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.

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.

Sustainability is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, especially in key industries such as vehicle logistics. Consumers and providers want to know that every effort is being made to make environmental considerations, but what’s the truth about sustainability? Porsche recently asked the team at Trans-Rak to find out – here are the results!

Transporting electric vehicles internationally by shipping container is difficult enough, without worrying about fires and accidents due to improperly handled lithium batteries. But after a spate of aircraft fires caused by lithium batteries igniting on board, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) brought in a series of rules in 2009, and the United Nations classified lithium batteries as Class 9A dangerous goods. Unfortunately, the interpretation of these safety guidelines is a topic rife with misconception. So, let's discuss legal compliance for companies that transport electric cars by container.

Classic, race, high-performance, and veteran cars are hot commodities in the field of international car transport. So, shipping them across the world in containers has its risks and challenges. As they are vehicles of historical interest and high technological or nostalgic value, customers often worry that they're not suitable for container shipping. Thankfully, Trans-Rak has developed a range of racking solutions to address these concerns.

When transporting rally cars from one location to another, safety, cost effectiveness, and speed are top priorities. Rally cars can be transported by road, air, or sea, and each method has its pros and cons. Road transport may be cost effective, but it’s time consuming and entails added risks for the vehicle. Air freight can get rally cars from A to B safely and in a record amount of time, but the costs are high and in most cases, it’s only an option if you’re moving one vehicle at the time.

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.

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.

With the cost challenges faced by the logistics industry today, switching to vehicle racking systems for containerised transport can be a make-or-break decision for automotive businesses that run large-scale shipping operations. As container prices remain stubbornly high, using multi-vehicle racking solutions is quickly becoming the most convenient way to make containerised shipping more economically viable and sustainable. But clever as they may seem, not all racking solutions can deliver the goods in terms of space efficiency, versatility, and cost. That's why we offer a 3D simulation service whenever our customers request a quote.