2010 Prius transit time to United States

I don't know about timing on the shipping front, but I do believe I heard that production would not begin until April 20.

 

I was in the import export business for 30+ yrs. The RoRo ships that carry the vehicles are pretty fast once they leave the port.

I'd estimate 7-9 days to Portland, a day there, a day to Long Beach and a day there. Once the vehicles are offloaded the time though Customs is pretty quick since the import process is fairly automated.

West Coast:

The vehicles then go to a marshalling area to have the final processing done. All this time the vehicles are in 'A' Status ( key concept ). It's at this time that the vehicles are assigned to each local dealer. Once that's done the vehicles go to 'F' Status. This means that the trucker has 72 hours to get the vehicle to the local dealer. After that 72 hr period the vehicle automatically goes to 'G' Status meaning it's supposed to be on the ground at the retail outlet. Weather, traffic, strikes and sheer volume may delay the actual arrival by a day or two but it's unusual.

Midwest:

Normally the vehicles destined for the Chicago and Cinci regions come in via Portland. This means another 4-7 days on a train from the W Coast. Then the same Processing / Delivery.

N East / Mid Atl.

There is normally a separate set of vessels for the EC / Gulf service. These transit the Panama Canal and go to the port of NY/NJ. This adds about a week to the shipping time, maybe less. Then the vehicles go through the same port processing and delivery as on the W Coast

S East / Gulf

The ports of entry for these regions are Jacksonville and then Houston. Both of these regions are independent from Toyota USA. Each of them does 'their own thing' before distributing the vehicles to the local stores. I'd guesstimate another week for these regions.


KEY CONCEPT: A-Status, F-Status, G-Status. If your vehicle is G-Status you should be looking at it.

 

Is that with or without PIRATE time?

 

Ah... that would be P-Status.

 

P is for Portland I live in Portland, Hmmmmm, I am a fine wine rep. Bet I could bring a nice bottle of vino down to the dock, which coincidentally is right around the corner 1/4 mile from my office on Swan Island, and offer it up to the crew. Good plan huh? So close yet so far.

 

Actually, wouldn't that be R-Status?

Sorry. . . I mean "ARRRRRR!"-Status . . .

 

Does Toyota give you someway to track your order? Or do you just keep calling them everyday to say "WHAT IS MY STATUS?!?!" ~

 

Hi Lauren !, I don't know about Toyota but I was on a waiting list with Honda and they knew weeks ahead of time what cars where coming in and when. I'm hoping and I'm sure you are that Toyota does something similar. FRED

 

There is no way to track the order yourself. You have to go through your salesperson and he or she must go through that store's Dealer Daily ( Toyota's intranet ).

In the next day or two stores will probably know what vehicles each will be getting in the first tranche of shipments. Probably, probably, probably. The stores get their initial indications of what will be arriving in 30-45 days around the 18th or 19th of the month ... or on the 4th or 5th of the next month. If the Prius' don't show on this allocation because it's too early then almost certainly they will show on the next allocation which will be known on the 4th or 5th of May.

Initially the info is very vague...10 new 2010 Prius'. That's it. As the vehicles depart the port and the contents of a vessel are known then the exact composition of this allocation of 10 vehicles becomes known; e.g. one 1229, four 1227, four 1225 and one 1223. Then it's rationalized down by packages/options and then by color.

There may be 150 specific 1225s on a specific vessel, in different colors with different packages. As the ship is inbound these are divided amongst the regions and then to individual stores. When the vehicles actually arrive and go through customers it's at that time that one vehicle with a specific VIN is designated to a specific store. Presumably if one is first in line and that model and that package and that color(s) is available then ( finally ) your vehicle is assigned a VIN and it's reserved for you.

I'd guess that Toyota is making every effort to ship all the pre-orders first for those that raised their hands first.

[EDIT] The mid-April allocations are out and there doesn't appear to be any 2010 Prius on them. The next indication probably will be about May 3-6

 

Will each ship carry only Prius cars, or will other Toyota models be included? Also, how many total vehicles will each RoRo ship carry?

 

The vessels are huge so I'm nearly positive that they will carry much more than just Prius'. I don't know the exact number but I'm certain that if a vessel name were known then a LLOYD's registry inquiry could be made.

 

The bulk of the Toyota maritime fleet are Maru-class ships, about 660' long and just wide enough to fit through the Panama Canal.

They carry roughly 6,000 vehicles of all series, and produced for other countries specs, on 10-12 decks. Even the drop down ramps have cars lashed to them vertically while in transit. They're packed so tightly that they must be loaded or removed in a certain order or chaos ensues.

A typical run for a Western North America ship would be Vancouver, Portland, Benicia, Long Beach and return to Japan. An East coast ship would head for the Panama Canal, then Houston, Jacksonville, Newark and Boston.

The East coast ships may also stop in Caribbean ports.

The Maru-class ships are climate controlled and typically load up on perishables like citrus fruit for the ride home.

I've been aboard a few during vehicle discharge and it's something to see the Longshoremen hustling vehicles off the ship with the lowest damage rate in the industry. They can offload 6,000 in 12 hours or less with essentially zero damage, pretty impressive.

Maru-class Atlantic Highway:

http://images.vesseltracker.com/images/vessels/midres/127673.jpg

 

GREAT info on here guys!!! Thank you for sharing such in-depth knowledge. :-D

 

I just checked dealer daily, and there isn't a single one listed yet, in any status, in the country.

But yes, dealers know 30 days out at a minimum where the vehicles are. We can even see the ship name and track it using non-toyota websites.

 

Doug from the Toyota Prius team said on the chat that the first ships with 2010s will be leaving Japan tomorrow to the USA. Depending on the area you live in, the vehicles will arrive at dealers mid May to the first and second weeks in June.

 

Wonder where that boat is now? :dance:

 

I see it!

Nope, just a spot on my glasses :/

 

FYI,
Two route maps to the US are shown below.

Ken@Japan

 

Wait, I thought there was a stop in Houston!