicle into a shipping container, which is then loaded onto the transport ship using a crane or container lift. Just like RORO transport, the vehicle is secured firmly to make sure that it doesn’t move or roll around inside the container while it’s being delivered. As you might imagine, not all vehicles fit inside of a shipping container since they have a standard size that limits the height and width of which vehicles will fit inside of it.

Since containerized shipping is more labor intensive, it can slow down the delivery time when compared to RORO auto transport. A lot of cargo is moved around the U.S. using shipping containers and the ships that haul them are typically very large and carry a large number of containers at once. The logistics of loading, shipping, unloading, and cataloguing all of that cargo is a time consuming process, as opposed to simply rolling off the vehicles that are stored in the cargo area during RORO shipping.

Overland Transport with RORO Shipping

When a vehicle is shipped using RORO transport, it is delivered to a shipping port or storage warehouse, which means you’ll need to coordinate the remainder of the shipment yourself. This can mean you pick up the vehicle and simply drive it home, or you can hire an overland auto transport company to deliver it the rest of the way. While this does involve an additional cost, it is typically a very small amount compared to the total you will pay for RORO transport, which allows you to have your car delivered right to your door.