Topeka 10/21 Sailing

Well...I must have hit it JUST WRONG. I dropped my car off on Oct. 1 in Stuttgart and it just left port two days ago. Next time I roll to Bremerhaven directly.


I tracked the ship and it is in Brugge, Belgium, moored. Says delivery to Port Hueneme on 11/15.

Took 20 days to leave port from the time I dropped it off. This is my 5th ED but I've never really paid attention to my delivery and so I'm not sure if this is an abnormally long or not.

Anyone else on this ship?

Took me 16 to get on the Don Juan from Frankfurt.

Originally Posted by filmoreslim

Well...I must have hit it JUST WRONG. I dropped my car off on Oct. 1 in Stuttgart and it just left port two days ago. Next time I roll to Bremerhaven directly.

Anyone else on this ship?

I dropped off Sept 24 and I'm on the same vessel. It's been a long wait already and the darn car just left Europe...

If it makes you feel any better the previous boat heading to the west coast left October 7 so going directly to Bremerhaven probably wouldnt have helped. Typically the loads are determined a week in advance.

I am also on the boat, after dropping off in Paris on October 3. Not sure why AlpBMW's took so long. That one should have made the Oct 7 boat.

She is a little behind schedule but a few hours away from Southhampton to pick up the MINIS then on to Panama Canal. I got a tailing shot of the Topeka from a webcam as she pulled out of ZEEBRUGGE. That was fun. The obsession is starting and yes I did buy the iphone app to track her.

Problem is that I dropped off on the 1st and I was not booked until the fifth.

Originally Posted by filmoreslim

Problem is that I dropped off on the 1st and I was not booked until the fifth.

Just missing the seventh and for some reason there was only a bi-weekly boat this month, not the normal weekly. Let's just cross our fingers that the cars don't get held up by customs or the VPC and we have new cars in the driveway before thanksgiving

Originally Posted by MonkeyCMonkeyDo

Just missing the seventh and for some reason there was only a bi-weekly boat this month, not the normal weekly. Let's just cross our fingers that the cars don't get held up by customs or the VPC and we have new cars in the driveway before thanksgiving

Do the west coast ships always sail Europe -> Panama or do they stop on the US East coast first? Topeka 10/21 is going UK -> Panama directly. Not sure if this is typical or not.

In hindsight, the plan would have been to call the woman in Bremerhaven a few weeks in advance and get booked on the best shipping option and then drop the car off there on a pre-agreed upon date.

Dropped September 10, in Paris and on same boat

Originally Posted by odessa91

Dropped September 10, in Paris and on same boat

Wow, I left Paris on Sept 26. Amazing, won't ever drop in Paris.

Originally Posted by odessa91

Dropped September 10, in Paris and on same boat

What the heck happened? I dropped off 10/3 and was in Bremerhaven by the 12th.

There is some repair work to be done at VPC...Westin Paris valet damaged my rear bumper and three of my rims.

I wonder if I should call and give them a heads up?

Originally Posted by filmoreslim

There is some repair work to be done at VPC...Westin Paris valet damaged my rear bumper and three of my rims.

I wonder if I should call and give them a heads up?

I was told that if you note it on the drop off damage report, VPC should/will fix it. I got a door ding in Italy (gotta love those tiny parking spaces...) and was told it will get fixed at VPC (or rather before I take re-delivery of the car). Let me know what you find out please.

Originally Posted by alpbmw

Do the west coast ships always sail Europe -> Panama or do they stop on the US East coast first? Topeka 10/21 is going UK -> Panama directly. Not sure if this is typical or not.

Not sure for the non WWL lines but it looks like it is a direct flight to panama for the west coast boats. From what I remember of tidal currents in the Atlantic there are two primary routes. North towards Newfoundland and then a route that shoots down off of Portugal then there is a good east west current that takes you down towards South America. Can't remember the name of it. But most boat routes take advantage of these currents as it saves fuel and increases your cruising speed.

November 5 at the canal. It looks like they saved time at Southampton and made up a couple days as new california arrivals date is the 13th.

Originally Posted by alpbmw

I was told that if you note it on the drop off damage report, VPC should/will fix it. I got a door ding in Italy (gotta love those tiny parking spaces...) and was told it will get fixed at VPC (or rather before I take re-delivery of the car). Let me know what you find out please.

I was going to contact them to make sure they had the rims in stock.

Possibly one day behind now. Panama on the 6th. The boat should stop in Cuba on the way and pick up a box of monte christos for each BMW on board that would be a nice gesture for losing a day

The Topeka? My X1 is on it . As an opera fan, I had been hoping to be on one of the opera-titled boats - Elektra, Turandot, Fidelio...oh well! I'll take what I can get.

I can't help but wonder if the Topeka will try to make up that lost day...

Looks like "we" just passed through the Panama Canal. ETA in Port Hueneme is listed as 11/15... Hurry up!!

Here she was a few hours ago

Thanks for posting that.

Originally Posted by filmoreslim

Thanks for posting that.

Amen to that. Great to see actual footage.

I should have a fun little animated gif or maybe a quicktime movie of the trip through the lock sometime today. It made up some time during the Atlantic journey. Let's hope it makes up some more time heading up the west coast.

I checked this AM...scheduled to make port 11/15 still.

The Topeka is currently steaming north along the baja sur coast at 16 knots about 60 nautical miles south southwest of Ensenada...Looks like she might make port on time in approx. 23-24 hours. Perfect as there will be plenty of longshoremen on duty at this time to unload her.

She looks like she is probably 6 or 7 hours behind schedule. She was supposed to dock at around 9 or 10pm tonight (which is 0500-0600 11/15 UTC) but I am guessing she still has another 15 hrs not the 8-9 the schedule shows. Either way docking first thing in the morning would probably speed up the process anyway. I dont think the Port is on a 24hr shift schedule.