[jax]

Hey guys,

My Mini was built last week and is now waiting in Chelsea for transport. I live in Houston, Texas and my port of arrival is Galveston Texas, just 40 or so miles from here, so that's great. The trip from the VDC to the dealer will be fairly quick.

I called Mini yesterday to ask about what ship I might be on and the phone representatives seemed confused. They said my car was booked and had a placement on board a ship but there was no ship name showing. I talked to two reps, and got the same story. I even called my sales manager at the dealership today and he didn't know either.

Does anybody have any experience with this port and/or problems getting the ship's name?

I am pretty sure it won't go out on a Wallenius Wilhelmsen ship because I have looked at a bunch of VINs on the W|W tracking website and none of them are destined for Galveston. Another forum member said his car went out on K-line to Galveston but they don't offer cargo tracking. Does anybody know if it is common with K-line that the ship's name is not listed in the Mini ordering system or something like that?

I see a K-line ship departing Chelsea tomorrow (Bishu Highway) and heading for Galveston and I think I might be booked one that one. I guess I won't know until Monday if I made the ship.

I also see a Wallenius Wilhelmsen ship bound for Galveston leaving Monday so at least that's an option if I don't make it onto the Bishu Highway.

 

[jax]

Still no luck as of Monday. MINI can't find the name of the ship. Has anybody else had this problem when trying to find the name of a ship? Also I meant Southampton above not Chelsea (not sure what I was thinking).

Since there's no way to track cargo on K-line, has anybody had any luck getting their MIni rep to find the ship name? How long does it take once the ship sets sail for the name to be listed? I know that with Willenius Wilhelmsen, the info on their tracking site shows when a car is booked and then loaded onto a ship, so you can actually know before it sets sail.

 

[jpryanlaw]

My car was also heading to the Galveston port, and it was also a K-Line ship (Michigan Highway). I was able to get the name from MINI a few days after it had shipped, so eventually they should be able to give you a name. It might just be that they wait for the boat to leave port before they can associate the name of the ship to the car. If that makes any sense. Its not much help, but I would just keep checking in with the 1-800-ASK-MINI number until you get a name. It will happen eventually - even for a K-Line boat.

Im in Houston as well (ordered from Momentum MINI), and heads up that the time from unloading in Galveston, through the VDC process, and to the dealer has taken roughly a week and a half. My car was unloaded in Galveston on the Sunday before Memorial Day. As of yesterday morning, the online tracker shows that my car had cleared the VDC and was in transit to the dealer (a two hour drive tops), but I havent been contacted to schedule a pick up time yet. So just prep yourself to remain patient when the boat docks in galveston. it will still be some time before you can pick it up.

 

[jax]

My car was also heading to the Galveston port, and it was also a K-Line ship (Michigan Highway). I was able to get the name from MINI a few days after it had shipped, so eventually they should be able to give you a name. It might just be that they wait for the boat to leave port before they can associate the name of the ship to the car. If that makes any sense. Its not much help, but I would just keep checking in with the 1-800-ASK-MINI number until you get a name. It will happen eventually - even for a K-Line boat.

Im in Houston as well (ordered from Momentum MINI), and heads up that the time from unloading in Galveston, through the VDC process, and to the dealer has taken roughly a week and a half. My car was unloaded in Galveston on the Sunday before Memorial Day. As of yesterday morning, the online tracker shows that my car had cleared the VDC and was in transit to the dealer (a two hour drive tops), but I havent been contacted to schedule a pick up time yet. So just prep yourself to remain patient when the boat docks in galveston. it will still be some time before you can pick it up.

Nice to see another Houstonian on here!

Did Mini on the phone tell you it had definitely not shipped and then days later you found out it had? I looked at the shipping schedule after my car finished production and figured it would go out on one of the two ships leaving for Galveston today - the Resolve (W|W) or the Bishu Highway (K-line). I later found out that it seems cars never take W|W to Galveston even though they do go there, so it must be the K-line ship. However once I saw that the ship had left port via MarineTraffic.com, I called Mini and they said it's still at port.

I'm wondering if Mini has accurate info to know it's still in port, or if they are saying that because they haven't seen an update and they don't know that the Galveston bound ship already left.

My car has been at the dock since 6/2, so I can't think of any reason why it wouldn't have gone out today but you never know...

Also I talked to somebody who's car cleared the VDC after just a few days in Galveston, so maybe I'll get lucky? I'll try not to get my hopes up though.

