NEW CARS, NEW CONTINENT
After weeks at sea, your RF and a few thousand other new Mazdas arrive at port and clear customs. Their journey is not yet over as the logistical acrobatics of this massive undertaking continue.
Arriving at the Port
ALL ASHORE
One of our most trusted shipping partners, Japan’s NYK Lines, has an enormous fleet both in terms of numbers and the sheer size of their vessels. Take NYK’s Andromeda Leader, for example. It can hold 5,500 cars and is longer than two football fields. Once a ship like that arrives in port, the crew of at least 20 immediately sets to work refueling, doing maintenance chores and buying provisions for the return voyage.
Unloading Roadsters
IT’S A PROCESS
First, an advance team boards the ship to start removing the straps. The team in Hiroshima has strapped the cars down so tightly, that they’ve scarcely moved. A second wave of teams then arrives to stage the cars. Job one: Locate the key car. Marked with a sign on its windshield, it must be offloaded first so the rest can follow. Then the cars are driven away from the tightly packed rows and into an open space nearby. Within moments, more drivers arrive in vans. Supervisors in yellow safety vests direct them down the ramps that run through the ship to the unloading ramp at the ship’s stern.
