Shipping by seacontainer

[Brave855]

Will change location in the course of 2009 and plan to ship the XC together with other household goods.

Do I need to take any precautions before my car "disappears" into the sea-container for several weeks.

Thank you for advise and Happy and Healthy 2009 !!

BR

[ifnt420]

1. Apply good Wax to protect the paint during trip.
2. Leave very little Gasoline in the tank. (or they will be drained out at port during inspection)
3. Pump up the tire pressure to 44psi so they don't get out of round or have belt separation from sitting on one spot for too long.

Where're you going to?

Good Luck!

[Brave855]

Thx Ben for your advice.

Will return to homecountry NL early summer.

Bram

[roadhog]

I shipped my '04 from Germany to midwest of U.S. when I made that move a few years ago. I had no issues at all. Whoever is shipping it will surely have a checklist you must comply with about fuel level, etc, and cleanliness (for customs inspections). Beyond that, the wax and tire pressure recommendations made are good but I can't think of anything else that would be all that important.

[RedHookV70XC]

You might want to consider one other option. We've shipped cars roll-on roll-off with great success. The cars are driven on board and then lashed down to an interior deck to keep them safe. They can also be visually inspected at regular intervals during transit. You would not want to see what a car looks like after it gets loose inside a container during shipment and is repeatedly smashed into steel walls for days or weeks on end.

[Phrog]

Also - if your alarm system has a motion sensor, you'll need to disable that.

-Phrog

[jdj2]

When our XC70 was shipped in a container, they used wooden blocking nailed to the floor of the container to keep the car from moving around, and then used steel bands to tie it down at the corners. The car made it just fine.

[My3buicks]

If it is tied down in the container properly I would far rather have it out of site and sealed in a container than out where it couls be damaged by things being carried past it. I have also heard of cases where workers would sleep in the cars during transit when left in available places.

[johnny c]

I ship Zambonis all over the world in containers. We block the wheels with wooden (hardwood or plywood only!) chocks nailed to the floor. We use no other straps or ties, we have had no damage done. Some of them have only a couple inches between them, and again, no damage. Only when the container flipped over (broken cable!!) did we ever see any damage. We were told that everything could be left as it was (battery connected, oils ,etc..) except that only a 1/4 tank of fuel was allowed if the tank was part of the vehicle. So, for gasoline powered machines they left completely unaltered with only 1/4 tank of fuel (with stabilizer for long trips ie Russia). I have also heard of people shipping cars by driving them onto 4 tires laying down (1 under each tire) but I think chocking the tires is best. As for cleaning, wouldn't worry a whole lot, again we have never had any issues in any way shipping a vehicle overseas.

[Brave855]

Thanks to the tips you guys gave me a little longer ago, my XC shipped OK and arrived in superb shape in my homecountry after a 23 days sea-journey from Asia

I'm finalising the registration currently and then the car can soon enjoy the German autobahn and other roads of Western Europe that, compared to Taiwan, are less bumpy and for sure not so congested.

Thanks again :)

[ifnt420]

Good to hear that you guys got there safely!!
One favor, I wanna see a photo of your XC with Taiwan plates in the Netherlands. :D

[Brave855]

Hi Ben,

Hope all is well in Taiwan. Fortunately Morakot hit "only" the South.

Unfortunately, you know this for sure, I could not keep and take my Taiwan plates.[nonono]

It would have been swell to drive here a couple of weeks with black on white plates with 4312RW (RW= racewagon)

Too bad I lost them......an emotional moment in the Motor Vehicle Office at Chengde Road, Beitou.

All the best ![thumbup]

Bram