Satellite photos of all the cars waiting at UK port
 

Okay being a huge fan of Google Earth and having found out so so much about people. places, etc while investigating, I couldn't help but do a search of the Wallenius Wilhelmsen Terminals or port (see below for address to enter). Once there you can look at all the "tops" of parking garages, ships and lots. If you click on the company name it will take you once there to a series of photos showing all the different things being loaded by them which includes of course Minis but also Range Rovers, huge VW cargo vans, even huger (is that a word) tractors, CAT machinery, enormous armed force carriers. It was so cool to see the diverse vehicles they transport. When you see the box that says "more information" by the company name, just click and it will show you the photos I am referring to. Or you can try to figure out what makes all the cars are that are lined up waiting! I don't know how old the photos are, I know from my experience searching here in the states, that the photos can be recent or years old. It does however give you a better idea of the vast scale of the operations at the port.
On the companies website I was able to find the schedule for every ship coming from Southampton port to Baltimore, which includes projected date leaving and arriving. You can also see where the ship goes once it leaves Baltimore.....and I can only say I am glad I don't live down under as it eventually ends its journey there in some instances. Have fun! And of yes I know it takes all kinds......but to me this was a heck of a lot of fun.....don't judge me!

• Test Road-LF-Eastern Docks, Southampton - Terminal,
  SO14 3GG, Southampton
  Hampshire, United Kingdom

New to Shipping: Hoegh (if not on Kline or WW)
 

Having been told my Mini was at port then the rep telling me the "port" was Munich, I became a bit concerned. (Munich is a river port & doesn't have RORO shipping per my research. Apparently it is the place where if you are in Europe you can see your vehicle before it ships so is listed on the transport documents but doesn't mean anything about where your car is actually going.)
Again neither my local or the Mini folks were of any help. Apparently it is not "assigned" to a vessel until it is actually scanned as it is loaded onto the vessel. I was running my VIN through other shippers (RORO) in port now and found my VIN was listed on the Hoegh website cargo tracking page! Which leaves tomorrow, so I am keeping my fingers crossed.
I truly don't know why in this day of automation, when everything is scanned, it isn't easier to tell exactly where your car is at. I mean I don't think it was unloaded at the port without MINI having access to that information.
The South Hampton port has a page called "planned shipping moments" that lists the vessels in port, what type and where they came from and are going to with the dates. I would check any shippers who have a motor vehicle designation or roro but also check where they came from as my shows Bremerhaven which should have been a tip that BMW is adding other carriers.
On another note both the address for WW and for Kline need to be updated as if you click on the ones embedded in the how to page it will send you to an unknown entry site. Both sites tracking are easily located by entering their names as a search term. I did think it appeared that the K Line has improved its tracking since the article was first posted.
Hope this helps anyone looking for port/shipping information.

tracking my vessel via Hoegh Autoliners.
 

