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My car is shipping from Europe on Tuesday the 13th any estimate of when it should be in Palm Beach the dealer is always very vague 😵💫 their answer is 3 to 6 weeks guess they want to cover their bases!
If the dealer knows it’s leaving Jan 13, then they should know the name of the ship. Baltimore is the primary discharge port. Brunswick GA is an alternate. Once you get the name of the ship you can track on apps like Marine Traffic. For $10 yearly (I think) you can get some basic position details. It all starts with the name of the ship. If the dealer says he doesn’t know the name of the ship ask how does he knows the date? There are other time consuming ways to find out. With the name of the ship, go to this site and put in the name of the ship. https://www.bremenports.de/en/ports/ships-in-port The ship has to be in port for their tracker to work. Or you can go to Marine Traffic with the name. I looked on Marine Traffic and found the ARC Independence in Bremerhaven. No sail date but the schedule shows her going from B'haven to B'more AND Brunswick. https://www.arcshipping.com/ocean-se...1efe331ab00732 If they are going to Brunswick you're in luck unless they discharge your car in B'more for some obscure reason. So I'd say 31 days from the 13th if Brunswick. Good luck.
There is no exact way of telling, which is why the dealer gave you a range. As said above, if you have the name of the vessel that your car is assigned to, then you know when it is expected to dock at the destination port and you can track it. If you pay for the tracking, you can track it all the way via satellite. The free/cheap tracking only shows you the vessel's position if it's near a shore.
However, once the vessel arrives at the destination port, the car has to go through customs, then the VPC (Vehicle Processing Center) and finally has to hitch a ride to the dealership. This can take between a few days to several weeks. The VPC is an extension of the factory. Certain options like Homelink get installed at the VPC, but the primary job of the VPC is to make sure the car arrived in factory condition. If not, such as if it sustained damage during transport, the damage gets repaired. Sometimes cars also get shipped with a non-critical part missing or requiring a software update before it can be sold, so then the final steps of installing the part or updating the software takes place at the VPC. Again, depending on part availability etc., that can take a while.
Once it clears the VPC, it has to wait for a spot on the next available transporter to take it to your dealership. This can also take a week plus before it's picked up. So again, the best anyone can give you is a range.
Last edited by superswiss; Jan 11, 2026 at 08:10 PM.
If the dealer knows it’s leaving Jan 13, then they should know the name of the ship. Baltimore is the primary discharge port. Brunswick GA is an alternate. Once you get the name of the ship you can track on apps like Marine Traffic. For $10 yearly (I think) you can get some basic position details. It all starts with the name of the ship. If the dealer says he doesn’t know the name of the ship ask how does he knows the date? There are other time consuming ways to find out. With the name of the ship, go to this site and put in the name of the ship. https://www.bremenports.de/en/ports/ships-in-port The ship has to be in port for their tracker to work. Or you can go to Marine Traffic with the name. I looked on Marine Traffic and found the ARC Independence in Bremerhaven. No sail date but the schedule shows her going from B'haven to B'more AND Brunswick. https://www.arcshipping.com/ocean-se...1efe331ab00732 If they are going to Brunswick you're in luck unless they discharge your car in B'more for some obscure reason. So I'd say 31 days from the 13th if Brunswick. Good luck.
Thank you I did get my VIN# and the VPC is Brunswick my SA is going to get me the ship name
I forgot which site I used, but I tracked my ship every single day all the way to Brunswick for free. There were very few times it was "out of range". It was at my dealer in South Florida about a week or so after it docked. I always order my Mercedes, and it is well worth the wait. The only thing they screwed up on my car was putting in a piano black center console (not what I ordered), but I refused delivery if they didn't correct that. Spoiler alert, they did.
yes my GLC was not loaded on the ship it was supposed to get on its still sitting on the dock my SA is trying to find out why it shows no active exceptions geesh
Brunswick Feb 18, AGW. AGW...all going well. If you've seen the weather this year, nothing's going well.
i dont know how you managed to get the shipping schedule but thank you 🙏 i have looked at a few different tracking apps they all seem to different ETA to Baltimore weird
Ship looks like its been hanging out in the English Channel since it left port
The free tracking sites use Terrestrial AIS. This is a coastal, ground-based network that tracks vessels within about 40-100 nautical miles from shore. Once the vessel is outside of that range, those sites only show you the last known position, so it looks like it's just hanging out until it comes within reach of the network again near another shore. Outside of the 40-100 nautical miles, you need Satellite AIS and for that you generally have to pay.
Now she’s humping along at 15 kts heading 250. Correct direction and a good speed. I asked some friends to see if they could find out what was wrong. Let’s hope she keeps moving along.
I don't know what to tell you. She is still hanging around Southampton. As Superswiss pointed out, these are terrestrial station reports. Nothing back from my liierati maritime alumni. One of them asked if I was trying to have the ship arrested! I'll keep at it.
I don't know what to tell you. She is still hanging around Southampton. As Superswiss pointed out, these are terrestrial station reports. Nothing back from my liierati maritime alumni. One of them asked if I was trying to have the ship arrested! I'll keep at it.
looking at it on the free apps seems not to be moving i wonder if it’s having mechanical problems
looking at it on the free apps seems not to be moving i wonder if it’s having mechanical problems
I thought the same if they’re waiting for a part to come from China that wasn’t readily available it would explain the drifting. Costs a few quid to dock.
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