Sharing a container US-EU
 

Dear Forumites,
How do I go about finding someone also willing to transport a poorly dismantled aircraft from the States, to share a shipping container with? Ideally my new pride and joy needs to get to the continental Europe but if the other party needs UK, I could take it from there. Please help!

/h88

Unless both aircraft are very small you'll struggle to safely/correctly get two in one container.

I think also that the 'savings' will be quickly decreased/removed by the additional logistics of different collection and delivery locations.

Hope not too unhelpful. Sorry! Sam.

Hi Sam,

I knew you'd reply sooner or later ;)

Any comments coming from experience are helpful, even if they're bad news. I can hear what you're saying, I have had an opportunity to see from close distance a PA28 which travelled from the other part of the world, not correctly secured. It was allowed to rock in its cradle on a ship and had multiple tears and "bullet holes" in the fuselage on arrival.

In that case, maybe I should PM you to pick your brains on reputable specialist carriers which could dismantle and pick up from Northern California?


/h88

No problem. sam AT prepare2go dot com

There was a feature in 'Popular Flying' some years ago about this; two people bought aircraft in the USA, flew them to the same airport and dismantled them to bring home. One was a Cub I think; the other may have been a Robin of some sort; one of the blokes was Ian Callier who had done this exercise before.
One important thing they emphasised was the container MUST have rings mounted inside along the walls to tie the aircraft down properly; not all containers have this.
When I moved my aircraft from Elstree to Fairoaks, I hired a lorry in which there were horizontal battens inside the body to tie ropes to; nail some long pieces of wood to the floor in front and behind the mainwheels to prevent fore and back movement and hey presto.

Packing 2 planes in a standard 20' container is tricky business. It is not the feet cubed of volume that are sparse, but rather the square feet of side surface. The two wing halves of a SEP will each cover one side, and where do you put the other two?

If it must be done, I should think of a rough timber of jigs, a lower one to store two fuselages and an upper one for four wing halves. Make to fit almost precisely, then wedge them, and immobilise the wedges.

FWIW I was once incurred in the shipping of a Weed-Hopper type ultralight, the packers declared themselves unable to pack the poor little thing into a 20' container so they persuaded the buyer to pay for a 40' one - all the way from Antwerp to Thailand. But they were obviously clumsy at handling such a delicate load, and apparently didn't like my telling them so...

You may find this thread helpful:

https://www.pprune.org/private-flyin...ight=container

From my experience loading containers, I support the suggestion that only your plane should occupy your container. If you share the cost, you share the risk of damage - any saving in cost will not be wroth the cost of the damage...

Also You will more than likely have customs problems 2 owners different countries different tax and vat rates

I think Bob Grimstead got two Champs and a Minicoupe into a 40' container. At the height of the classic import craze 3 Luscombes/C120s was the norm.

hi,
I have my eyes on a plane from the West coast and would need it shipped to France.Let me know how would that work and what to budget?Cheers
Fred

I have seen 3 2-seat gliders arrive in a container. The factory welded up a frame from square steel tubing to accommodate the fuselages, wing halves, tailplanes and rudders.

Typically the wing halves will fit on top.

Handily the scrap yard was located across the street and gave us $80 for the frame.

Skyview at Tracy and International Air Services at Hayward both specialise in container shipping aircraft. Last I heard Skyview were operating with limitations, but IAS were closed with the lockdown.
Container ships go from Oakland weekly and take about 4 weeks to European ports.

Now is not a good time!

Secure the aircraft with chains tensioned with turnbuckles....... they don’t stretch !

look further than transporting other aircraft, ask maintenance providers if they need a new set of aircraft jacks from the USA ( expensive to transport but cheap to buy in the USA) or talk to the motorcycle people, Harley-Davidson motorcycles make good money in Europe and shipping to Europe is in constant demand.


just a few ideas.