Shipping a narrow model Airstream in Container - anyone done this?

[Redraspberry]

Hi there
Has anyone had any experience of shipping a narrow bodied Airstream in a container. The narrow bodies were the 1964, 65 , 66 Caravel measuring 84inches (2.13m or 7 foot).

There is not a great deal of clearance either side but my shipper said they use thick bubble wrap. It is much cheaper to ship this way but could be risky.

Anyone done this with these models?

Thanks!
Sarah

[idroba]

The argosy minuets were also 7' wide as were the very rare special '80 Airstreams. I am not sure, but I think some of the recent (late 2008's or 9's, the sports models) also were narrow, but I may be all wet on that. Someone else may know.

No shipping experience here however, sorry. I would think any bubble wrap might scratch the exterior metal surface, but that is just conjecture on my part.

[Redraspberry]

Thanks ideoba, i think they wrap very well but does the aluminium material dent easily if pushed ?

[Colin H]

Originally Posted by Redraspberry

Hi there
Has anyone had any experience of shipping a narrow bodied Airstream in a container. The narrow bodies were the 1964, 65 , 66 Caravel measuring 84inches (2.13m or 7 foot).

There is not a great deal of clearance either side but my shipper said they use thick bubble wrap. It is much cheaper to ship this way but could be risky.

Anyone done this with these models?

Thanks!
Sarah

How wide are containers? Caravels of this era are the same width as all other Airstreams of this era. 50's era 13 panel trailers were narrower than 60's era.
Colin

[idroba]

Originally Posted by Redraspberry

Thanks ideoba, i think they wrap very well but does the aluminium material dent easily if pushed ?

Yes, quite easily, unfortunately.

[Lance M]

I have not shipped an Airstream this way, however I did ship my BMW to Germany this way. It is definitely cheaper than roll on roll off. Not the fastest way unless you are paying for the whole container movement. I was only paying for the cube of my car so I had to wait for the rest of the container to be filled. That took a month.
I think that the standard container has in interior width and height of 7'8". A High Cube container is higher 8'6" at the door.
I have been around the use of these containers for shipping Army equipment to the far reaches of the world for many years. I have seen a few of them, dropped, smashed, broken into and you name it. Yeah you could get it there this way, but I would go with roll on roll off.

[Redraspberry]

Thanks Lance, i do think i need to keep researching this and talking to people who have shipped an airstream this way. it literally divides the cost of transport by 3 so is very tempting. I think it would be the high cube container aswell. Sometimes it is a pain living at the bottom of the world!!
Sarah

[Redraspberry]

Hi Colin
My shipper has said a max width of 2.33 m (92 inches or 7.6 foot) . Not very wide but from my research is ok for the 65,66 caravel, 62 globetrotter and 61,62 bambis. I may end up going RoRo in the end though. I will look up your website Colin as I am also looking for some sort of steer as to the cost of work done on Airstreams. Regards, sarah

[Shacksman]

Sarah, check out the size of containers here High Cube Shipping Container - HQ, HC Dimensions Container Homes this is for the high cube. Door size is what counts. At 7'6" x 8'5" a bambi is the only thing that will fit the height. The others are at least 8'8" high without any clearance.

[Shacksman]

This site shows Roll on Roll off Baltimore to Sydney Australia for a mid size car at $1625. That seems like a good price and a trailer would be about the same size.
International Shipping RO-RO. RO-RO ocean freight rates online.

[Flat Creek]

Hi,
I have become familiar with the shipping of Airstream trailers of recently. I have found that using the 7'6" wide, 40' length, open top container had become the standard for moving RV's. There are two ways to pack them. A container is delivered to your location and you pack. Or, you bring to port, and they will pack. Delivery works the same, only in reverse.. Hope this helps.
Best,
RJ Dominic.
Flat Creek