2020 Shipping Movements

[Mr Miserable]

If you are waiting for MODEL S or Model X

Although Model S and Model X are made in the same US factory as the Model 3 their delivery journey to you is markedly different.

Both Model S and X are shipped partly assembled in containers (3 to a container).

They are moved by road from Fremont to the Oakland Joint Intermodal Terminal where they are loaded on to a train.

The train then takes about 9 bone-rattling days to travel to Houston. (actually BNSF Pearland).

The containers are then moved by road to the dock at Barbers Cut (webcams) where they are then loaded on to a scheduled container ship that eventually arrives 15 days later in Rotterdam (Note: Although the ships have a scheduled stop in Antwerp your containers are unloaded in Rotterdam).

The current shipping schedules show: Dep Houston Arr Rotterdam

MAERSK OHIO 19/10 - 2/11

SAFMARINE MAFADI 25/10 - 9/11

MAERSK MONTANA 1/11 - 16/11

MAERSK HARTFORD 7/11 - 23/11

MAERSK IDAHO 15/11 - 30/11

MAERSK OHIO 22/11 - 7/12

SAFMARINE MAFADI 30/11 - 14/12


From Rotterdam the containers are moved by road (or barge) to Tilburg in Holland. Your car is removed from the container and then joins a mini production line where it is reassembled. It is then moved to Zeebrugge and shipped to Southampton.

As can be seen, all this takes time.

Finding your car in this complex logistics chain is difficult but there is a man who can. @Vedaprime is the specialist in this area. You can find him here but he normally resides on Twitter.

 

[Mr Miserable]

RCC ANTWERP has left the San Francisco sea fog behind and she is now 130 miles off the Mexican coast. Since leaving Pier 80 she has sailed just over 499nm and so has 2782nm to go until arriving off Balboa.

Her position at midday Z was N30.1 W118.6 which I have marked with a star on the chart below.
She is currently making 16 kts and is on time to arrive on the evening of 29 Oct. It looks as though she has her canal transit booked for early on 30 Oct, but more on that closer to the time. The weather is overcast with a chance of showers. The temperature has risen to about 19C from 15C in San Francisco.

The weather for her passage to Balboa looks fine with none of the heavy storms which plagued the Q3 ships. Looking ahead, the hurricane season for the Caribbean is nearly over and she would be very unlucky to catch one but the North Atlantic in November can often provide a challenge or two.

All the cars onboard will have been lashed to the deck and parked very close together. The idea is that in the unlikely event that a car breaks free from its lashings its movement will be restricted by the close proximity of neighbouring cars. OK so a couple of cars get damaged but the ship will be undamaged and the ship’s stability will not be compromised. All the decks are regularly inspected for fire safety and to ensure all the vehicles are secure.

The calculations concerning the ships stability are complex and are done by computer but the ‘rubbish in, rubbish out’ rule applies and so are done by a senior officer qualified to do so. The stability is augmented by a complex trim and ballast system which pumps water to numerous ballast tanks as required. It is not automatic and again will be the responsibility of a senior officer.

Tomorrow we will look at the safety record of these type of ships...

 

[Morriscoombes]

I think I've only ever used something like that in an escape room

 

[Spikeyspud]

Last time I saw anything like that was in the privacy of my attic!

 

[Vedaprime]

Details for Toscana. Toscana has set destination to Shanghai from South Korea due 23:00 local Fri 23rd

 

[Davids2885]

Thank you Mr Miserable for your update on the progress of RCC Antwerp and I look forward to watching its progress over the coming weeks in the hope that my car is on it.
Do we have any idea what percentage of charge is on the cars when they are loaded and how much does this reduce during the voyage?

 

[Mr Miserable]

Thank you Mr Miserable for your update on the progress of RCC Antwerp and I look forward to watching its progress over the coming weeks in the hope that my car is on it.
Do we have any idea what percentage of charge is on the cars when they are loaded and how much does this reduce during the voyage?

I don't.

 

[Zakalwe]

How many M3s fit on these ships?

 

[LongRanger]

3000-3500 best estimate, 4000 at a push on the bigger ships

A lot of lithium-ion !

