Perspectives and Problems in the Closed Container Shipping Industry - What Lies Ahead?

By Tom Kearns

For most people, the only consideration of getting their car from here to there is to drive it. But now there is another option, that of shipping your vehicle by using a recently developing industry, that of auto shippers. There are many burgeoning reliable companies available now who will ship you car long distances, domestically or internationally. Shipping your auto has become easier, cheaper, more widespread and more secure

If you have just bought a car overseas, won a car lottery or are relocating far, far away, you do not have to give up that prized possession just because you can't drive it to its destination. You will no longer have to suffer the expense and monotony of driving your car to its final home, even if that is, in fact possible. You will not have to subject yourself and your car to possible damage, wear, tear and stress, or vandalism and theft. You will not have to learn a foreign language. What you will do is call a shipping company.

In early August of 2007, the French company CMA COM, S.A. ventured into the container shipping business. CMA COM, S.A. is the third largest shipping company in the world. They stated that at least four light vehicles, no matter what make or model, could be loaded into each of their containers. They declared that cutting edge technology was responsible for their entry into the container shipping industry. This technology enabled door-to-door shipping - from factory conveyor to the destination distribution center - with absolute safety.

Although the popularity of this method is increasing, the future of container shipping is still undetermined. The industry demands shipments of great complexity, risk and above all, responsibility. The makes large scale projects impossible to carry out successfully except for those large transportation companies able to obtain sufficient capital and technology to cover any problematic situation that may emerge.

The shipping company must be an experienced, qualified specialist to be entrusted with handling a cargo of expensive vehicles where even the slightest damage to them may lead to a financial nightmare for the company. An operator with a regular shipment schedule will need to hire a crew of permanent workers that have shown themselves to be skillful and gentle when dealing with the precious cargo. Such workers don't come cheap.

The future of container shipping depends on the development of national and international business. Containers are mostly required for large-distance, large-scale operations, most often in trading between countries. If a country has good safe roads - and not all large countries do - and a sufficiently large network of car factories (foreign or domestic) than the quicker, easier, and less expensive open-carrier method may be standardized. Countries work to improve conditions (road quality and road crime), but these improvements may take several decades before the easier method may be popularly regard as safe enough.

A business must be quite large to be able to take advantage of the cheapest options. There is much riding on whether car manufacturers can, in the future, transport their vehicles across borders directly to large metropolitan cities and commercial/industrial complexes - 21393

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