When you’re considering how to transport cars over a long distance, one of the most important factors to bear in mind is the cost per unit of transportation, which is a sticking point for container shipping compared with RORO. The more vehicles you can load into a container, the cheaper the shipping cost will be.
Shipping cars by RORO can appear at first glance to be a less costly option than container shipping, but the journey times are slower, and there is a higher risk of damage to the vehicles in transit. And because you need to drive the cars on and off the ship individually, labour costs are also higher for this method of transportation.
So, there is a strong argument to be made for car container shipping, but it all depends on how many vehicles you can safely fit into your chosen container. In the past, car transporters used wooden racks to fit in more vehicles per container, but they were time-consuming to construct and could only be used once. Timber racks are also more likely to collapse in rough weather and can also cause damage to the vehicles with splinters.
The Advantages Of Delivering Cars In Containers Using Steel Folding Rack Systems
The introduction of innovative steel folding rack systems such as the R-RAK has revolutionised the car freight sector. Using this rack, you can load up to six Honda CR-Vs (for example) in a container and ship them anywhere in the world, a doubling of container capacity and halving of shipping costs.
Folding steel racks are an economical and sustainable solution. It is easy to load the vehicles into the container, and because they do not need to be moved again until they reach their final destination, there is less risk of damage and theft. At the end of the voyage, you can return up to 60 folded pods in one 40 ft container.
How Many Cars Can You Fit In A Container?
This depends on the size of container and the cars in question, but by any estimate racking systems instantly increase the number of cars you can fit in a container. The actual number also depends on the use of an appropriate racking system to maximise capacity. Whereas before you might have loaded two or three small cars into a 45 ft container, you can now transport six, thus reducing your shipping costs by a third.
Transporting Cars Of The Same Model
The following figures provide a rough guide to how many cars you can transport in one container with a folding vehicle racking system:
• 5 - 6 small models such as Smart, Fiat 500 etc.
• 4 - 5 medium-sized cars, e.g. Skoda Octavia, Ford Focus, Honda Civic, VW Golf
• 4 large cars, such as Ford Mondeo, BMW 5 Series
• 3 SUVs /pickups, e.g. Nissan Qashqai, Volvo XC90, Range Rover Sport, BMW X5
A further advantage is that versatile folding steel racks allow you to load a combination of different sizes and models safely and securely within the same container.
Find Out More
Want to find out more about how containerised car transport can lower your car shipping costs? Download our free eBook, ‘The Containerised Car Transport Guide', or get in touch with one of our car transport specialists today.
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