Well it looks like the MINI has passed customs! 2W has said the car is now in the delivered from status and now it’s with the PDC and onto a train. I figure 5 to 7 days to Toronto. This is going a bit faster than expected! And the last status update I’ll get until the car lands in Toronto.
Next up, tracking with Hansens, who I think is used to transfer the car from Concord to Oakville.
The Torrens arrived in Halifax on November 4th and departed today, November 5th, and is on it’s way to New York City. As you can see above, the car was off loaded this morning at 9:43am and almost 12 hours later at 8:38pm, it was released into the hands of the Halifax Autoport where it will go through customs processing, probably starting tomorrow. We should see a “Delivered From” status once that happens.
Then it’s the way to go from Halifax to Toronto. That trip only takes about 36 hours according to CN from Port to Toronto – Trailer or Container. By railcar, it can take 5 to 8 days.
So the expectation I’m setting with myself is that we’ll have the car in two weeks. I’m assuming two days for the paperwork, a week to ship to Toronto, and then 2 days for processing with the dealer. That brings us to November 20th. 🙂
Interestingly, the Port of Halifax suggests that a Discharge Terminal Dwell of 2 days, Rail Terminal Dray of 0 (doubt that), Inland Rail of 1.9 days (36 hours). So the car could be here next week, but I doubt that. Rumour has it that CN is slow to process cars in Halifax. On top of that, there is PDI and putting on the winter tires.
Here is a video about the Halifax Autoport – Imaging driving those cars onto the trains!
Here’s a neat video about what happens at the autoport between CN and Toyota with shipments of the Yaris from Europe.
The MV Torrens is only a few hours out from Halifax right now. By the time I get up in the morning, the ship should be docked or just docked and within a few hours, the Kumakart will be off the ship!
Next up, being shipped by train from Halifax to Concord just north of Toronto and then released to MINI Oakville where we pick it up. This will probably be two weeks! This is the part I can’t track, but I did hear that we’ll have it by November 25th!
After a brief swing through The Azores, the Torrens carrying the KUMAKART is finally pointed towards Halifax! So far six nights at sea with 5 to 6 more to go!
I admit, I’ve become a bit obsessed with tracking our the ship our car is on. Checking the logs, I have noticed a few times it’s slowed down to a crawl over the three days since it left Southampton. Comparing to earlier logs from Panama to Germany, I suspect the ship is having some engine troubles. Arrival in Halifax has already been delayed by two days already according to 2W. It is what it is! We are still getting the car way earlier than expected.
Here is the map so far:
Yes, you can find Cars Live on YouTube. For your viewing pleasure:
Episode 1:
Episode 2:
“After a leisurely drive around the Lido deck, we started a big party. Man those honkin’ Bimmers sure know how to party with their steins of good Bavarian bier! Us MINIs, could definitely keep up with our tasty British Stout.”
And there you have the latest Pixar Film – “Imported Cars”. Could you imagine what that would be like? LOL!
The car is in the Celtic Sea. Well, not in the actual water, but on the MV Torrens as it makes it’s way through the Celtic Sea and then through the Atlantic. Below was the placement of the ship about 3 hours ago. I have no idea what kind of updates we’ll see as it makes it’s trek across the Atlantic, I suspect we’ll get very few.
If you were to zoom out on the map at Marinetraffic.com, you don’t see a lot of updates until ships are near the Azores, and again near Newfoundland & Labrador, and Nova Scotia.
According to Wallenius & Wilhelmsen Logistics, the ship is now arriving on November 2nd. It is what it is, and these things take time.
I did notice that last night the ship had turned back to England briefly and was going at 3 knots and then all of a sudden it turned to continue it’s course across the Atlantic. That’s the little green blip just before the ship started going south.
Today is our transatlantic cruise day from Southampton to Halifax… Well not for Scott and I, but for our MINI.
Some interesting factoids:
According to the Port of Southampton Vessel Traffic Services, the Torrens is set to sail at 10pm tonight from dock 44, which is in the Ocean Dock area.
This is coming together way faster than I was anticipating. Scott received a package in our mail today and was was in it? Behold!
I do have to say, I prefer the font used online:
And I still say, Ontario needs to get more creative with their plates. BC, Alberta and Newfoundland & Labrador have beautiful multi coloured plates!
Forget UPS and FedEX, they’ve got nothing on this:
Our car has officially been ‘sold’ from Plant Oxford and is now in 
Southampton awaiting loading onto the MV Torrens which is a massive floating parking lot for cars and vehicles, in this case, travelling from Germany, Belgium and the UK to Canada and the United States.
Checking the weather in Southampton, the car is definitely going to be getting used to some cooler weather. We’re having similar weather in Toronto and Halifax. We’ll see what the next week brings.
Using Marinetraffic.com, we’ll be able to track the MV Torrens as it crosses the Atlantic.
The MV Torrens is a British-registered ship built in 2004. 200m length overall, beam of 32m, and has a gross tonnage of 61,321 tons
On voyage CA543-TRS it stopped in Bremerhaven, Germany; Zeebrugge, Belgium before arriving in Southhampton, UK on Sunday. Then sails to Halifax, Canada; New York City, USA; and then Brunswick, GA, USA; dropping off it’s automative cargo. Prior to being in Germany, it spent time in Peru and Panama.