NEWS BLOG

You may be sitting right now thinking about how you’re going to ship this new batch of cars from the manufacturer to the dealership. There’s a long journey ahead for the cars and your job is to ensure the cars arrive safely, securely and in pristine condition.

When it comes to shipping luxury goods such as cars, it pays to get it right. Gone are the days when the only options were antiquated RoRo ferries. Today, suppliers can make use of streamlined and efficient containerised methods. Here, we take a look at the various options, and how they can be optimised.

Logistics companies are always on the hunt for cost-cutting car transportation solutions. That’s why the industry is highly competitive. While new options seem to be appearing on a regular basis, only a small number of them make a real difference in containerised transport.

The Covid 19 pandemic has had a massive impact on the global car manufacturing industry. With so many supply chains dependent on Chinese manufacturers, the sector was feeling the pinch as far back as January, before most of the world had even woken up to the threat posed by the virus. Since then, and especially over the past three months, shutdowns across Europe, India, the UK, and the USA have forced many factories to close or reduce production, and have played havoc with global transportation routes.

A million and one things can go wrong when sending a consignment of cars across thousands of miles of ocean (or even 100 miles down the road). Any risk you can think of could and has materialised, from cars catching fire, to vehicle carriers sinking or drivers carelessly scratching (more realistically!) a car while unloading or parking it. Cars have fallen off transporters, been dropped by cranes and had something dropped on them by a crane.

Compared with older methods, containerised car racking systems offer significant efficiency improvements for international vehicle transportation. Containers are versatile, allowing a greater range of port options. And with an effective racking system, up to six cars can be held in a 40ft container. But which type of racking system is best?

Have you ever wondered why you are forced to use Roll-on-Roll-off ferries for car transportation when the rest of the world uses containers? You’re not alone. More myths abound regarding the containerised transport of vehicles than any other form of freight transport.

For international logistics and automotive shipping companies, transportation options have for a long time been limited. Containerisation is the dominant means of international freight generally, but it has been harder to implement for vehicles, whether for new products or end of life transit. However, the introduction of the R-RAK reusable automotive racking system has allowed efficient and cost-effective transport of vehicles for both the consumer market and scrappage.

At Trans-Rak, we are the global market leaders for car racking systems, produced in association with our Chinese manufacturing partner Singamas. Our goal as a business is to make international car transport quicker, safer and more affordable. In this article we would like to get back to basics and describe what we mean by a car racking system, what the alternatives are and how our products differ from other car racking solutions.

Container shipping costs have risen significantly since 2019. In particular, a number of interlinked disruptions caused by the pandemic provoked a peak in prices in 2021. Even before the virus took hold, the global eCommerce market was expanding, placing a strain on the availability of shipping containers. This shortage intensified further as Covid-related restrictions tightened - by 44% from 2019 to 2020. Combined with supply chain and labour capacity disruptions, a shortage of trucks and containers, as well as port congestion, conditions were ripe for a surge in prices during 2021.