Sharing container from Melbourne to Rotterdam? May 2008

[Alex van de Wetering]

An Aussie friend of mine is bringing his Fiat to The Netherlands. The original plan was to do this by container, but that seems to be very expensive, so he is now looking at "roll-on-roll-off" and sending the spare parts seperately. The another option would be sharing a container with someone else.

Is there anyone interested in sharing a container/transport from Melbourne to Rotterdam (The Netherlands), due May 2008?.

Alex

[zemsi]

Hi Alex

That's a little bit early for me. I wouldn't need a container before April 2009. I checked the container prices to Europe myself. They're quite expensive (around Euro 4'000 - 5'000 from Aussie to Switzerland, 20" container). I will check the RoRo-Prices as well.

Greetings
Chris

[Alex van de Wetering]

Hi Chris,

My friend came to the same conclusion; expensive is the right word. He also came with the 4000 dollar price tag.

Anyway, the most problematic now is the lenght of the trip itself. My friend is in Australia now trying to arrange the transport. He thought it would take a month for the car to arrive in Holland, but now it seems the trip itself takes 2 months. This is a real bugger, because he has an entry for his car in a classic car event in Italy at the end of June. We are now trying to find other ways/companies that could bring the car from Melbourne to Rotterdam, or in fact any other European port before the end of June. Anyone got any ideas that we could try? Or a free space in a container?
Anyone done this before? recommandations?

Alex

[Tony Smith]

I gather the timing might be out a little, and space running out, but talk to Lang the Fiat Shipper.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks Tony,

I forwarded Lang's website to my friend. It is frustrating to see that about a year ago. Ro-ro for the Fiat was 1600 Australian dollars and a trip of 20 days.....and now $ 4000 and two months!!!

Alex

[Lang]

Chris,

You seem to be confusing shipping Australia to a European port and Australia to Switzerland. At a rough guess I would say the trucking from Rotterdam to Switzerland would add a very large percentage to the price.

For your Blitz, when the time comes, you should go and pick it up at the port and drive it home to Switzerland. Roro is very much cheaper, easier and usually faster, only problem is you can have NOTHING in the vehicle apart from a spare tyre, jack and basic tools. It is secure and safe - they ship hundreds of thousands of new cars around the world every year.

I have been getting quotes for the Anzac Normandy convoy and the prices are much the same as last year. Of course the bunker surcharge goes up and down with oil prices.

Unfortunately there are MANY unscrupulous shipping agents out there (including well known companies) who skin one-off and first time shippers alive. We have had 40 foot container prices from a couple of different agents about half the cost you are quoting for a 20 footer.

Try lots of different shipping agents - only costs a phone call. The variations in price you will get are the profit the agent makes - they are all using the same limited number of shipping companies. If an agent finds a super price, don't be too proud to use the Glorious Peacock Rusting Bucket Line out of Shanghai. They will take longer via every port in the world but are usually cheaper. Besides they don't sink any more often than anyone else.

20 footers cost about 70% of 40 footer price. Sharing saves heaps of money.

Lang

[Alex van de Wetering]

Guys,

Thanks for your thoughts on this matter. We tried different options, but sadly none worked out. We even looked at air transporting the car with Malaysian airlines, but in the end this was just too expensive
We now intend to bring the car, spares and tools to Holland at the end of this year, by container. So, if there is anyone who is interested in sharing a container, there is space left....


Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Hi Guys,

A few months have passed in the meantime and we intend to ship the Fiat in the next few weeks. Plan is to put it into a 20ft container along with the spare parts, tools etc. There is space left in the container, so if there is anyone who wants to ship parts, furniture or whatever from Melbourne to Rotterdam, than please let us know. Maybe we can work out something which will reduce costs for all parties. Also if you know of anyone wanting to ship a car along the same route, please let us know. In that case it might be interesting to rent a 40ft container together.

Alex