Despite widespread port congestion, a category 4 hurricane, trucker and container shortages, vehicles kept arriving and departing with minimal delays in late summer 2021. This is our September 2021 update. Current rates and transit times from our own warehouses in California, Florida and New Jersey are at the end of this post.
Transit Times on Our Completed Shipments From California, 2021
Service from Oakland to Europe has improved significantly, with enough space on vessels sailing every week. Service to Australia and New Zealand remains congested with vessels departing every other week.
US Port Congestion as of September 1st
Data sourced from Hamburg-Sud, Hapag-Lloyd, MarineTraffic, FreightWaves.
Record Congestion in Los Angeles
Los Angeles is experiencing record-breaking congestion at the ports. The image above is what the port currently look like. Each green dot shows a cargo vessel waiting for its turn to unload at the port. The queue of vessels is leading to delays getting containers onboard the ships and onto their final destinations.
Ground Transport From LA
If your car is in Los Angeles, we collect it and bring it to our own California warehouse for loading. Ground pickup prices by ZIP code are in our calculator.
Consolidation Lanes in 2021
In September 2021 we ran consolidated containers to:
- Rotterdam
- Bremerhaven/Hamburg
- Southampton
- Le Havre
- Copenhagen
- Gothenburg
- Klaipeda
- Melbourne
- Sydney
- Brisbane
- Auckland
Dedicated containers were available on the same lanes.
Hurricane Ida Disrupts Vehicle Pickups in US South
As Hurricane Ida made landfall in Louisiana this week, it has disrupted trucking and is causing delays for vehicle pickups across the Southern and Eastern states. Allow for additional time to get your vehicles and motorcycles collected. Your account manager will have the latest details on the dates of collection and loading estimates.
Where These Lanes Stand in October 2026
Five years on, the queue of ships off Los Angeles is gone, and the lesson from 2021 still holds: the US coast you load on decides the transit time more than the port in the headlines. Our take is simple. Pick the warehouse by your delivery date, not by where the car sits today. These are the current container rates and transit times from our calculator, as of October 25 2026:
- Rotterdam: New Jersey $1,100, 17-20 days · Texas $1,250, 25 days · Florida $1,225, 28-31 days · California (via Antwerp) $1,850, 32-43 days
- Southampton: Texas $2,600, 12 days · New Jersey $1,200, 14-16 days · California $1,850, 29-40 days · Florida $1,375, 32-39 days
- Bremerhaven: Texas $1,250, 24 days · New Jersey $1,100, 30-33 days · Florida $1,225, 31-34 days · California $1,850, 40-45 days
- Sydney: California $2,250, 30-33 days · New Jersey $2,150, 39 days (asbestos testing included)
- Melbourne: California $2,250, 33-36 days · New Jersey $2,150, 40 days (asbestos testing included) · Florida $2,625, 52 days
We run our own warehouses in California, Florida and New Jersey, covering all of the US for imports and exports, and we ship door to door by ocean and air. Our own team loads every car and handles every document. Bought a car at a US auction, or at a show or sale overseas? Tell us where she is and where she is going.
It's your dream car. Let's bring her home.
Car Shipping to Australia and NZ: 2022 Update, 2026 Rates
Moving to the UK from the USA with Your Car: DVLA & Import Guide