After discovering (through more time that I want to admit to spending) which vessel my car is assigned to, I was able to find a ton of information. When I checked on https://www.hoeghautoliners.com/my-cargo, I found my VIN was assigned to them and that the vessel was the Emerald Ace. (For an Irish woman with green eyes who used to own a business called the Emerald Eyes Collection I think that is a good sign!)
This site: http://www.southamptonvts.co.uk/Live...ned_Movements/
provided me the information to find what vessels are listed as arriving into the Southhampton port. From there I found the vessel was supposed to be there yesterday but is now running a day late.
On www.marinetraffic.com I found that the ship was in Antwerp Belgium after leaving Beamer Heaven and although scheduled to leave yesterday per the Southampton port site, it didn't get under way until just a day later. This site is great because the satellite tracking data is updated frequently and I was able to see that it was berthed and then later under way. I was able to determine the route to Southampton and through an online calculator determine how far the UK port was and how long it would take to get there at the speed posted of the vessel. (Ex. 210 nautical miles between Antwerp & Southampton, vessel reported travelling at 8 knots per hour, means unless it speeds up it is not getting there until tomorrow. Hoping once out in the channel it will speed up. Everything is posted in UTC (Universal Time Coordinated used to be called Greenwich Mean Time) which is five hours ahead of EST (eastern standard time). I went ahead and signed up for a free account with the Marine Traffic site and added the vessel (Emerald Ace) to a "fleet" which will provide me with email notifications of events while at sea. You can see the weather too which might impact shipping time.
The other site I visited to find out information once I found my vin was not assigned to a WW or Kline vessel was the Heough shipping site: https://www.hoeghautoliners.com/trade-routes
Another site I found helpful: https://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/search.phtml Once you have the vessel name they can help you with tracking.
If you become really interested in tracking as I have unfortunately you can also check out the sites including Google Earth which show satellite images of the coordinates of the vessel. There are others that provide real time satellite images but most of them seemed to charge and I am not that anal yet. Hoegh runs regular routes to Baltimore for BMW that they should be added to the main article based on my findings.
I found (please don't judge me!) 65 photos of the Emerald Ace. There were YouTube videos of the vessel. It is really neat as it has solar panels to provide power particularly when in port in an attempt to limit the carbon foot print. I am including a photo of the ship. I have all kinds of information now about the ship and I have found it fascinating.
I think the dealer I purchased from thinks I am insane, but they never seem to have any information and act put out that you bother asking them. Despite my attempts to remain cordial , I already know I will never get another vehicle with that dealership. I doubt they are so busy that they couldn't answer a quick question. I will get more money if I can sale my current car rather than trade it and I didn't want to sell it too soon and be carless, so I think my wanting to know the information is a valid concern.
Honestly I can blame this site for setting my on this path to track my MINI!
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...14a453fb8d.jpg
This is the Emerald Ace that is assigned to bring my Mini to Baltimore (Hoegh Shippers). Isn't it beautiful!

If your Mini is at port on 02/10/22 you may be loaded onto the Emerald Ace. My Clubman's Vin has shown up assigned to that vessel & imagine other Minis are as well. The ship is currently docked at Berth 44. (That is the Berth that The Titanic left from and has a fair amount of press because of that) in the "ocean" portion of the ports. I have searched everywhere to find live satellite or webcam coverage in hopes of watching the cars being loaded tomorrow. I believe it is scheduled still to depart tomorrow after loading. Yeah! Not long now.

Feb 13th SHIP EN ROUTE to Baltimore
 

A week after I found my Vin assigned to the vessel Emerald Ace, MINI finally confirmed my car had left the port and was in transit. If your car was at port at same time, you very well may be on same ship. You can put your VIN in the Hoegh website under tracking and it will confirm if you are on it or on one leaving soon. The vessel tracking service has it coming in on Feb. 23. am hoping for good weather and NO delays.

Which accessories are installed at the Baltimore port
 

Anyone know what accessories are installed at the Baltimore Port? I was able to find out that WW does the processing for BMW and read about how damages are fixed, but wondered what is considered an "accessory" on a Mini.....owners manuals? mats? badges? stripes? trying to gauge how long it may take and am really impressed at how many cars they run through there in a day.

From what I was told by the Dealer, if you selected upgraded Wheels those are done at the Port.

Has anybody ever had their car move backwards?

My car has been listed as "In Transit" for over a week. Now it is back to "At The Port".

Does this mean it has arrived at the port here in the USA?

Yes, that's exactly what it means. Once it goes back to "In Transit", that means it's on the road to your dealership from the USA port.

Yes and it will make you nuts. They had mine at the Uk port after it arrived in Baltimore, but for a while it had judged back from where they said it was once making me crazy!

A Last Note !
 

