Roll-on/roll-off vessels are floating parking decks. Your machine is driven (or towed) up a ramp at the departure port, lashed and blocked on a cargo deck, and driven off at your port. Nothing is dismantled, nothing is craned, and the machine travels exactly as it will work.
RORO is the default for large iron: dozers, motor graders, big wheel loaders, and excavators over container size. It's simple, fast at both ends, and the per-unit handling cost is low. The trade-offs: RORO sailings serve major ports only, run on fixed schedules, and the machine is exposed to more handling by port labor than a sealed box.
The machine is loaded into a standard 40ft container (or onto an open-top/flat-rack unit for taller loads), blocked and lashed, and the box is sealed until it reaches you. Smaller machines — compact excavators, skid steers, backhoes, attachments — fit directly. Mid-size excavators often go in with the boom, bucket, or counterweight removed and packed alongside.
Containers open up more destination ports and more frequent sailings, and a sealed box means minimal handling of the machine itself. The trade-offs: dismantling and reassembly labor where needed, loading costs, and hard dimensional limits — a 40ft high-cube tops out around 2.3m internal width and 2.7m height, which most production-class machines simply exceed.
As a rule of thumb: crawler dozers, motor graders, and large wheel loaders ship RORO. They're too wide or too heavy for boxes, and dismantling them isn't economical. Compact equipment and attachments ship in containers. Mid-size excavators can go either way — the math depends on dismantling cost versus the RORO rate to your port.
One more option worth knowing: flat racks — container-ship real estate without the box walls — handle oversize machines to ports RORO lines don't serve, at a premium.
Big machine, major port: RORO. Small machine or attachments: container. Mid-size excavator or unusual destination: ask — we'll price both and tell you which one actually makes sense for your port.
For anything that fits without major dismantling, containers are often competitive. For big iron, RORO nearly always wins once you count dismantling, loading, and reassembly labor on the container side. Rates move with fuel and season, so get a current quote rather than trusting a chart.
RORO vessels carry thousands of machines and vehicles every sailing; lashing crews do this all day. Fluids are checked and batteries isolated before loading. Marine cargo insurance covers the voyage either way, and we recommend it on every shipment.
Usually yes — either via container/flat rack, or RORO to the nearest major port plus onward transport. Tell us the destination and we'll map the route.
Tell us the machine and your port — we'll come back with the sensible option and a full quote, documentation included.
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