COMBINED FRANCE-CANADA TRANSPORT OF VINTAGE CARS. A SAFE SOLUTION

The combined France-Canada route, activated by Trasauto Logistica for over ten years, is just one of the pieces of a larger-scale strategy.

Today, Italy's strategic positioning, in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea and at the crossroads of four of the nine trans-European intermodal transport networks, allows it to gain an extremely significant advantage compared to other European logistics organisations, especially if at the base there is an expertise of efficiency, reliability and innovation.

In this context, Trasauto logistica has not only obtained, over the years, access to foreign markets, but has qualified the company as a real entry hub for Europe, also intercepting traffic flows coming from non-EU markets.

There are numerous interlocutors of Trasauto Logistica, concentrated in several countries of the same geographical area and equally numerous and differentiated destinations. This means that complex logistics operations must meet their cost and time targets to generate profit.

Combined transport refers to a particular type of intermodal transport which involves the execution of the main route by sea or rail, while the shorter initial and final sections are carried out by road.

The transport of some specific product categories, such as that of a vintage or collector's car, luxury goods or the transport of historic cars, from France to Canada, can and, in certain cases, must be managed in combined mode . And then, the level of complexity increases.

Only proven experience can ensure that global shipping operations are perfectly compliant with the laws, regulations and customs certifications of all the countries involved.

However, the most influencing decisions always concern the choice of the type of transport: road transport, maritime transport or air transport and combinations of them.

The use of combined solutions allows to avoid that fluctuations in the cost of fuel, and imbalances between supply and demand linked to seasons of high demand, or the shortage of drivers and vehicles, end up being passed on entirely to the client. This is how this formula, even in complex economic conditions, has guaranteed, and still guarantees, stable prices all year round.

Let’s report, by way of example, below the story of a transport service that contributed to strengthening the expertise of Trasauto Logistica, in the context of the shipping operations of a collector's car from France to Canada, last year, conducted with extreme professionalism and achieving the maximum result in terms of customer satisfaction.

FRANCE-CANADA ROUTE. TO HALIFAX, VIA MIAMI, THE EXPEDITION OF A RALLY JEWEL 

A French lawyer, Léon G., who had moved to Halifax for many years now, after having found both a social and economic balance in the American city, decided to repatriate to Canada the old car, which had become historic, which his father used in rally competitions. It was a Deutch-Bonnet, Le Mans Cabriolet model, one of the most successful cars of the transalpine company.

In addition to the sentimental value, the vehicle in question was accompanied by an estimated monetary value of $285.000,00, given the limited production of vehicles of the same model (less than 180 examples in the years between 1950 and 1960) by part of the car manufacturer, the rich list of awards acquired over the years of use and the excellent state of conservation.

It involved shipping a vintage car of enormous value to Canada, therefore a luxury car transport that left from France to Canada, passing through the Eastern United States. Not an easy challenge, but one that put our experience to the test both for the safety requirements, but for the necessary attention to the formalities for the type of transport.

THE HISTORIC CAR MAKES A STOP IN AMERICA ON THE FRANCE-CANADA ROUTE

The first thing to consider for this type of transport was the available budget. Lawyer Léon G. was aware that the France-Canada route, employing different carriers, different hubs and different professionals, required a rather high budget. 

Despite this, for the shipment to North America, the lawyer had no particular demands regarding speed, but was understandably concerned about the integrity of the vintage car and respecting the estimated delivery times.

At this point the intermodal transport solution which first exploited road transport in France, from Paris to the port of Le Havre and then continued by sea with Ro-Ro transport to the port of Miami, where the luxury car would be been transferred to the airport to continue her route by air carrier to Halifax airport, appeared to be the best option.

It was a France-Canada Combined Transport solution. In fact, most of the transport would have been carried out by sea, and only partially by air, leaving the road transport to take delivery of the vehicle up to the interport hub, in the initial and final phases of the transport.

The calculated time for shipping to Canada, overall with intermodal, amounted to approximately 11 days: 10 days for maritime transport, approximately 6 hours for air transport and approximately 8 hours for road transport and loading/unloading between one carrier and the other, both in the initial phase and for delivery to the destination. Times that absolutely had to be respected and left no room for improvisation.

WHAT ARE THE COSTS ASSOCIARED WITH EXPORTING A VINTAGE CAR TO CANADA? 

For the France-Canada combinated transport, it was said, it was necessary to stop in the USA. Therefore, for the car import operations in Canada, it was necessary, passing through Miami, to adapt the documentation to the laws and regulations, also in terms of customs authorizations, of the United States of America.