It took almost 3 months to the day, but it seemed like far, far longer! The tracking system can help or drive you nuts. I had tracked my car all the way to the port in Baltimore where it was off loaded, while MiniUSA had it still waiting at the Southampton Port! For almost 3 weeks there was no movement, even though the reps on phone could "tentatively confirm" (how can a confirmation be tentative?) that the information I had found on my own was accurate. It seemed to take a very long time in Baltimore, leading me to wonder why a priority one (sold car) which is supposed to go to the front of the line was taking longer than estimated and hoping it hadn't been damaged and that was reason for delay. It was only when it was actually at the dealership that the tracker showed movement from the port in the UK.
It came in late on arrival day and took a full day for the dealership to prepare the car. Prepare means inspect and detail as all accessories had been installed in Baltimore. Finally on day 3 I picked it up and now I will never have to track again. Quite honestly I have a difficult time understanding why when we have such advanced logistics, the tracking is so inaccurate. If the car identifier (VIN) is scanned through all the steps it would take the computer a quick blip to update the tracking record and would not require any human action.
Would I suggest ordering a Mini? Well yes and no. If you know your dealer, trust your dealer and have one which makes it a point to keep you informed, than absolutely order and get the one of your dreams. Without question you will get a better deal by buying a car on the lot. If you are uncertain about the dealership you are working with, than I would recommend you either find one close to your dream OR order it from another dealership even if it means you have to drive a distance to pick it up. You can have it serviced at the dealership in closest proximity after you get it.
Even though I drove off unknowing there was only a trace of gas in the car and had to stop after driving the car only about 15 miles, my yet unnamed Mini Clubman is here and I am thrilled. Actually that the car lacked a full tank of gas was pretty much consistent with all the rest of the dealership actions. Can you imagine if my first Mini connected road service call was because I was stuck on the side of the road out of gas less than 30 minutes after leaving the dealership?
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...509e11cb46.jpg
My Mini waiting inside the dealership to stay out of the rain.

Mine has been showing At the Port in the USA for two weeks. However, my dealer contacted me on their own indicating they think they will have it early next week. They had me set up an appointment for pick-up later next week. So the dealer must have some info we don't see.

Yes their fleet manager will not when it is released from Baltimore to be picked up by carrier and will have an idea of the day. Sold cars go to the front of the line. If you talk to MINI on phone, they may also be able to give you the day it is scheduled to arrive at the dealer. How much information you get depends a lot on your dealer, is what I found out. SO glad it is here!! It rather feels like Christmas, so perhaps the wait added to the experience....nah I would rather not have had such a long wait! Kc

I went through this with my first MINI. Ordered in 2002, received in 2003. Yes I have a photo of the ship she was on for her trans Atlantic trip.

There was a group of us on a forum with their cars on the same ship. Once she got to the port in NJ, one of the group went up there and took a photo of a the lot with hundreds of MINIs. We all new that each of ours was somewhere in that photo.

Yeah!, I've been through this before, I know how you feel.

We just ordered a 2022 Clubman S, Iconic British Racing Green with Black roof and Rally stripes. This morning we got our VIN from the OL so, the craziness of the wait is starting again twenty years later.

Fun!

Mine is here and I am having such a blast with it, that it was worth the headache. I found out the hard way how important the dealership that you purchase from is in terms of how long it takes to get your car. A '22 model year! I just started seeing the photos of the changes in the last month and am looking forward to seeing how look when folks start getting them home and on the road.

My Clubman Production was randomly delayed from 10 days to 7 weeks
 

Hey everyone I didn’t know if this is a best thread to put this in. The beginning of July I ordered a ‘22 John Cooper Works Clubman. My dealer was able to get me an earlier build slot and I was very grateful as it went into production on July 13th… keep in mind I got my production number immediately, I got my Vin number about the 9th or 10th. When I checked in with the 866-ask-mini line last week they told me production started the 13th of July was scheduled to be completed by July 23rd so it was estimated at about 10 days. For the heck of it I went ahead and called this morning and I randomly got told that production finish date is now expected for September 3rd. No one on the helpline including the management they talk to as well as my dealer had any clue what was going on. Mini asked me if the dealer attempted to make any changes but no changes were made whatsoever. My dealer did say that he had several orders placed within days of mine and all of them he was shocked how fast they were being produced so he didn’t seem to terribly worried but also didn’t have an explanation.

I called the mini helpline one more time and got the same answer that their info is just update it by the factory and they have no clue what’s going on. If any of you experienced or heard of this significance of a delay randomly? Both the dealer and the mini helpline call said they can see it’s way early or later by a couple days but they’ve never seen it go more than that and again this is seven weeks out. Any insight would be greatly appreciate it!

I think your Mini production was delayed due to the semiconductor shortage and then the factory closed for summer break until end of August. I know from the Netherland factory (Countryman) they are not more working 3 shifts and the summer break starts days earlier then normal because of missing parts.
I ordered my Clubman end of July with a 3 month delivery time.

