[Daftasabrush]

My car was on the Asian Breeze yesterday, so seeing as I had a free evening, house empty, figured I'd see if I could watch it being unloaded. I failed, but saw plenty of interesting sights.

Was greeted by a lovely sunset:



Attached the telephoto lens to my camera and went for a wander closer to the berths. This is the Morning Lady, unloading cars from Antwerp having arrived the previous day.



This is one of the *many* storage areas of new vehicles:





Some X5s? charging by the looks of it, in one of the multi-storey car parks:



My first sighting of the Asian Breeze:



Turning it around:



And pulling it into the dock:





Final manoeuvres:



Opening the stern up:



First glimpse of the cars:





Unloading begins:



Every car gets scanned, driver gets told where to put it and it gets a sticker on the screen:



Really liking the look of the LED headlights on the LCI 3 series, couldn't really capture it though:



After being checked, they seemed to be going one of two directions, either into a multi storey car park, regardless of where they ended up, 70% of them would have been driven hard fresh off the boat.

If you're unlucky enough to own an M3, M4 or M6, fully expect it to have either a) been revved to the redline when new cold, b) driven hard, c) done doughnuts on the car park roof, or a combination of all three.



The other storage area they used is in the bottom left of this photo:



After several hours watching cars being unloaded, I gave up, cold, hungry and thirsty and went to find a McDonalds and make my way home. I failed at what I set out to do, my car was on that boat and is now at port, I might have missed it or might not have stayed long enough, but it was an interesting evening nonetheless.

[....,,,,..,,..]

So you spent a night down by the Docks......

[Rbrown]

Great post and pics.

To some extent its best not to know how badly the cars are treated before we got them!

Hope you enjoyed your night out "at the docks", trust you got away without bring propositioned!!!!

[Daftasabrush]

I don't know why I didn't anticipate that response

[kalo]

Somewhat irksome to know some douche has revved my car out. While I hadn't really thought how they got them off the ship I didn't realise they were driven so recklessly, that's how damage and accidents happen.

[Apl440i or 335d?]

Nice one.

[Glenn1981]

Thanks for that!

Have a feeling my car may have been on there, don't suppose you got any pics of an F31 Touring in Saphire black with the 442m's might have been mine! But suppose there were probably lots of them on there!

[rocketretro]

OMG that's enthusiasm and a degree of eager anticipation, I can understand the fascination though.

[Nick the Greek]

Originally Posted by Brigand

So you spent a night down by the Docks......

Nothing wrong with that.

I was there too.......

[DarrenL_007]

Great pics and thanks for the information.

I feel slightly uncomfortable that a lead footed orangutan may have treated my car in a way that I would never have when new and cold.

[....,,,,..,,..]

Originally Posted by Nick the Greek

Nothing wrong with that.

I was there too.......

Yep, I think I saw both your erm outfits

http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1171905

http://img.blogabond.com/UserPhotos/485/800/gimps.jpg

[Rbrown]

Originally Posted by Nick the Greek

Nothing wrong with that.

I was there too.......

Did you get any business? I'm sure the MX5 acted like a magnet!!!!!

[....,,,,..,,..]

Originally Posted by Rbrown

Did you get any business? I'm sure the MX5 acted like a magnet!!!!!

MX5, is that what Nicks calling his ass these days?

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by Glenn1981

Thanks for that!

Have a feeling my car may have been on there, don't suppose you got any pics of an F31 Touring in Saphire black with the 442m's might have been mine! But suppose there were probably lots of them on there!

Might have been this one, there was only one or two iirc

[Glenn1981]

Originally Posted by Daftasabrush

Might have been this one, there was only one or two iirc

Thanks so much, even if it isn't th one, it looks exactly like that so I can pretend it was haha!

Looks fantastic!

If you have any more pics please let me know!

Hope you get your car soon, what do you have on order?

[Watsey]

If they unload where I recall, between Marchwood and Eling, I used to take friends power boating on Southampton water then waterskiing in the lee of the container ships. Very sheltered and mirror calm water for slalom skiing, until the port authorities moved us on. Something to do with risk, but some of them had a more relaxed attitude

Looks like you had a nice evening to watch the unloading.

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by Glenn1981

Thanks so much, even if it isn't th one, it looks exactly like that so I can pretend it was haha!

Looks fantastic!

If you have any more pics please let me know!

Hope you get your car soon, what do you have on order?

No worries, don't have any more photos, most of the ones that weren't my car got deleted, this one was pretty close, but wrong colour

Originally Posted by Watsey

If they unload where I recall, between Marchwood and Eling, I used to take friends power boating on Southampton water then waterskiing in the lee of the container ships. Very sheltered and mirror calm water for slalom skiing, until the port authorities moved us on. Something to do with risk, but some of them had a more relaxed attitude

Looks like you had a nice evening to watch the unloading.

This was in berth 31: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/...!3m1!1s0x0:0x0

[Rhino at Work]

Am I the only one thinking this forum has attained a new level of madness?

[dopper99]

Originally Posted by Nick the Greek

Nothing wrong with that.

I was there too.......

PMSL!
I could imagine that!

[dopper99]

I dont know what to make of this thread.

On one hand its really interesting seeing cars coming off the boat and being parked up etc.....and what happens behind the scenes but when the OP said he spent hours trying to find he car ........ I think this takes train spotting to a new level..........

[M8 JTD]

Excellent work - And I thought I was taking it too far with my "Ship Tracker" post :
http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1170655

Looks as though it provided some excellent inspiration & motivation though...

[Daftasabrush]

Originally Posted by Rhino at Work

Am I the only one thinking this forum has attained a new level of madness?

Haha, my family has been involved in shipping for generations so it's always interested me. Combine shipping and cars, specifically my new car, and was inevitable tbh.

Originally Posted by dopper99

I dont know what to make of this thread.

On one hand its really interesting seeing cars coming off the boat and being parked up etc.....and what happens behind the scenes but when the OP said he spent hours trying to find he car ........ I think this takes train spotting to a new level..........

The guys running the place said it would be unloading all night, I was thinking of car ferries and couldn't understand how it could take so long, now I've seen it, I fully believe it. Figured the longer I stayed the more likely I was to see it, I just couldn't stay up that long

Originally Posted by 335d JTD

Excellent work - And I thought I was taking it too far with my "Ship Tracker" post:
http://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1170655

Look as though it provided some excellent inspiration & motivation though...

It was your thread that got me thinking on this, that and the convenient timing of the boat arriving (when the family was all out)