The Gumball Rally 3000! Not Just Any International Race
The Gumball Rally is a high octane international race from one side of the world to another. It started in 1999, and this year the race starts in Stockholm with a finish line in…. LAS VEGAS!!!
The participants are all usually high powered business moguls / popular personalities from the world of TV and music and eccentric car fanatics who take this race on with the same enthusiasm as the cast of “it’s a mad mad mad mad world!”
In partnership with Delivered on Time, the official Gumball Rally 3000 vehicle management company, Schumacher Cargo Logistics are proud to be the US Gumball rally international shipping coordinator for some of the most exotic and highly decorated cars we have ever seen…
We recently had a collection of Ferraris, Porsches, Vipers and a gold plated Rolls Royce with Gumball Rally paintwork, which we flew out to the starting line in Stockholm, Sweden.
With a start date of this Saturday May 23rd in Stockholm, over 100 cars will travel through Sweden, Norway, Denmark and Germany before arriving in Holland on Tuesday May 26th.
From here Deliver on Time will fly all 100 vehicles with a combined value of $200 million USD, in chartered freighters to Reno, Nevada.
From Reno the race continues to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Death Valley and then the last leg to the finish line in Las Vegas on Friday the 29th of May.
Who will win? We don’t know but what we do know is that the party to end all parties will happen over 2 days in Vegas. 
Warren Barnes, our VP and head of Schumacher Secure, which is our special department for collectible and exotic automobile shipping, will be there at the finish line in our “Schumacher Secure” Porsche 911.
We will update you with all the trials and tribulations of the race as it makes its crazy way from Sweden to Vegas……
Watch out for updates all next week – with lots of pictures of both the race and the international shipping aspect of the Gumball Rally 3000!!
We often feature special vehicles and projects that we have going on at Schumacher Cargo Logistics, but we’ve decided to turn it into a new series called, “What We Shipped This Week.” So without further ado, let’s begin.
Logistics of Shipping the Navistar International “Blade Truck” for the Brisbane Truck Show May 2015.
The Story
- We have shipped a lot of these magnificent trucks over the years, and they all had a sense of urgency around the shipping aspect, as most were to order and already sold at final destination.
- However, this stunning machine, the international “Blade” truck was a last minute decision by the distributor , to ship from Chicago to Australia for the Brisbane Truck show.
- With only days to spare, here is how we did it……..
Specifications
- This is a spectacular 450-600 horse power – 10 to 18 speed luxury driving experience with industrial work ethics
- Weighing in at 60,000 lbs, it has full stand up sleeper cab which looks more like an apartment than a sleeping space.
- With bed/kitchen and office, this truck is for the serious driver who needs home comfort while away on the road
The Shipping Process
The truck arrives at our loading yardfrom the distribution centre in Illinois. We plan to carefully load it onto a 40’ flat rack due to the time frame required to get it to Brisbane. RORO is an option usually but not this time as RORO is a 60 day sail. We need to get this on the water asap with a 25 day sail to Brisbane.
The truck needs to be fumigated and shrink wrapped before being exported. The fumigation process takes 24 hours to eradicate any possibility of insect or bug transfer from the US to Australia.
The unit is carefully lifted onto the flat rack.
Blocked and braced into position on top of the tarp which will eventually be shrink wrapped around the complete unit.
Industrial strapping is used to hold the chassis in place during transit.
Final strapping before shrink wrapping the truck to prevent any body corrosion or effect from salt water during the ocean freight.
All wheel trims and exposed chrome are covered prior to wrapping.
Truck is totally wrapped and protected for delivery to the port before loading on board the vessel.
Ready to Go
How it got there…
- The flat rack was loaded on board a vessel at the port of Long Beach.
- The rack was loaded at the highest point after all regular container were loaded. This is because you cannot load any more equipment on top of a flat rack
- The vessel sailed from LA to Sydney first – then transshipped to both Melbourne and Brisbane
- We got the truck delivered 1 week prior to the show
- Here is how is looks after its long journey ……
Ready to go to the Ball!!
Another successful shipment…another happy client!
Have you ever wondered how huge machinery and other pieces of equipment are shipped overseas? The process takes a lot of careful preparation and shippers must use the proper methods of securing over-sized machinery.
Schumacher Cargo is shipping a Wirtgen 130F Asphalt Grinder from Genoa, Italy to Long Beach, California. This gigantic piece of equipment weighs 42,000lbs, is 35ft long, 9ft wide and 12ft 3in high.
Based on the dimensions, it is too large to enable shipping in a standard 40′ high cube container. The high cube container is the most common container size used for vehicles, but in in this instance, it just isn’t big enough!
After weighing all options and analyzing the cost-effectiveness, we elected to ship this unit via a 40′ flat-rack that will be shipped on a container vessel. (See below for an idea of what a flat-rack container looks like.)
To safeguard against the elements (wind, rain, salt seawater, etc.), we make sure the unit is properly lashed and secured followed by shrink wrapping/barging and netting.
If you fail to take the steps listed above, chances are that you’ll not only end up with structural damage but internal damage to the machine as well.
Once the ship arrives into the port of Long Beach, we will bring the flat-rack to our unloading yard, which has specialized equipment to handle such cargo.
IMPORTANT: When shipping any cargo, be it vehicles or over-sized equipment and machinery like this, make sure that the company handling the shipment on the receiving end has the PROPER equipment to handle the shipment type or you’ll end up with damaged goods.
To bring the asphalt grinder from the port to the unloading yard, we’ll acquire the permits first, then unload the unit and re-load it on a low-boy truck to get it delivered to the client’s premises.
Just another day in the life of Schumacher Cargo!
The emergence of railways changed forever the face of industry and transportation; food, goods and supplies could for the first time be shipped across long distances at alarming rates. Indeed, the railway is often thought of as the birth of the modern age. So what roles will it play in the future?
High Speed Rails
These railways have long been a part of the conversation for railways of the future. Many countries in Europe and Asia have already been experimenting with high speed rails. High Speed Rails refer to rails that can accommodate speeds of more than 155mph–some reaching speeds of a whopping 249mph (or 400kph). Currently France, Korea, China and Japan have the fastest rails, of speeds capable of exceeding 261mph. The US has long been talking of joining the ranks of these other countries by installing high speed rails in 10 areas. So far these rails have yet to see their high speeds.
Maglev Trains
Maglev trains are trains or transportation systems that operate off of magnetic levitation, that is, using magnets to lift the trains off the rails and propel them frictionless along their path. Systems like the ETT (Evacuated Tube Transport) could potentially carry passengers along at 6500kph–meaning passengers could board a train in New York and arrive in Beijing only a little over halfway through “The Godfather.”
Elon Musk’s Hyperloop
Recently famed entrepreneur Elon Musk, the man behind Tesla Motors, PayPal and SpaceX, has envisioned another new mode of transportation that’s more in-line with Maglev trains. Musk’s Hyperloop uses the same principles of vacuum tube technology that we see at the bank, moving capsules through a tube on a cushion of air. Musk’s design claims to be able to reach a max speed of 760mph! Of course these are just some of the designs for the future of railways; and while some might be feasible, who knows if something better and more exciting will arrive before these futuristic designs can be implemented. After all, everyone thought we’d have the flying car long before the iPad.
This week we are celebrating the Ferrari Club of America 2013 International Meet with lots of other Ferrari enthusiasts.
This event is taking place this week-end in Wisconsin.
For more information about this event, please visit http://www.ferrariclubofamerica.org/
A quick video of the event:
The Ferrari Club of America 2013 Event, Wisconsin