My car is also on Hoegh Autoliners, not the WW vessel fleet, which is who I thought for sure would be giving my car a ride across the pond. Should be here around Dec 26, according to their site.

Our new JCW Countryman has been sitting at the dock for about 5 days, waiting for her ship. How long have you seen this stage take? And then, once it's on the ship, how long does it take to get to California??
https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...82ee3d0be2.jpg

New 2023 Production Timeline
 

This is a post for reference for anyone ordering on the east coast (in case your MA isn’t forthcoming with details).

I ordered at the very end of February to get one of my dealership’a first 2023 reserves. The MA was clear about how tricky it’s been to reserve custom builds, and that MINI is doling out seriously limited build slots to each dealership. Your dealership might take your order without a slot available, and that seriously adds to the wait time on a production number. I got my # instantly, but the timeline is still estimated to 12-16 weeks (more if they shut down the plant again). I’d bet that if your dealership does custom orders without a ready slot, your wait time will be quite a bit longer.
Essentially my order went to the plant March 1.
MyGarage showed “Production Begins” April 5,
and my MA clarified that my MINI is scheduled to begin actual production on the line May 4.
Projected arrival at dealership: End of June.

The production queue is just where they’ve assessed parts and chips and can confirm they have what’s needed to build your car (my heated steering wheel got dropped, but they confirmed HK sound at this stage).
I’m in the Northeast US, so I’m hoping to see my new baby by the end of June!

I’ll update if anything changes.

Also keep in mind that my car can’t just be on the line any day since it’s a convertible, and they do those babies in batches all together. My timeline might be longer than for a typical hardtop!
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...965162be0.jpeg

Not much new activity but I will go ahead and post my ordering story. Order the first of Sep 2022 with a Georgia dealer. Was told average was about 6 months but it is what is so I went ahead and ordered mine. I ordered a 2023 Mini Cooper S Convertible.

A few weeks went by and my dealer, who was shocked, told me I already had a VIN. So now I can start tracking my order with Mini's website tracking. So in 4 weeks from the time I placed my order, my car is now sitting on the port dock waiting on a ship, I don't usually have this kind of luck and truly hope it holds up!

Below are the different stages it has gone through in just a couple of weeks. I guess it could arrive at the dealership within 4 to 5 weeks now.

As you can see in the last status report she is at the port awaiting to be loaded. Mine was built in the Netherlands so I don't know which port loads those vehicles.

Will try some of the tracking the ship information so nicely posted by KCinLex and see if I have any luck.


https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...7cbe09bbbf.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...6fd0764e1b.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...9c46dbfc93.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...53419a1024.jpg

Quick update. My car sat at the port waiting to be loaded. On the 6th of Oct she had been loaded and the ship was on it's way, the ship (Brooklands) had left port for Baltimore, MiniUSA provide the ship info for me with a phone call to them. Been tracking the ship since she left port.

Once they are out of range from land towers, to tracking her you have to use satellite option, and there is a separate fee which is steep, so I didn't par take of. Once they are close enough to land towers it shows up again. The map as you can see gives excellent route and exact location. The ship has been averaging roughly 20 Mph, with a 3400 mile trip to Baltimore, it will take about 7 days.

Looks like she is on time and projected to reach Baltimore the 19th. What I don't know is if my car will be off loaded, then and then trucked to Ga or if the ship will go to sea again to Brunswick Ga port for off load. Dealer states most their cars come from Brunswick.

This ship tracking site is free but you will have some limited info, to unlock the rest is pretty expensive. I felt the free info was enough for me.

https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...0893055e33.png
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...0415807765.png

Really blown away by all the info you can get tracking these ships and all for free!

My ship has been hitting 3 different ports in Baltimore, dropping off and picking up I would expect.

Anyway, looks like I'm 2 days from an offload of my new baby at the Georgia port of Brunswick and to be trucked to my selling dealer who is also located in Georgia.

Hoping and expecting my pickup to be later part of next week. Dealer still can't believe the speed in which my order has gone and neither do I, but for sure take it. Lol






https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...8414a8b38c.png
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...167083d689.png
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...993f48ea6f.png

Quite interesting reads.

Update
 

Is there an updated list of instructions on how to track my mini now that it is In Transit?