 

[Runescom]

Details for Toscana. Toscana has set destination to Shanghai from South Korea due 23:00 local Fri 23rd

View attachment 601307 View attachment 601308

Wow, 1 day to unload in Zeebrugge maybe the ship will go to the Koopman Terminal as well in Amsterdam? Because all the cars are LHD.

 

[Mr Miserable]

Wow, 1 day to unload in Zeebrugge maybe the ship will go to the Koopman Terminal as well in Amsterdam? Because all the cars are LHD.

That's not going to happen. TOSCANA will head to Bremerhaven after Zeebrugge. She will be unloading in Zeebrugge over 2 days, not one.
You may have more luck with TANNHAUSER which will possibly call at Amsterdam after Zeebrugge on 8 December, however we don't know yet whether it will be carrying any Teslas.

 

[BelgianBlue]

Regarding my TMS i got the VIN yesterday and was told the car is on MAERSK OHIO 19/10 - 2/11 in route to Tilburg for assembly.
I was also told that the car would be ready for delivery mid to end December which is a delay compared to original date of mid to end November.

Now Tesla told me my car is one of the first model S to hit the EU in Q4 but how does that align with such late delivery in Q4?
All the other shipments mentioned by Mr. Miserable in post #6061 would not reach there customers by end of Q4?

Are the TMS and TMX cars realy that long in the mini factory in Tilburg or are they shipped out in batches from there?

 

[Mr Miserable]

RCC ANTWERP continues to progress towards the Panama Canal.
Her position at Midday Z was N25.2 W113.8 which puts her about two thirds down the Baja California peninsula. She is maintaining just over 16 kts and is on schedule to arrive on the evening of 29 Oct off Balboa.
The weather continues to be fine with the temperature rising all the time as she continues south, it is now up to 24C. The next 48 hours should see clearing skies and it remaining dry.

I still have her pencilled in to arrive in Zeebrugge around 11 Nov and Southampton a couple of days after that.

GRAND DOLPHIN is the next ship to load at Pier 80 and is currently enroute from San Diego. She will arrive alongside in the small hours tomorrow morning. I'm not yet sure when she will depart but she won't be staying long since TRITON ACE, which will be EU bound, is due to start loading on Monday. Additionally, I am not actually sure where she will depart to but I am pretty sure it won't be to Europe and so it will most likely be to the Far East.

Meanwhile over in the Far East, TOSCANA is approaching the busy port of Shanghai and will dock later tonight. She is not due to depart to Zeebrugge until next Tuesday. She will be transporting only LHD SR+ for the European market.

 

[Vedaprime]

Regarding my TMS i got the VIN yesterday and was told the car is on MAERSK OHIO 19/10 - 2/11 in route to Tilburg for assembly.
I was also told that the car would be ready for delivery mid to end December which is a delay compared to original date of mid to end November.

Now Tesla told me my car is one of the first model S to hit the EU in Q4 but how does that align with such late delivery in Q4?
All the other shipments mentioned by Mr. Miserable in post #6061 would not reach there customers by end of Q4?

Are the TMS and TMX cars realy that long in the mini factory in Tilburg or are they shipped out in batches from there?

It takes typically 1-3 days to clear the port which I will see in near real time for each car. Tilburg reassembly takes about 10 days and then movement to Denmark will add a few days to a week until delivery. You are looking at a November delivery if it is correct you are on Ohio.

 

[JC100]

Just been told by Tesla delivery dept that they think Antwerp is only carrying SR+ cars

 

[Vedaprime]

Just been told by Tesla delivery dept that they think Antwerp is only carrying SR+ cars

in my tracking experience, Tesla staff are unfortunately not the best sources of information.

We have seen LR and P right hand drive pictures of them sitting at Fremont. While the pictures Oct 8 seem to be for cars headed likely to Australia/New Zealand,

I find the build dates in past quarters are very close for the right hand regions, so it is likely Tesla have done LR/P production runs for right hand drive Europe. Like all RoRo, we don’t have visibility of what is on the ships, but next week, I will see what was produced in the early production runs on the AUNZ container ships by variant type.

