Guide
RoRo is cheaper, simpler to book and entirely adequate for a great many cars. Container costs more and removes four specific risks. The only useful question is whether those four risks apply to your vehicle.
- Both methods described physically, not as sales categories
- Written for classics, modern classics and market-only specs
- Indicative figures, as at September 2026
The mechanics
What each method actually does to the car
RoRo means roll-on, roll-off. The car is driven up a stern or quarter ramp onto a deck of a pure car and truck carrier. A PCTC is a slab-sided vessel with hoistable decks, no cargo cranes and nothing aboard but wheeled freight. A terminal driver takes it on, parks it within inches of its neighbours and lashes it to deck rings by the wheels or the recovery eyes. The keys stay with the vessel and the terminal. Modern PCTCs are enclosed rather than open-deck, but they are ventilated, and the air moving through them is sea air.
Container means the car is loaded into a steel box and the box is sealed. Alone in a 20ft, it has the whole unit to itself. Sharing a 40ft, it sits with two or three others on steel racking, secured with soft ties and timber bracing at a loading warehouse. From the moment that door is sealed until it opens at the destination warehouse, nobody drives the car and no third party has reason to touch it. It also does not need to run — winch loading is routine work.
Side by side
RoRo and container across the eight factors that decide it
Nothing here is a rule. Read down the Factor column, find the two or three rows that describe your car, and let those decide.
| Factor | RoRo | Container |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | The cheaper method on almost every lane, priced on the cubic measurement of the vehicle. | Roughly 10 to 20 per cent above RoRo for a place in a shared 40ft; roughly double the RoRo figure for sole use of a 20ft. |
| The vehicle must drive | Yes. It must start, steer, brake and be driven on and off under its own power by a stranger. | No. Winch loading is standard, so non-runners, project cars and stripped shells all travel. |
| Security and exposure | Enclosed deck on a modern PCTC, but ventilated with sea air, and handled by terminal staff at both ends. | Sealed steel box, opened at the destination warehouse. Keys travel with the file, not with the ship. |
| Personal effects | Generally prohibited. Carriers and terminals expect an empty car with a low tank. | Spares, wheels, a hardtop or a crated engine can usually travel, provided all of it is declared. |
| Loading equipment needed | A ramp and a driver. Nothing else, which is why it is quick to book. | Warehouse, winch, racking, bracing and soft ties. More handling, more people, more lead time. |
| Port availability and sailing frequency | Fewer terminals, but frequent scheduled calls on the main Atlantic lanes. | Almost any container port and far more sailings, though a shared box waits for the other cars. |
| Non-runners and very low cars | Poor. Splitters, hard suspension and short approach angles do not like a steep quarter ramp. | Good. Loading is controlled, and a winch or flatbed removes the ramp problem entirely. |
| Insurance position | Cover is placeable, but handling touchpoints and deck exposure are both higher. | The easier basis on which to place agreed-value all-risks cover for a high-value car. |
Indicative and directional, as at September 2026. Rates, terminal practice and carrier acceptance policies change. Method suitability is confirmed per vehicle and per lane before booking.
Inside the box
Racking, and the door that catches people out
A 40ft container takes three to four cars on steel racking. The system lifts vehicles clear of the floor so a second row can load underneath — typically two on the deck and one or two on inclined racks above them. The engineering limits are generous: ISO maximum gross weight is 30,480 kg against a tare of roughly 3,750 kg, leaving a payload near 26,730 kg. Weight is almost never what stops a car travelling. Width, height and ground clearance are.
Here is the constraint nobody mentions until it bites. The door aperture of a standard 40ft is narrower than the interior of the box — roughly 7ft 8in wide by 7ft 5in high, about 2.34m by 2.26m. A car that would sit perfectly happily inside may not fit through the opening to get there. Wide-body conversions, fixed mirrors, track-width spacers, anything on a dolly or a trailer: all of it needs the widest fixed point measured before a container is booked. Not after the transporter arrives. The same applies to the door sill, which a low front splitter has to clear. We take those measurements at the condition survey.
The other two methods
Where enclosed road transport and air freight fit
Neither ocean method covers the land legs, which add days at both ends. Collection and consolidation typically run two to four days at origin; destination clearance and onward delivery run five to fourteen days. In the United States, open multi-car carriage costs roughly US$0.60 to US$1.20 per mile and enclosed roughly US$0.90 to US$1.80. Single-vehicle enclosed carriage adds a further 30 to 50 per cent. In Europe, open transporters run around €0.15 to €0.30 per kilometre and enclosed two to three times more. Cover deserves reading closely at both ends. US enclosed carriers typically hold cargo cover of US$250,000 to US$1,000,000; European operators commonly include declared values to around €500,000 in the base price. Both sit below the value of many collector cars, which is the argument for separate agreed-value cover on the road legs as well as the sea leg. Cross-border road moves in Europe also default to CMR carrier liability, which is a limit rather than a valuation. As at 2026, HMRC and EU customs rules require a regime for a UK–EU road move — T1 transit, Temporary Admission or Returned Goods Relief — not merely a CMR note.
