Just found out MINI's slated for the west coast have to add two weeks just for the ships to get through the Panama Canal.

To make things worse my new MINI has been sitting at the port for shipment in England since October 9th and it is still waiting to get sea sick.

If I have not said it before I will say it now. Waiting really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, STINKS.

 

Well, when you find out which ship your Mini is on (ask your MA), you can watch your Mini traverse the canal!
I have a screenshot of the ship Gromit was on, going through the locks.
http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

AIS will also let you know within a few hours, where your Mini is through the Canal.
http://www.aislive.com/AISLivePortal...opDefault.aspx

 

Just try to be patient.. it's worth the wait.

I noticed that you're expecting a MINI that's nearly identical to mine. I have an '06 BRG/W MC w/ front + rear fogs, chrono pack, but minus the packages.

 

how much is shipping to the west coast anyway?

 

Going to ship your car?

 

I assume it is the same. There is a $500 destination charge and thats it.

 

It could be worse...


You could be waiting to take delivery in Hawaii... In which case you'd be looking at the trip to the west coast, offloading in California, and then transferred to yet another ship for the CA to HI run which is probably another 6 or 7 days...

 

Ships destined for the West Coast will often make other stops along the way: They offload Mini's and BMW's at a car dock on the Caribbean side of the canal for deliveries through Central and South America. Then sometimes, if the shipping traffic is heavy, your Mini's ship will have to wait it's turn going through the canal. If you look at the AIS site, the canal traffic is quite heavy.

After eventually getting to Port Hueneme (sometimes stopping in San Diego first to unload other brands of cars), it will continue across the Pacific to pick up Japanese or Korean cars, and continue the global circle.

 

no if I had to get it there, id drive, i was just wondering if there was a difference in the destination charge?

 

No