RoRo or container: which way to ship

Roll-on roll-off

The car is driven onto a dedicated vehicle carrier and parked on a deck with a few thousand others. It is the default for a single unit, it is cheaper, and it is what most of our shipments use.

The trade-off is exposure: the car is handled by port staff at both ends, nothing can travel inside it, and light scuffs happen. Sailings from Japan to Mombasa run every few weeks and the crossing takes roughly four to six weeks.

Container

The car is strapped into a sealed 20ft or 40ft box. Nobody touches it between loading in Japan and unstuffing in Mombasa, and you can ship parts or personal effects alongside it.

It costs more per unit unless you are sharing a 40ft box with a second car, which is the case where a container genuinely wins on price. It is also the right answer for anything low, rare or expensive enough that a scratch matters.

Marine insurance

Either way, insure the shipment. It is a small fraction of the car value and it is the difference between an incident being an inconvenience and being a total loss. We arrange it as part of the CIF price.