How Did Your Import Car Get Here?


If you're of a curious mind, you've probably wondered in amazement at the intricacies of global trade. If you're an owner of an Asian import, your vehicle could have traveled the equivalent of nearly 10,000 miles or more, mostly in the belly of a massive cargo ship, as shown in the above video provided by The New York Times.

The newspaper tracked the Andromeda Leader, a modern mega-cargo ship capable of carrying up to 5,500 vehicles at once. The ship was carrying 2,990 Toyota vehicles. It takes a crew of 120 people to drive the teeming sprawl of Toyotas (we see many, much needed, Toyota Prius and Prius c models here) off the boat, at a rate of about 450 cars per hour.

Ship vessel tracking sites are surprisingly forthcoming with data: A simple Google search of the Andromeda Leader brings you to a tracking website; the site shows the ship docked in Newark, N.J.,(where this video was shot) in late March. It made its way to Los Angeles earlier this week. It's now heading back to Toyota City, Japan, and should arrive there in early August, probably to pick up more Toyota imports.

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