Things are really moving along now!
- Car was assigned to a Wallenius Wilhelmsen vessel 'Aniara' on Friday 26 February (just two days after leaving the factory)
- Car was loaded onto the 'Aniara' Sunday 28 February
- 'Aniara' departed Bremerhaven the same day (Sunday 28 February) heading for the first of four stops (Zeebrugge, Belgium) on its way to the port of discharge (Port Hueneme, California)
- 'Aniara' arrived Zeebrugge, Belgium on Monday, 29 February, and is due to depart Tuesday 1 March en route to stop #2 -- Southampton, England.
Fun facts about the '
Aniara':
- Roll-On / Roll-Off vehicle / cargo vessel
- Operating under the Swedish flag
- Built in 2008
- Has five hoistable decks for cargo
- Can carry a whopping 7600 cars per voyage!
- Average time required for Westerly Atlantic / Gulf / Panama Canal-to-Pacific crossing: 24 days
I've included some images below showing some of the above timeline. The first image is a little grainy, because I captured it from a webcam pointed right at the
Aniara at the Bremerhaven port. Unfortunately, it was right around sunset, so the sun wreaked havoc on the camera. I captured this pic the same day my car was loaded, so it's unlikely my car is one of the ones you can see on the rail-cars in the foreground.
The second image, of course, is confirmation from BMWUSA that the car is on its way.
The third picture shows '
Aniara' moored at Zeebrugge, Belgium -- it's first stop.
The fourth picture shows the planned route '
Aniara' will take to her third stop -- Southampton, England, before starting her Atlantic crossing.