Motorcycles on RORO Vessels

[ibidu1]

Is it possible to ship a motorcycle on a RORO (Roll on/Roll off) Vessel? Wouldnt it be a lot cheaper option then container and air ship. Ive sent cars before, but not motorcycles.

Anybody have experience?

[Jay_Benson]

I have taken bikes on RORO ferries across the English Channel without any issue So there is nothing difficult as far as bikes are concerned - they get strapped down so they don’t fall over. I suspect, without ever having done it, that the reason for the use of containers and air freight is due to the routes covered - there are no ROROs for long distances nor I think across oceans.

EDIT: Aha. After reading the replies below I get it now - the above applies for ferries only. I guess you are talking about the bulk car transporters - so ignore there being no long distance stuff I wrote above.

[sushi2831]

Hello

Did it twice:
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/fr...ada-april-2011
https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/fr...september-2011

Price is a bit more than box in a container (only the seafreight is cheap, handling fees are most of the cost of shipping by sea, see: https://www.horizonsunlimited.com/fr...pan-march-2013 $1050 overall and only $60 for the actual seafreight).

You can't leave anything on the bike, panniers are ok but have to be empty and there is the risk of damage since someone else is riding your bike on and off the ramp.

Overall my favorite of all transports.

sushi

[AnTyx]

From what I've seen, many RoRo operators exclude motorcycles - because they can't guarantee a handler/driver with motorcycle experience, most likely.

Also consider that on a RoRo car hauler, they would have to have a whole car space's worth of motorcycles to make it work, or charge you for a car's worth of space. Look at some documentaries of how car haulers look inside... the cars are literally packed door-to-door so that they have to be driven in and out in a particular sequence! It's not like scheduled ferries where a motorcycle just gets put into a space where a whole car wouldn't fit.

[navalarchitect]

Done it once with no drama. Alexandria, Egypt to Pereaus, Greece - details are in Hubb shipping database. In this case I could leave soft panniers on bike and stuff in them, and nothing went missing.

Sent from my moto g(8) plus using Tapatalk

[Erik_G]

Up in north of Europe, this is normal and standard. Drive on. Wait in your cabin or in the restaurant. Drive off.

Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Germany, Denmark, Baltic countries....

[brclarke]

Originally Posted by Erik_G

Up in north of Europe, this is normal and standard. Drive on. Wait in your cabin or in the restaurant. Drive off.
Sweden, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Germany, Denmark, Baltic countries....

I suspect you are talking about a regular car ferry ride of a few hours, whereas the O/P is talking about trans-oceanic shipping.

[Ohio_Danimal]

My bike is currently on a RO RO vessel, heading from Brazil (port of Paranagua) to Galveston Texas.
I was allowed to leave panniers full (but unlocked). Same for my topcase.
I wasn’t able to find a container option, after being stuck here since March 16th when the borders all closed.
I used B&M Logistics

[Grant Johnson]

Ohio_Danimal, that's good news!

Please be sure to post that information on the Shipping system for others to benefit from your experience. Thanks!