Another Shipping Question????

Unfortunately, I have had some minor issues since I dropped off my car in Paris, including damage to my car after dropoff, and trying to find out what ship my car is on. I am in the process of trying to get to the bottom of the damage situation, as well as trying to fully understand the seemingly long time my car is expected to take to return here.

Without going into the boring details, it seems that my car did not get on the boat (Sirius Leader) until three weeks from my dropoff in Paris. I have been told by Harms that there was a ship leaving the port in Belgium (Zeebrugge) three days after I dropped my car off (I dropped at 11 am on a Monday, pre-arranged according to instructions).

Harms told me that I could not get on that boat due to the fact that the cars have to be at the port for "several business days" before the ship departs. Does anybody know if this is true? Or was this just unfortunate timing? To have my car sitting in Europe for three weeks seems like a lot to me.

Thank you.

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Harms told me that I could not get on that boat due to the fact that the cars have to be at the port for "several business days" before the ship departs. Does anybody know if this is true? Or was this just unfortunate timing? To have my car sitting in Europe for three weeks seems like a lot to me.

Thank you.

Yes, it seems to be reasonable explanation. Remember, they don't book passage for your car until it reaches the port. 3 days is not enough to get it on the boat most of the time. My car was in port 4 days before a ship was leaving Bremerhaven and it did not get on that ship. My guess is it takes 7-10 days to book passage. Also, back in late march/early april, the gap between ships going to Port Hueneme is about 7-10 days. Later in April there was a gap of about 12 days before another ship set sail for PH.

Also, as for getting on at Zeebrugge, the same ship will probably pass by Bremerhaven as it makes through 3-4 ports of call in Northern Europe.

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Thanks for the response. I guess I just had a bit of unfortunate timing. I assume that dropping off in Paris does not help the process either.

Reply » Another Shipping Question????

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Thanks for the response. I guess I just had a bit of unfortunate timing. I assume that dropping off in Paris does not help the process either.

Not really, since Zeebrugge is usually the first stop and then it heads over to Sweden to pick up Volvos and then to Bremerhaven for BMW's.

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I dropped off first thing in the morning of 5/13. I had some foolish hope that I might make it onto Alioth Leader scheduled to leave B'haven 5/18, but that would have been exceptionally lucky despite the fact that Munich is among the best places for a quick drop. If my current info is correct, I managed to get on the Pacific Breeze on 5/26, thirteen days after my drop. AZ Bob managed to get on Sirius Leader eight days after his drop (5/24 - 6/1 departure). My guess is that right now there is probably a minimum of six days from drop in Munich to loading and a maximum of about fifteen days. It would be nice to develop some data on this, but there may not be enough of us who are sufficiently anal to develop it.
I believe that BMW says to allow between six and eight weeks for redelivery. I suspect that over 90% of west coast deliveries are managed within eight weeks. Data estimates:
Drop off until
Scheduled Departure On ship to W Coast Unloading until redelivery Total
Min 6 24 7 37
Avg 14 27 10 51
Max 22 30 13 65

I am predicting my redelivery on 6/30 which would be 48 days from dropoff. I am guessing that you dropped off on 5/16. Sirius Leader was scheduled to leave B'haven on 6/1, so should arrive in Pt H on 6/28. I estimate 9 + 3 (repair) = 12 for redelivery to you, so you will have your car on July 11. This looks like exactly eight weeks after dropoff? If they can do this with your bad connection out of Paris, your repair, and Independence Day, they will be doing pretty well.

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I think that is close to a bit optimistic. My delivery in 97, when I had some painting to be done was 10 weeks. This time it was 8 weeks exactly including 10 days in Munich for replacing the windshield and painting the hood. 6.5 weeks from re-drop off after the repair.

But Arnolds 7-10 days is about right from what I've been observing. And similar thing happened to me with a ship 3 days later, and then 10 days later for the Grus.

This picture here:
Grus in Europe

Shows where Grus stopped, Paris cars would have been picked up in Antwerp, then on the Rotterdam, finally the main stop Bremerhaven where Munich cars are trucked. Before leaving Europe a stop at Southampton, then across the Atlantic.

Paris does seem to be just a a bit slower than other drop off spots, but that may just be coincidence from a few posters here. All in all FishSkis, I think you are in the proper range of timetables. Djlfp, mine was 10 days for repairs both times, (when paint is involved) and Raywayski just had 12 days from port to Santa Barbara, about 40 miles from the Port, (mine was 7 for about the same distance) are you thinking your Washington delivery will take about the same?

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