NEWS BLOG

Container shipping is a very efficient and cost-effective way to transport cars across large distances, but the topic of containerised shipping for cars is fraught with misconceptions. One of the greatest of these is the idea that wooden racking is the safest and most reasonable option for the automotive transport industry. In reality, there are far better alternatives out there than this costly and outdated option.

In a globalised economy where manufacturers and final users are tens of thousands of miles apart, getting cars moved from origin to destination usually involves using several transportation options. In the automotive industry, it’s common to use a combination of sea, train, and road transport to get products from the factory to dealership.

2022 started with worrying news for the already constrained global supply industry. During the first days of January, the Chinese city of Yuzhou went into total lockdown. This comes only a few weeks after another major Chinese city (Xian) went into lockdown in December 2021.

Although formally discovered in 1906, the search for the fabled Northwest Passage was finally ended not by human endurance, but climate change. In 2007, 101 years after it was first mapped, the famous arctic sea route was ice free and open to container traffic. However, should we really be using it for container shipping?

Whether trying to save a precious vehicle or shipping parts, damaged cars are important cargo. Here’s what you need to know!

A new generation of increased capacity, greener container ships is ready to sail. What does this mean for containerised car transportation costs in 2022?

A question many businesses have when investigating the feasibility of car container transport is “how many cars will go in a shipping container?” This is often the million-dollar question, as a key consideration for all logistics businesses is their transportation cost per unit. The more cars you can fit in a container, the lower your shipping cost will be.

Containerised shipping is considered a safe and sustainable way of moving high-value items from the point of manufacture to the final consumer. But despite the advantages offered by this method, some industries (like the automotive market) have not yet widely adopted containerisation and instead rely on RoRo shipping, despite its shortcomings for global journeys.

Indonesia is a hub for car transportation in East Asia, with many cars being shipped into Tanjung Priok port in North Jakarta, and from there to Asia, Australia, The Americas, and other locations. The shipping lines throughout Indonesia – the largest island archipelago in the world containing over 14,000 islands– are also busy with car shipments going from island to island, especially the population centres of Sumatra, Java, and Kalimantan.

As our readers are acutely aware, automotive businesses that specialise in containerised car transport operate in a very competitive sector, where opportunities to bring costs down sustainably simply can't be missed. These businesses compete with local as well as international companies with wide-reaching networks, interests, and investments.