 

[Mr Miserable]

In Feb 19 the GOLDEN RAY docked at Pier 80 and loaded its precious Tesla cargo and departed for China.

This was a comparatively new ship entering service in 2017, benefitting from a modern bridge and all the advantages that modern computer technology can bring. Although like many other pure vehicle carriers she was 200 metres long she was a bit wider at just over 35 metres. That extra width allowed her to carry up to 7700 cars. She left Pier 80 on 13 Feb 19 and arrived safely in Shanghai on 1 Mar 19.

On 8 Sep 19 the GOLDEN RAY was leaving Brunswick, Georgia en route to Baltimore. She had onboard about 4500 Kia and Hyundai cars and as she entered the Atlantic she started to list. In an action reminscent of the HOEGH OSAKA incident in the Solent in Jan 2015, the local pilot immediately steered the vessel towards shallow water to prevent a total capsize. 23 crew members were rescued unharmed although for 3 of them trapped in the engine room with an uncontrolled fire it was a close run thing. The HOEGH OSAKA was refloated by the salvage company, subsequently repaired and quickly returned to service. That's not the case with the GOLDEN RAY - it's still at the mouth of the river, lying on it's side. It is being totally dismantled in situ.


The US NTSB has yet to report on the GOLDEN RAY accident but the UK Maritime Accident Investigation Branch has issued its report on the HOEGH OSAKA incident which is an interesting read.

Vehicle carriers do not have a good safety record. The accidents and incidents can be largely grouped into 2 different cause groups - Fire and Instability.

Let’s look at fires first of all. 5 major fires since January 2019 that I am aware of.

January 2019 SINCERITY ACE caught fire whilst crossing the Pacific with 3500 Nissans on board. 5 Crewman died
March 2019 GRANDE AMERICA caught fire and sank in the Bay of Biscay
May 2019 GRANDE EUROPA caught fire whilst off the Spanish coast in the Mediterranean. It had no less than 2 separate fires in brand new vehicles within the space of 4 hours.
June 2019 DIAMOND HIGHWAY was abandoned in the South China Sea because of a fire onboard.
June 2020 HOEGH XIAMEN caught fire whilst loading at Jacksonville Florida. Despite the fire service being on scene very quickly and using drones with IR cameras to detect hot spots, the ship continued to burn for days and was a total loss. This fire was very concerning since if a fire cannot be extinguished when alongside with the benefit of a fully equipped fire service using fire boats and all the latest technology, what chance would it have at sea?

The causation of most of these fires is put down to car batteries, that’s normal ICE 12V car batteries on brand new cars. No, I don’t suppose you read about these horrific incidents in the Daily Mail since they didn’t involve a Tesla.

The other major issue with these ships is their stability or rather potential instability. Generally there are 2 reasons for stability issues the first of which is water ingress and the second is failing to ballast or trim the vessel properly. Ocasionally the latter leads to the former.
Typing the following incidents into a search engine will produce an eye-opening read.

Dec 02 TRICOLOR Enroute from Zeebrugge to Southampton sank following collision. Notoriously hit twice more by 2 different vessels.
Jul 06 COUGAR ACE Developed a severe list
Dec 12 BALTIC ACE 11 died following a collision
Jan 15 HOEGH OSAKA Developed a severe lis
Jan 16 MODERN EXPRESS Severe list
Sep 19 GOLDEN RAY Capsized

The American NTSB report on the GOLDEN RAY is yet to be published, however there were some hearings last month from which you can get a very good idea of what went on.

 

[J-AMS]

Regarding my TMS i got the VIN yesterday and was told the car is on MAERSK OHIO 19/10 - 2/11 in route to Tilburg for assembly.
I was also told that the car would be ready for delivery mid to end December which is a delay compared to original date of mid to end November.

Now Tesla told me my car is one of the first model S to hit the EU in Q4 but how does that align with such late delivery in Q4?
All the other shipments mentioned by Mr. Miserable in post #6061 would not reach there customers by end of Q4?

