Shipping an overlanding vehicle is an occupational hazard of overlanding life. It’s not possible to drive everywhere. One of the big issues that concerns overland travellers is that of shipping their precious home-on-wheels around the world. The evergreen dilemma is: campervan shipping – container or ro-ro?

Campervan shipping – container or ro-ro?

Overlanders with smaller vehicles have the choice of putting it in a container or Roll-on/Roll-off (Ro-Ro). Cuthbert won’t fit into a container so for us, it’s Ro-Ro. The main benefit of container shipping that we miss, is the wide choice of available ports: all the main commercial ports of the world can handle containers, but far fewer take drive-off vehicles. We were conscious of this when we chose Cuthbert as our ‘overland vehicle of choice‘, but for us it was a compromise worth making.

Designing a camper-truck that is sufficiently compact to fit into a shipping container, requires significant compromises when considering its comfort for all-weather conditions and full-time life on the road. Many people seem to  prioritise the shipping container ability. We think the better approach is to consider how many days/weeks/months/years you will be spending in your camper-truck, and how many day/weeks/months/years it will spend on a ship. Our priority was the living comfort and we will deal with any inconveniences with shipping on the few occasions that they arise.

Vehicle Security

Another perceived benefit of a container when shipping an overlanding vehicle is vehicle security. Many believe that once their precious cargo is locked in the metal-can, it will be safe and secure until they take delivery at the end destination. Unfortunately this isn’t always the case. We have met several travellers whose containers were opened in transit with a few items missing, and one couple in Kenya who not only found an open container, but the whole content of their Land Rover absent on arrival in Mombasa.

Also, having spent 5 weeks on a cargo ship watching the craning of containers in various ports around the world, we have seen how little care is taken of containers in transit. Port crane staff have little regard for the well-being of the container contents. They regularly smashed containers into equipment, ship-sides and other containers. From what we’ve seen, we would highly recommend anyone shipping their vehicle in a container doesn’t simply drive it into a container and put on the handbrake. It should be seriously secured firmly to a base-pallet so it cannot tip or move around inside the container.

Anyway… as we were saying… it’s Ro-Ro for us. So here’s what we have done to bridge the gap between continents:

UK to/from mainland Europe 2014

• we use the Channel Tunnel vehicle train – far quicker and easier than the Ro-Ro ship.

Europe to/from Africa 2014/15

• we used Ro-Ro Walenius from Bremerhaven to Port Elizabeth. The same back from Port Elizabeth to Zeebrugge (click here to see Planning: getting to/from Africa)

Europe to South America 2015

• we shipped with Grimaldi from Hamburg to Montevideo . We sailed with Cuthbert on the ship for 5 weeks (see ship blog here).

South to Central America 2018

• around the infamous Darien Gap we put Cuthbert on a Hoegh ship from Cartagena in Colombia, to Colon in Panama. We arranged it through IVSSUK (click Darien Gap Vehicle Shipping)

North America to UK 2023

• after almost 8 years touring the whole of the Americas, we finally ship Cuthbert from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada back to Liverpool, UK by RORO. For family reasons, we end up doing this in a bit of a hurry and had another great service from IVSSUK

Cargo Ships – Sailing with your Truck

Once you’ve solved the dilemma of shipping an overlanding vehicle – container or ro-ro, you’ll need to get to the destination yourself! Sailing for weeks on a cargo ship with your truck to a new continent is an adventure. It’s not for everyone… but it’s an adventure 🙂

If your truck is your home, you need to consider where you will stay whilst your truck is in transit. For us it was a ‘financial no-brainer’. Getting from Europe to South America on the boat with our truck was far cheaper than the alternative of staying in hotels and paying flights.

Click here to see the practical info (Sail with your truck: Germany-Uruguay)

And here to see the blog of our time on-board (To Montevideo… by freight ship)

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