The Italian Job: Shipping 50 Motorhomes from Italy to New Zealand!

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The Italian Job: Shipping 50 Motorhomes from Italy to New Zealand!

Posted on November 1, 2014 – Shipping Vehicles

When Jucy Rentals decided they wanted to bring 50 brand new state of the art motor-homes over to New Zealand from Italy they turned to McCullough.

Jucy knew it would be a big ask, but having successfully used McCullough to import vehicles before, and knowing  it is one of the biggest automobile international vehicle logistics company in New Zealand, Jucy believed McCullough was up to the job.

Jucy is an iconic travel company specialising in vehicle rentals for tourists and often associated with backpackers.

However, their new Fiat motor-homes, are less campervan and more luxury house on wheels complete with toilet, shower and kitchen. They retail at over $100,000.  

One of biggest shipments McCullough has handled
Shipping one, let alone 50, is no mean feat. It was one of the biggest shipments McCullough had ever handled. The value of the cargo they were entrusted with ran into millions of dollars.  

Hours of strategic planning
Shipping timetables and Jucy needing their vans in time for the summer tourist season, meant getting the vans to Auckland required hours of strategic planning.

McCullough was on the phone with Italy to get all the paperwork completed and make sure things ran smoothly.

Further complicating matters, was the Italian  holidays coming up. During this time pretty much everything in Italy shuts down, including local car factories and freight. This meant McCullough was up against the clock to get these motor-homes out of the factory, down to the wharf and onto the ships.

Timing crucial 
The biggest worry was ending up with the vehicles sitting stranded on a wharf as their ship sailed off into the distance, with the next one not due for another month.

As it turned out the ship nearly did sail without them, when the motor-homes were late arriving from the factory, but with a bit of liaising with the shipping line, McCullough managed to get the departure delayed for a day and get all 30 motor-homes from the first shipment loaded in one day.

The Italian agencies were on McCullough's side and due to the good working relationship the company has developed with them, the agencies did whatever they could to see the export run smoothly.

Adding to the difficulty of the whole operation was finding ships to do the complete route from Genoa in Italy to Auckland in one leg, rather than having to change ships midway.

A direct sailing means there is less handling and moving of the motor-homes, less chance of damage and less chance of delays.  

Combined effort
McCullough describes the Italians as “amazing to work with”, but that it took a lot of work and getting the timing right to get the vehicles to safely to Auckland was a combined effort from Jucy, the shipping company, port authorities, and the supplier, with McCullough overseeing the whole operation.

Of course, all this will be far from the minds of this summer's tourists as they take in New Zealand's stunning scenery, while trying to remember to stick to the right (left) side of the road in their luxury air-conditioned Jucy home on wheels.

But both Jucy and McCullough know there would be 50 less of them on the road if it wasn't for the  experience, expertise and connections McCullough has built up over the years and the hard work and diligence of its team.

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