Are the TMS and TMX cars realy that long in the mini factory in Tilburg or are they shipped out in batches from there?

Also got confirmed my order (Model S) has been matched to a VIN today and Tesla told me I should expect delivery in November, so I guess my car is on the Ohio as well.

 

[Morriscoombes]

In Feb 19 the GOLDEN RAY docked at Pier 80 and loaded its precious Tesla cargo and departed for China.

This was a comparatively new ship entering service in 2017, benefitting from a modern bridge and all the advantages that modern computer technology can bring. Although like many other pure vehicle carriers she was 200 metres long she was a bit wider at just over 35 metres. That extra width allowed her to carry up to 7700 cars. She left Pier 80 on 13 Feb 19 and arrived safely in Shanghai on 1 Mar 19.

On 8 Sep 19 the GOLDEN RAY was leaving Brunswick, Georgia en route to Baltimore. She had onboard about 4500 Kia and Hyundai cars and as she entered the Atlantic she started to list. In an action reminscent of the HOEGH OSAKA incident in the Solent in Jan 2015, the local pilot immediately steered the vessel towards shallow water to prevent a total capsize. 23 crew members were rescued unharmed although for 3 of them trapped in the engine room with an uncontrolled fire it was a close run thing. The HOEGH OSAKA was refloated by the salvage company, subsequently repaired and quickly returned to service. That's not the case with the GOLDEN RAY - it's still at the mouth of the river, lying on it's side. It is being totally dismantled in situ.


The US NTSB has yet to report on the GOLDEN RAY accident but the UK Maritime Accident Investigation Branch has issued its report on the HOEGH OSAKA incident which is an interesting read.

Vehicle carriers do not have a good safety record. The accidents and incidents can be largely grouped into 2 different cause groups - Fire and Instability.

Let’s look at fires first of all. 5 major fires since January 2019 that I am aware of.

January 2019 SINCERITY ACE caught fire whilst crossing the Pacific with 3500 Nissans on board. 5 Crewman died
March 2019 GRANDE AMERICA caught fire and sank in the Bay of Biscay
May 2019 GRANDE EUROPA caught fire whilst off the Spanish coast in the Mediterranean. It had no less than 2 separate fires in brand new vehicles within the space of 4 hours.
June 2019 DIAMOND HIGHWAY was abandoned in the South China Sea because of a fire onboard.
June 2020 HOEGH XIAMEN caught fire whilst loading at Jacksonville Florida. Despite the fire service being on scene very quickly and using drones with IR cameras to detect hot spots, the ship continued to burn for days and was a total loss. This fire was very concerning since if a fire cannot be extinguished when alongside with the benefit of a fully equipped fire service using fire boats and all the latest technology, what chance would it have at sea?

The causation of most of these fires is put down to car batteries, that’s normal ICE 12V car batteries on brand new cars. No, I don’t suppose you read about these horrific incidents in the Daily Mail since they didn’t involve a Tesla.

The other major issue with these ships is their stability or rather potential instability. Generally there are 2 reasons for stability issues the first of which is water ingress and the second is failing to ballast or trim the vessel properly. Ocasionally the latter leads to the former.
Typing the following incidents into a search engine will produce an eye-opening read.

Dec 02 TRICOLOR Enroute from Zeebrugge to Southampton sank following collision. Notoriously hit twice more by 2 different vessels.
Jul 06 COUGAR ACE Developed a severe list
Dec 12 BALTIC ACE 11 died following a collision
Jan 15 HOEGH OSAKA Developed a severe lis
Jan 16 MODERN EXPRESS Severe list
Sep 19 GOLDEN RAY Capsized

The American NTSB report on the GOLDEN RAY is yet to be published, however there were some hearings last month from which you can get a very good idea of what went on.

so what happened to the Teslas on board the golden ray?

 

[Mr Miserable]

so what happened to the Teslas on board the golden ray?

According to the fourth line the ship arrived safely. You can assume they were unloaded.
The point I am making is that these accidents even happen to ships that Tesla has chartered in the past. It's not the case that it could never happen to a Tesla chartered ship, it could.