Auto Shipping Via Closed Container
Posted by Tom Kearns in Uncategorized, tags: auto, auto shipping, automotive, business, cars, logistics, moving, relocating, shipping, transportation, trucks, UncategorizedSpecialists recommending open auto shipping usually point out that it is considerably easier to load and unload open carriers. As many as 33 carriers can be fully loaded in a matter of 2 hours. It may take as long to load only a single car into a container and then to hoist the container onto the container carrier. The loading-unloading process is entirely different, requiring heavy-duty specialized equipment to be present on pick-up and destination sites. Existing container terminals are not adapted for handling cars and special areas have to be separately provided for the process and for the storage of relevant hardware. Separate and remote areas are also required to ensure the safety of client property. Container carriers manage about half of the number of cars an open carrier does.
The safety of a car in a container depends primarily on how well it is secured inside and on how professionally the vehicle is handled by the special loading-unloading equipment. If the container is not tailor-made for car transportation or the specific car brand, the process of securing it inside is rather complicated. In any case, it takes a lot of special wedging, tying, and supporting to secure a car in a container. Damage may occur if in the initial process mistakes are made which may remain undiscovered until the car reaches it destination and is unloaded.
In the open carrier damage may occur because the car is more easily accessible by people intent on doing it harm. Some cars have even been known to arrive with bullet holes. The closed container, while not totally inaccessible is far more so than the open one.
Crossing a border into a foreign country is difficult if not impossible for long open-carrier trains. Not every country has the same technology and equipment to handle the situation, and when they do, the varying documentation mandated from country to country may cause shipping delays. If long trains are loaded from manufacturing plants deep within foreign lands, when they reach the border of another country, the vehicles will have to be unloaded from the existing truck and loaded onto carriers capable of their transport on the other side of the border. This process opens up the vehicles to damage and theft. Again, the shipment is delayed.
Innovative technologies, such as Trans-Rack, may help solve such problems, but in some countries they are only now coming into use, while still not all major countries offer wide-spread closed container shipping.
Trans-Rack makes possible to increase the number of cars loaded into closed containers and reduces transportation costs by about 25%. The system ensures damage-free loading and unloading. It is, moreover, well secured against accidents: special experiments had Trans-Rack containers dropped from 5-meter heights, which resulted in damage to the containers but not to the property inside. Loading-unloading time is much shorter: 30 minutes for a single full container. Standardized systems for securing the car increase safety and reduce costs.
To read more about Auto Transport or Auto Shipping please visit MetroGistics.
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