It is Trasauto Logistica's practice to verify the completeness of the documentation relating to the request, even before communicating the alternatives between the combined transport solutions and the related timing. This excludes surprises, delays and unforeseen events in the various phases of the shipment.

In fact, when you are preparing to export a car from France to the United States, you must bear in mind that the Motor Vehicle Safety Compliance Act applies to imports into the USA. This law makes it extremely complicated, and in most cases even illegal, to import models that have not been officially marketed on American soil, unless they are more than 25 years old.

It is worth remembering that logistics companies that propose other methods aimed at circumventing the rules, in the event of an inspection, should justify why some non-compliant vehicles are subjected to seizure and simultaneous destruction.

In our case, however, before his disappearance, the father of the French lawyer had already arranged, in time, for the transfer of ownership of the vintage car to his son, and, for this reason, it was avoided a long bureaucratic procedure that would have delayed the transport times of the vintage car.

The United States of America is governed by strict national and international legislation in terms of customs duties and transport units (UdT), defined in the Kyoto Convention. Furthermore, they use strict safety standards, especially for imports of vehicles from abroad. Safety and pollution requirements are controlled by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation (DOT).

Specifically, however, the car to be transported for personal use was exempt from the aforementioned requirements, given that it had exceeded 25 years from its date of production/registration. Therefore, having evaluated the HS-7 declaration form, delivered to the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the time of importation, the goods were compliant.

The production date of the Deutch-Bonnet “Le Mans Cabriolet” model was not identifiable from any visible label on the vehicle. But it was possible to establish the age of the vehicle from the documentation in our client's possession, which was verified by our staff right from the preliminary stages.

WHAT ARE THE PROCEDURES FOR EXPORTING A VINTAGE CAR TO CANADA? 

Using the services of Trasauto Logistica, in particular, when you export your vehicle to the United States, or repatriate your vehicle to Canada, is certainly advisable. Because customs clearance operations, in particular, are particularly complex and require the intervention of qualified professionals.

Trasauto Logistica guarantees maximum safety, efficiency and punctuality, taking care of a series of operations, preliminary to shipment, on entry procedures, on eligibility conditions, on the calculation of taxes and rights on repatriated goods.

From its offices, and counting on its dense network of partners, Trasauto Logistica verifies the validity of the information and official documents received and transmits them to the customs services which, once validated, communicates them to the carrier.

Only from a documentary point of view, in the case of the repatriation of the Deutch-Bonnet, our client was provided with:

• Request for updated certification from the FFVE: as more than 40 years have passed since the client's last useful document, it was necessary to request a certified copy of the collector's vehicle certificate;
• Approval for the export of an approved vehicle: verifying the correctness of the documents and compliance with the European certificates of conformity preparatory to obtaining the main authorisations;
• Vehicle customs clearance: paying the taxes due and obtaining suitable tax regularity certifications (customs clearance certificates).

And so, the France-Canada shipment of the vintage car was successful. The classic car arrived in Halifax on time and the lawyer was enthusiastic about our service. The recommended intermodal solution, among the various possible alternatives, proved to be the most appropriate choice.

CHOOSING INTERMODAL TRANSPORT WAS A MUST FOR THE FRANCE-CANADA ROUTE

Certainly, combined road-ship-air transport proved to be the best solution, in our case France-Canada. But, in general, combined use is always suitable for those who have to transport large quantities of goods over long distances. Because it guarantees greater flexibility, greater safety and lower environmental impact.

Trasauto Logistica boasts consolidated experience in managing complex security operations and the costs of customs services relating to intermodal transport. Only in this way can it provide a useful service to solve any type of unexpected event.

For over forty years it has been able to manage multimodal, intermodal and combined transport in Europe, South-East Asia, North Africa, the United States and Mexico. It offers constant flow traceability to monitor the storage conditions of perishable goods or temperature-controlled products.

Trasauto Logistica's intermodal solutions mostly employ cargo planes and cargo ships with fixed or planned departures, and in combination with rail and road services, particularly if outside European territory.

If you need to transport perishable goods, vintage cars, pharmaceutical products or luxury vehicles anywhere in the world, just fill out our contact form. The staff in charge will quickly draw up a detailed estimate suitable for determining the amount you will have to spend for the transport to be completed with maximum efficiency.

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Or, for personalized assistance, you can call our offices in Italy at: +39 (0)828 1818150

or request more information by e-mail: info@trasauto.com