Air freight is rarely the right answer, and we will say so. Europe to United States air cargo runs at approximately US$2.50 to US$4.50 per kilogramme, putting a scheduled main-deck booking around US$8,000 to US$16,000 per vehicle. A full transatlantic charter of a 747-400F is an order of magnitude beyond that, at roughly €150,000 to €250,000. Air earns its cost in one situation: the date cannot move. A concours entry, an auction lot, a race weekend. Everything else goes by sea.
Decision
Choose RoRo when
RoRo is the default for a reason, and recommending container on every car would be dishonest. If most of these describe your vehicle, book the deck.
The car runs, drives and stops properly
It will be driven on and off by someone who has never seen it before. If that sentence makes you uneasy, the answer is container.
Nothing is travelling with it
Personal effects are generally prohibited. An empty car with a low tank and a working handbrake is what the terminal expects.
The lane has frequent calls
Southampton, Liverpool, Bremerhaven and Antwerp-Bruges — the largest vehicle port in the world at 3.34 million cars in 2025 — all see regular RoRo sailings.
Dimensions are unremarkable
Standard width, standard ride height, standard approach angle. A car that walks up a ramp without a plank under its nose.
Cost sensitivity is real and legitimate
RoRo is cheaper on almost every lane. A sound driver-grade car does not need a steel box around it.
It is a relocation, not a collection move
Relocations, company moves and high-end daily drivers are what the RoRo fleet was built for. See vehicle shipping for how we run them.
Decision
Choose container when
One of these is usually enough on its own. Two of them and the question is closed.
It does not run, or should not be run
Project cars, barn finds, stripped shells, a fuel system nobody has touched in twenty years. Winch loading resolves all of it.
Paint, originality or provenance carry the value
Concours cars, original-paint survivors, fresh restorations. Sealed steel and controlled handling are worth the premium here.
Parts travel with the car
Spare wheels, a hardtop, a period toolkit, a crated engine. All feasible, all declared properly to customs.
The car sits very low
A steep quarter ramp and a carbon splitter are a poor combination. Container loading can be made as gentle as the car requires.
You need a named loading window
Sole use of a 20ft loads to a date you agree. A shared 40ft loads when the box fills.
The value warrants an agreed-value policy
Marine cover on an appreciating asset belongs on an agreed value, not invoice price plus ten per cent. Container makes that cover simpler to place.
The fleet
Who actually carries the car
Deep-sea RoRo is concentrated among a handful of operators. Wallenius Wilhelmsen is the largest, with roughly 125 to 130 vessels; its bigger pure car and truck carriers reach 200m and around 6,600 car equivalent units. Höegh Autoliners runs about 40 vessels. K Line, MOL, Grimaldi and ARC, the US-flag operator, are the other principal names on Atlantic lanes.
For UK and European moves against the United States, the natural backbone is Atlantic Container Line's weekly ConRo service. Five G4 vessels each carry 3,800 TEU of containers plus 1,307 vehicle units on the same hull. The European rotation is Liverpool–Hamburg–Antwerp; the North American rotation is Halifax–New York–Baltimore–Norfolk–New York–Halifax, with Liverpool to Halifax at around nine nights. The useful point is that on a ConRo the containers and the vehicle decks sail on the same ship. Choosing container over RoRo does not automatically mean a slower crossing; it usually means a different loading window. Our coverage page sets out the port pairs we work most often, and the lane notes for UK to USA and USA to UK cover the specifics at each end.
Questions
Six questions worth settling before you book
Often, yes. The objections are specific rather than general: the car is driven by terminal staff, the keys stay with the vessel, and the deck is ventilated with sea air. On a solid driver-grade classic those are acceptable trade-offs. On a fresh restoration or an original-paint survivor they are not.
Yes, by container. A non-runner is winched into the box on skates or a dolly and braced in position. RoRo is not open to you, because the method depends on the car being driven on and off under its own power. If it will not start and drive reliably, treat container as settled and move on to shared versus sole use.
Three to four on steel racking — typically two on the deck and one or two on inclined racks above. Weight rarely decides it: ISO maximum gross is 30,480 kg against a tare of roughly 3,750 kg. The limits that bite are the door aperture of about 7ft 8in by 7ft 5in, interior height, and ground clearance over the sill.
Not on RoRo, where carriers and terminals generally prohibit it. In a container it is usually possible, provided every item appears on the customs declaration. Undeclared contents are the quickest route to an examination, a delay and a bill.
Port to port, not necessarily — on a ConRo service the two travel on the same hull. The difference sits at the ends. A shared container waits for the other cars to reach the loading warehouse, then is unpacked at destination rather than driven off a ramp. Door to door across the Atlantic, three to six weeks is normal for either method once collection, formalities, clearance and delivery are counted.
As a direction rather than a quote, and as at September 2026: a place in a shared 40ft typically runs 10 to 20 per cent above RoRo on the same lane, and sole use of a 20ft is roughly double the RoRo figure. What decides the outcome is the landed cost — duty, VAT or sales tax, terminal handling, brokerage, marine cover and final delivery. See importing a car from the USA to the UK for how that stack behaves, and the US 25-year rule for the compliance question to settle before booking anything.
Next step
Tell us about the car
Give us the vehicle, the two addresses and the date that matters. We will come back with a method, a lane and an honest range — including the cases where RoRo is plainly right and a container would be money spent on nothing. If the car has not been bought yet, vehicle sourcing and shipping run as a single engagement.