There is a reason that we do not drive along the road and pass a car transporter constructed from wood. It is therefore one of life’s great curiosities that wood remains the primary material used for constructing vehicle frames inside containers. Today, we take a look at the mechanical and chemical properties of steel and wood, and explore their use in container vehicle transport.

The car transport business and roll-on-roll-off shipping have a long, and troubled, history. Until recently, it has been a burden stoically borne. With no other options available, vehicles have retained the dubious honour of being “that” awkward package that is simply impossible to wrap. However, one tantalising possibility has emerged, and it promises to do the unthinkable. Can shipping containers really carry cars in a safe, cost-effective, and practical way?

In the automotive logistics industry, the debate continues to rage. How to transport cars in the safest and most cost effective way? Moving expensive vehicles from A to B is enough to make anyone feel slightly pale, and that’s without the difficulties of factoring in risk assessments, insurance, and timescales. Here’s a quick list of why container shipping may just be the answer.

It goes without saying that Trans-Rak steel framed car racking systems for containerised transport are the starting point for safe, secure and efficient transport. Although the great benefit of using the Trans-Rak system is optimising the payload within shipping containers, this is not the priority when loading vehicles.

Whether you are shipping ten cars or one hundred cars, some of the basics of logistics remain the same. The priority must always be that the car arrives safely and undamaged, with timely arrival following close behind as a highly desirable second priority.

Before we discuss ways to improve any service, of any type, we must first agree how quality of service can be measured. In an ideal world, we would benchmark the current service quality, execute a programme of planned improvements and then measure the quality of service afterwards. All of this implies that improvements must be measurable to be of any value.

Containerising cars is not a new concept and it has the great benefit of guaranteeing delivery from point A to point B more or less anywhere in the world.

The advent of dedicated RoRo vehicle carrying ocean going ships made that mode of transport the most popular by far for sending cars around the world. It is cheap but slow and the range of destinations is restricted. However, for clients who need a large consignment delivered to a port serviced by one of these ships, there is no cheaper method.

Covered car transport services have traditionally been associated with the prestige end of the market. It has long been the favoured method for transporting vehicles such as liveried racing cars, prestige and classic cars, and open top cars. There are several benefits that lend appeal:

The reputation of a car shipping service is the number one factor that clients consider when choosing a service for a particular delivery. Of course there are other critical factors such as price and availability, but if a company’s reputation is not good then they simply will not win the business that their more respected competitors do.