 

[jax]

By the way I am picking up at Momentum Mini in Houston as well!

 

[jpryanlaw]

Sorry man, I am not going to be the best help there, since I only called the number once after i started getting impatient of seeing the car built, but not shipped for a couple weeks. i didnt call before it had shipped, but just lucked out to have called a few days after it left Zeebrugge and they had the name. Hopefully its just that K-Line is a little slow getting information to MINI. and I hope its on the Bishu, and you arent having to wait for the Eurasian Highway.

But I hope you are able to find out the name soon and that you get lucky on the VDC! My coworkers are a bit too fond of gently ribbing me on my MINI ordering saga, so I cant wait to get the car not only for obvious reasons, but also to shut them up. They all want to see my MINI when it gets here, but I am going to make them wait a day for every "your car here yet?" question ive gotten over the weeks.

 

[jax]

Sorry man, I am not going to be the best help there, since I only called the number once after i started getting impatient of seeing the car built, but not shipped for a couple weeks. i didnt call before it had shipped, but just lucked out to have called a few days after it left Zeebrugge and they had the name. Hopefully its just that K-Line is a little slow getting information to MINI. and I hope its on the Bishu, and you arent having to wait for the Eurasian Highway.

But I hope you are able to find out the name soon and that you get lucky on the VDC! My coworkers are a bit too fond of gently ribbing me on my MINI ordering saga, so I cant wait to get the car not only for obvious reasons, but also to shut them up. They all want to see my MINI when it gets here, but I am going to make them wait a day for every "your car here yet?" question ive gotten over the weeks.

Haha I'm having the same problem at work these days.

This looks exactly like my car so I showed it to a few people at work who wanted to know where my Mini was...

 

[jax]

As of today, Mini still thinks my car is on the docks so I am going to have to believe them. I guess there's no reason it will leave on the Eurasian Highway on June 14 which pushes back my potential delivery by a week but c'est la vie.

 

[jpryanlaw]

I picked mine up yesterday. It is worth the wait. Sorry to hear you still havent gotten on a boat, or at least havent been given the name of the boat, but it should happen soon. I hope you find out soon.

 

[jax]

I picked mine up yesterday. It is worth the wait. Sorry to hear you still havent gotten on a boat, or at least havent been given the name of the boat, but it should happen soon. I hope you find out soon.

Thanks. It looks like the next chance for it to go out will be Tuesday.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[02fanatic]

My JCW was built 6-4-15 and I picked it up on 7-1-15 with my dealer putting a rush on it at the port of entry! So if your car was built end of May it will likely be end of June. Maybe you'll get lucky but I waited 3 months from placing my order in April 2015.....but the manual transmission was not ready on early JCWs....so just put things in perspective....some of us waited waaaay longer! Get your car care products all lined up for detailing, it will be here before long! ;-)

Good luck,

John

 

[jax]

I don't think there's any chance mine will be here in June. The next ship leaving Southampton gets to Galveston on July 3. I missed the last two ships for an unknown reason and now I hope I don't miss the next one. Finger's crossed for the Eurasian Highway. The travel time is about 19 days since it has to visit Barcelona before it crosses the Atlantic.

Maybe my dealer will be cool and put a rush on it at the VDC too. My personal estimate now is July 11 (one week after landing with an extra day because of the 4th of July holiday).

I can't wait!!!

 

[jax]

So it turns out I'm on board the Eurasian Highway with an estimated arrival in Galveston on July 1. Woohoo!

 

[jax]

So it turns out I'm on board the Eurasian Highway with an estimated arrival in Galveston on July 1. Woohoo!

I should add that for the first 24 hours on board the ship, Mini told me I was still on the dock but after about 24 hours they told me I was at sea. I'm not sure if this only applies to K-Line ships but it takes about 24 hours to confirm shipment via Mini's phone reps.

 

[AllanDaniels]

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[mtbscott]

Reviving an old thread, I know the OP has had his car for several months now. I'm in Houston too and have a JCW on the way to Clear Lake MINI. Ordered on November 17th, it was built the next week. Sat a week waiting for a ship and was loaded on the Athens Highway on December 2. All of this was given to me by my MA, the ASKMINI folks were always behind.
It is also a K-Line ship and its manifest was Southhampton to Barcelona to Galveston. It's said to be due in port on December 21. My MA also tells me they are able to retrieve the cars themselves from the Galveston VDC for rush orders, so hope to have a Christmas present or certainly the week after.