[demosthenes]

The AIDA departed Bremerhaven on Jan 31. It should be in Georgia on Feb 12th and California on the 24th.

I found the schedule for ships departing Bremerhaven headed for Port Heuneme CA by going here: http://www.dbh.de/index.php?id=151&L=0



To see if I was on the AIDA, I went here: http://www.2wglobal.com/www/WEP/index.jsp, clicked Cargo Tracking and Auto Cargo and then entered my VIN. YES! I then went to the same site and tracked Schedule, Search by Voyage (ED804-ADA) and got this (updated 2/2/08):



The 800 number still says I'm waiting at the port awaiting a shipping vessel, so the method I described above is the most up to date, followed by the 800 number, followed by the Owner's Center.

I hope many of you that have been waiting in Bremerhaven are on this vessel too.

[BB]

My car is waiting at the port but sadly I'm not on this ship. Hopefully it will catch a ride on the Asian Emperor, but I have my money on it making the Sirius Leader due to the large # of cars waiting at port.

[demosthenes]

The AIDA has been delayed by 2 days! Here's the schedule as of Feb 6. It was originally scheduled to be in Georgia on the 12th and California on the 24th.

[demosthenes]

Here's the ship's position as of Feb 11:

[Aaric]

Sweet - I can be lazy and watch you update this one

Interestingly, I've got a 328 with zsp, zpp, and MT on the boat too. Its a sparkling graphite convertible

Who am I kidding? I'll still be looking up the tracking info too

[demosthenes]

Originally Posted by Aaric

Sweet - I can be lazy and watch you update this one

Interestingly, I've got a 328 with zsp, zpp, and MT on the boat too. Its a sparkling graphite convertible

Who am I kidding? I'll still be looking up the tracking info too

I don't blame you for tracking it yourself. It's become a ritual for me to track it every day. It got off to a slow start in Europe, but it's making steady progress now.

When do you think we'll get our cars assuming the boat arrives on the 26th?

[spn]

AIDA and Asian Emporor (another thread) are both due into PH on Feb 25. Here's the updated calendar. http://www.portofhueneme.org/documen...0208083457.pdf

I posted this on the Asian Emporer thread last night. It will give you an idea of the timing of Aida:

"It will not be trackable for two weeks as it makes its way towards the Panama Canal out in the open ocean. It takes about two days to get through the Panama Canal itself and about seven days to get to Port Hueneme once it exits the canal.

As of tonight, the Asian Emporer is showing that it will arrive in PH on Feb 25, http://www.portofhueneme.org/documen...0208083457.pdf so count back seven days and that is when it will be exit the PanCanal region on the Pacific side, and two days before that it should enter the PanCanal region on the Atlantic side. That means it should reach the PanCanal about Feb 16, give or take a day or two (depending on weather). If you catch it in the PanCanal you can watch the ship go through the canal on the PanCanal web cameras. I have done this several times. It takes about eight hours to go through the whole PanCanal system of locks.

I will keep an eye on the Asian Emporer on the AIS tracking system, but it won't show up on radar until it gets to the PanCanal region which should be next weekend."

I can also watch, Aida, too. They both should hit the PanCanal around Feb 16.

[demosthenes]

Many thanks for the info.

Where can I go to watch it go through the canal?

[spn]

Once the ship reaches the Atlantic side of the PanCanal, these big ships usually hang around for a day awaiting their turn to go through the canal system. Special PanCanal pilots board the ship to take the ship through the whole canal system. Since these ships are huge (I think they are called PanaMax because they take up every inch of canal space, width-wise), it is tricky to steer them through the locks and it takes specially-trained people to do it. In fact, multiple pilots board the ship to do the job. So, not only does the ship have to wait its turn, but they wait until morning (daylight) hours to do it. So, if a ship arrives at the Atlantic side late in the day, they wait until the next morning to take it through. So, that is why the process takes two days (or more). Once the ship starts its process through the lock system itself, that only takes about six to eight hours to get from the Atlantic side to the Pacific side.

[spn]

Originally Posted by demosthenes

Many thanks for the info.

Where can I go to watch it go through the canal?

