GeoffM

Any ideas how long it would take a container ship to get between the above ports? My stuff is on the Stuttgart Express, due Long Beach June 14th, which is only ~48 hours from now which seems a little optimistic now. I'm assuming it'll go via the Panama Canal and would probably make another stop or two somewhere.

GeoffM

Oh - just noticed the particular website I was using was last updated 2d22h ago! It's reported elsewhere about a third of the way from Jamaica to Panama at noon today, whatever time zone that is - maybe ET/CT.

http://www.sailwx.info/shiptrack/shi...html?call=DGBE

Yorkieabroad

Those times are UTC which to all intents and purposes is GMT.

Once she clears the canal, at her speed it will be about 6 days to Los Angeles, depending on whether she has any other scheduled stops.

That website gives her dimensions - if that is her actual draft they state, rather than her design draft, then she is probably too deep to transit the canal, so will need to offload some cargo beforehand. I suspect it is her design draft though...

Have you called your moving company or their frieght forwarder? If they can't help, you could try calling Hapag Lloyds LA office and see if they can update you on her ETA.

Yorkieabroad

Ps - if you have a container number on your shipping docs, you should be able to track it online.

GeoffM

Damn, that's probably going to be a week later than estimated!

It did say on one website that the next scheduled stop was the Port of Panama - though whether that's to actually offload, I don't know!

Not yet. As they gave me the ship name, that was enough to track. No container number but as I say, the ship is enough. Calling them won't make it any faster or slower so I'm just content with tracking it. Supposedly about a week after it clears customs for actual delivery to the door. Customs seems to be the biggest wildcard now.

Thanks.

civilservant

Stuttgart Express is a PanaMax. She'll fit in there fine. The whole canal has recently been redredged.

The ship is 11.8m draft, panaMax is 12.08 from memory

Yorkieabroad

Yeah, but Panamax generally refers to the LOA/Beam to clear the locks, and a lot of panamax ships can load deeper than the max transit draft for the canal. Draft is adjustable and the navigable depth varies within the canal depending on weather conditions. The website GeoffM referenced had her draft at 13.5m which (as I said) sounded deep to me....not much chance of getting thru if she is actually at that draft without lightering/lightening. Like I said though, I suspect that is her design draft, rather than her loaded draft. If the next scheduled port is Panama, then that is already thru the canal, so no worries.

This website www.marinetraffic.com has her at anchor off Colon now, presumably waiting transit. It gives her draft as 11.8 which is a lot more likely to be her actual current loaded draft

GeoffM

Eta now 22nd June and I have the container number now.

civilservant

I work for, and was trained in cartography by, the foremost nautical charting authority in the world- im well aware of that

Bink

I had to design a PanaMax (bulk/ore carrier in my case though) for my second year design project!
Quite scary to think that was 11 years ago now...

civilservant

Interesting- of course Panamax these days means nothing, carriers the size of the Emma Maersk are making the canal useless.

Yorkieabroad

Lol - time flies!! I was involved with a newbuild project for a small fleet of tankers that we subsequently used to run a lighter/transit/lighter operation thru the canal in my early days - just worked out that was 24 years ago

Yorkieabroad

Your first post implied more proficiency in google than shipping.....

If I was mistaken in that, sorry.

Yorkieabroad

Hmm, I'm now going with more proficiency in drawing maps and charts than trade and shipping.............

Yorkieabroad

Looks good.
Good luck with customs...!!