CarolK

I was a tad curious so I called EH Harms to verify if 2 January is the estimated date in port. The date is correct and they unload and are gone within 24 hours...then customs and the car is on it's way! It's been one month since we dropped the car off - just a bit anxious!!

This is the only way to buy a new car!

Carol

CarolK

Have been very busy monitoring ship movements - it just now appeared on the Houston arrivals page http://www.portofhouston.com/maritime/general_cargo/turningbasin.html

Carol

RSP

Nice tracking Carol. The Braunschweig was originally scheduled to depart Emden, Germany on 12/12/2008. By the time I picked up my new A5 on 12/1/2008, that date had slipped to 12/15/2008 with an estimated arrival date in Houston on 1/2/2009. Since the Braunschweig actually departed Emden on 12/17 instead of 12/15, it stands to reason they were not going to be able to make up the two days and arrive in Houston on 1/2/2009 as scheduled. The real key seems to be how long U.S. Customs takes to clear them to move on to the dealers. Hoping that will be a short duration and both our vehicles get moving out of Houston ASAP.

As good a program as European Delivery is, this is obviously the hard part, already seeing your car and having to wait for delivery. I guess if they delay long enough the factory OEM performance tires will actually be commensurate with the season.

RSP

CarolK

here's the link:
http://www.vesseltracker.com/en/Port/fortlauderdale/Map.html

she's the farthest right "down arrow"!!!
click on the arrow or on the name in the ship list to the right of map

CarolK

heading 267 degrees at 14.8 kts

http://marinetraffic.com/ais/

RSP

I've been looking with interest at the web page sites you have provided for tracking maritime vessels. Do you have to be a registered user with these services to view all the ships? It doesn't appear so, but I have not been able to locate the Braunschweig either by putting my cursor over a vessel depiction on a map or by trying to pull up the Braunschweig under vessel name. Any hints as to what I am missing here? Thanks.

CarolK

Strangely enough I can't find it right now either. On www.vesseltracker.com I am getting this message: The current position is not available because the vessel is not in one of our covered regions at the moment.

I did do the free sign-in (vesseltracker)and I've been able to pull it up by typing in the vessel name on the upper right on the webpage. You sound like you are doing the same thing as me and sometimes good hunting other times zilch. On www.marinetraffic.com the port of houston is not listed - that seems weird.

I guess we just keep looking and posting when we see something.

Carol

RSP

Carol:

Those free maritime tracking services seem to be worth what you pay for them. I just got an email from Kathy Bis informing me that my new A5 has been released by U.S. Customs at the Port of Houston. Obviously the ship had to have arrived and off loaded my vehicle for that to have happened. Now it's on to Seattle via rail and truck.

RSP

CarolK

Well there is a disclaimer that the times are as much as 24 hours off. I didn't received an email from Kathy - BUT I did go to the EH Harms tracking website and it shows our TT cleared customs 2 January also. I'll call the dealer in Dallas in the morning and see what he knows. I'll send him an email tonight too.

This seems like an eternity since we turned the car in. I keep going to the webcam at Marienplatz in Munich daily, refreshing many times and wishing we were there! I think we are going to try to do one of the "Drivers Day" programs at Ingolstadt Thanksgiving this year. Quite a variety of programs and very reasonable with your choice of Audi model.

This has been quite a fun game playing on these ship websites seeing where in the world things may be located. I got a couple ships in as my favorites, one of them being Lady Moura - phenominal vessel (private yacht) we saw in Monaco in May. So now something new to do on the computer...follow ships.

Wonder if you can follow Amtrack????

Congratulations on your new A5 and it's been fun chatting with you!!! Have a great weekend...don't know about you, but mine just got better.

Carol

RSP

Carol:

I just received an answer from Audi of America European Delivery Specialist Gxxx Wxxxxx regarding my inquiry as to where my car was since we received notice it cleared customs in Houston on December 31, 2008. Gary indicated that "...EH Harms was able to prioritize customs clearance so the vehicle could be released upon arrival at the port. The port of Houston confirmed the vehicle arrived yesterday and is currently being prepared for shipping..."

I responded to Gxxx as follows, "Thank you for the explanation. The Braunschweig was originally scheduled to sail from the Port of Emden on December 12, 2008 and that was revised to a December 15, 2008 sailing with an ETA in Houston of January 2, 2009. The ship did not actually leave Emden, Germany until December 17, 2008 so arrival yesterday makes perfect sense. It would have been nice if Dan Ozdinec from E.H. Harms USA had explained the pre-clearance prior to actual arrival in his December 31, 2008 email so as to avoid the apparent confusion on the actual arrival of the ship in Houston."

So I guess the maritime tracking service you were using was correct and the ship did not actually arrive in Houston until January 6, 2009, two days later than was planned even with the slippage of the sailing dates.

RSP