Here's the web site. Also, find a map of the PanCanal so you will understand where the Gatun and MiraFlores locks are located. That will help you when she goes through.

Pan Canal http://www.pancanal.com/eng/photo/camera-java.html

[spn]

Originally Posted by demosthenes

I don't blame you for tracking it yourself. It's become a ritual for me to track it every day. It got off to a slow start in Europe, but it's making steady progress now.

When do you think we'll get our cars assuming the boat arrives on the 26th?

demosthenes; do a search on this forum for Ship Bellona. That is one of the ships I tracked last summer. It was a VERY popular thread and will take you through the timing of the ship from the pancanal to delivery. One of the guys on the thread lived in SF, so you will see what the timing was for his delivery in SF. I think it took maybe four days to get his car, but I can't remember. Start on page 3 of the thread, which is when the ship hit the PanCanal, then read on through. The Euro Delivery cars took three weeks to get inspected, but the regular orders went through the VPC fairly quickly.

[spn]

I will also watch the radar for the Georgia coastline. She's not there, yet. I only show the port of Savannah. I don't know exactly where Aida is supposed to dock. Do you know? Is it Savannah? I don't see a whole lot of ships there right now, so it isn't a big port. You can try googling the port of Savannah and see if they post a "ships arrival" schedule online. Some ports do that, like port Hueneme and port of San Diego. You have to pay to see the port of LongBeach/LA schedule, which I do pay for when my car's ship gets close to arrival. It shows the exact hour the ship is due into port. I think it costs $25 for a week's worth of logging on to their schedule.

[demosthenes]

SPN:

Thanks for all the great info. I especially appreciate it since I had to deal with a difficult poster recently. We get all kinds of people on this forum - some very helpful people like you and others that like to battle.

The AIDA will dock in Brunswick Georgia.

Let us know what you think of your SL63, would you? It should be a monster.

[spn]

I wonder if that port is another name for Savannah. I only see Savannah on radar. I am on my Treo and I will google that when I get home.

Sorry to read about your bad experience. I see that A LOT on the Merc AMG forum. They are the worst. I try to ignore it.

I am very excited to get my new car. it won't be built until first week of April. I was lining up my ship tracking web sites in preparation and started getting sucked into these threads again. Ha It is fun to do during the long wait.

[demosthenes]

Originally Posted by spn

Sorry to read about your bad experience. I see that A LOT on the Merc AMG forum. They are the worst. I try to ignore it.

I try too, but I don't always succeed.

The vast majority of posters come here to share their enthusiasm for fine cars. It's a great thing, especially since most "normal" people think we are nuts. But some people come here to anonymously vent their frustrations. There seems to be 4 ways to deal with it: post and ignore the bad responses, post and flinch when you get bad responses, read the forums but don't post or leave. The first option seems like the best.

[spn]

Originally Posted by demosthenes

It's a great thing, especially since most "normal" people think we are nuts.

It's called passion. And everyone in life should have one!

When you think about it, posters with bad attitudes have emotional issues; anger, jealousy, etc. Maybe they were abused as children, in which you have to feel sorry for them. Nodoby can help them in this forum.

I am going to have to find a detailed map of Georgia. I found Brunswick and it is down the coast from Savannah. I don't know if it is on the radar map, though. This is what I see of the Georgia coast. That red box is the port of Savannah. I might be able to see the Aida as she approaches the Georgia coast.

[spn]

Here's a Google map of the Georgia coast. AIS radar shows Savannah and Jacksonville, but not Brunswick.

[spn]

Here is the AIS radar overview of the southeastern coast called Savannah Overview. The bottom box is the port of Jacksonville approaches. The middle box is the port of Savannah approaches and the upper box is the Carolinas approaches. So, Brunswick is somewhere between Savannah and Jacksonville. I think we might see Aida come into the Savannah overview, just like we see the Hyundai Kennedy coming into view.

[spn]

Sorry, the map didn't attach for some reason.

[demosthenes]

Very cool. Many thanks.

[spn]

Here's the latest radar map of the Georgia coastline. No Aida, yet.

[demosthenes]

The AIDA can carry 6700 cars!