From There to Here

I suspect you know our cars come from Europe, well Sweden and Belgium – great Herring, great beers. They don’t arrive by magic or Viking long boats but really huge floating warehouses. I once took half a day to goof off and went down to Port Newark to experience massiveness. Ok, I saw lots of cars. I was expecting that, but in one compartment, like peering into a hanger deck on Battlestar Galactic, behind huge watertight doors, was a crane, something like this:

But without its rigging that was stacked next to it. The tread base had to have been six feet tall. Anyway, I was here to see cars not toys. So your brand new XC60 has been stuck in a hold for seven days, what then? What is a “Port Processor”? What’s that side of our business?

In the olden days cars were shipped in big ships and unloaded like this:

Not the best way to handle new cars. Notice no headlights; Europe always had wonderful headlights, like you could actually see something at night. We had ‘sealed beams,’ oh boy were they effective. Boat shipping is about speed. Load/unloading today is called: RO-RO (Roll On/Roll Off). Nothing new, first one was built in Glasgow by Robert Napier around 1850 to transport railed trains across water ways. Later RO-RO was used to transport military equipment during WWII. Some times we ship cars in sea containers, for example concept cars or show cars – really tight inside when you’re trying to tie one down. Containerization is a great story. Malcom McLean – McLean Trucking Company founder invented today’s container industry. Great story: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_McLean.

Today we have four North American port processing facilities: Port Newark, NJ, Baltimore, MD, Brunswick, GA, Port Hueneme, CA and Halifax, NS. Our Volvo guy in Newark is Joe Pimentel. He’s been with Volvo for 24 years, 14 of those down in Newark. According to Joe, “When it’s nice outside, great job, but winter here can be brutally cold.” Out his back door is the NY city skyline and lots of cold water.

Joe sent over photos of what he has been working on…of course our first shipment of XC60′s. One of our first shipments, this one is about 170 XC60; to date about 550 have landed in NJ. FAPS, www.fapsinc.com handles all our cars in Port Newark. Joe is always on site to over see Volvo operations. Good team. Started in 1923 by Augistino LoBue who sold and repaired cars his vision of quality service continues today. His son John LoBue founded FAPS in 1959. Today John’s sons Gary and August LoBue run this operation. So here’s what Joe and FAPS do with our new XC60′s before delivering to our retailers.

Just behind that building is this monster:

So, off come 170 XC60s Their first stop is called, “First Point of Rest.” I guess they get tired from all that traveling. Notice the tie down hook still installed. When you get your XC60, it’ll be nicely packed where your tire changing tools are located. Here they’re being cued up for initial inspection, a Marine Survey. This logs any damages from transport.

Like any traveler good old bath is needed:

And blow drying:

Then another inspection: Joe calls this the Flexible Inspection Program. It lasts about 30 minutes and covers stuff like all those seat belt/air bag warning labels, lights, switches, basically things that you’ll be using to drive safely.

Some cars are slated for fleet (car rental companies) or internal use up in Rockleigh, NJ. Those are further processed in what we call CPS (Customer Preparation Service). Car computer systems are checked, plastic protection wraps removed, fluids checked, basically completely finished and ready to drive home.

FAPS also installs accessories like rear entertainment systems, interior styling kits, running boards, Bluetooth system, lighted door sill panels and, as above, exterior styling kits.

Then they get them ready for Retailer shipping.

Joe said it gets cold…yes, that is snow. Gosh, I wonder if that black one is mine…probably not. Oh well.

Tags: car importation, Volvo, Volvo XC60