Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/15/automobiles/around-the-world-with-5500-cars.html?hp Video: Four-Wheeled Cargo - Video Library - The New York Times The NY Times has a great article describing how a cargo ship with over 3,000 Toyotas is unloaded in Newark. Worth a look.
Fun article. I've wondered how it was done since my wife noticed that our first import (an '86 Volvo) came into the country through Houston. Interesting that car makers went to specialized ships and still roll the cars on and off individually, instead of doing containerization like so many other industries.
The reason they don't use containers is that they don't need to. These ships are relatively new; before this ship type, they used to remove the cars individually by crane. With these new ships, they can unload 400 cars an hour. I don't believe cranes could operate that fast.
Very cool video. Interesting to see how tightly packed all the cars are inside the ship, unloading 400-450 cars an hour is very fast. Thanks for the post.
