Aida

[Pamlico]

After a long wait for every page, especially the one that appears after entering the tracking number, a page from WW was displayed that stated that there was either a "Session Error" or the server was down. There was also an option to Log In again, biut this puts things back into the same loop.

[Sejanus]

Quote:

Originally posted by qwik
I swear, nah hope ,ok pray that E/B S getting loaded is destined for my garage. What a day for the WW site to not let me in. It has been working all along when it didn't really matter,it figures now it would have to act up, oh well .If anyone gets in please email me and I will post if I have any luck . Thanks, Paul

I know how you feel. I've been using that site for weeks, but now that my car is due to dock in SoCal (it's on the Takamine) I can't access the site, or it won't track cargo! For those of you on the Aida you may be able to track it across the Atlantic. Not all the ships in WW's fleet seem to participate in the VOS program, but the Aida does. I spotted her twice a while back when she was sailing back to Europe so hopefully you will be able to catch a glimpse of her on her way to the US.

[eBrit]

Wallenius Wilhelmsen WebSite Access

Quote:

[b]
"I have been trying to access the ship website I have a feeling everyone is, i have not had any luck yet . Any word on the cars making the ship i am praying we all make the voyage this time".

I came across the probable reason on another MINI2 thread

Current Shipping Situation (Horse's Mouth) at

Quote:

“In support of that, we are deploying new and enhanced versions of our current systems on July 26th.”
Arne Hamre
Wallenius Wilhelmsen Lines AS
Oslo, Norway

In fact Arne's very full letter explains why ships aren't always loaded as you expect....and if anyone's left still at port (hope not) the reason.

At Sea Tracking

Two sites I've found so far are:
Ocean Buoys
and
OceanWeather.com

Anyone know of any others?

eBrit


MINIs coming down to board the Aida 27 July, 2002

[eBrit]

First the good news....Aida has upped anchor and set sail. For a moment this morning I thought she hadn't 'cause for all the world she still seemed to be sat there at WW...But a closer look revealed it was her "identical twin" the Isolde.

And now the bad news ....there are at least 400 MINI's in the WW storage car park waiting to embark I hope none of yours are still there.

eBrit

[Pamlico]

Well, the WW site seems back to normal this morning. If my car made it onto the Aida I imagine the shipping status would reflect that. Unfortunately, there's no change and things only show received at terminal and booked. Grrrrr.

[Terrence]

it was nice to see something even though it was not what i wanted to see It looks like all the cars with a
BOOKING NUMBER GBSOU88327 are all just showing
( received at terminal ) maybe later today or tomorrow
or if there are others that have the same ship with a different booking #it would be cool to hear what they see

[Peter-NYC]

The only other booking number I know of for the Aida is

GBSOU85130E, which has 3 cars that missed the Jingu Maru (and everything else that preceeded it). The 3 cars are still showing up as received at terminal, so my car which is in GBSOU85206C has some company.

While I'm pretty ****ed to have been sitting there since July 6th, the 3 cards in GBSOU85130E were received on June 14th!

Now, I'm assuming that the information on the website is just stale, or better yet - that we are destined to be loaded onto the Isolde which will arrive 1 day before the Aida.

Past experience with the Jingu Maru suggests that the information on the website will not be accurate until tomorrow.

[eBrit]

Quote:

"In this situation, we firmly book for loading the number of cars that we know we can accommodate on each vessel. In addition to that, we book the excess cars on a 'wait-list'. During the loading of the vessel, we will load all firm cars and in addition pick as many cars as possible from the 'wait-list' to utilize the vessel's capacity 100%. Unfortunately, our tracking system will not display the wait-list status of a booking. This will leave the impression that the cars are booked firm for shipment on that particular vessel, which of course is not the case. This aspect was regrettably overlooked in the design of the tracking solution. I have today taken steps to have that rectified as soon as possible to prevent creating expectations that are not fully realistic. " WW Lines

I fear some may think Wallenius' Lines status of "booked" is more concrete than it really is. There are 400 MINI's for the US still at Southampton (see below), but the Isolde is in and loading

eBrit

[eBrit]

The "Isolde" - 28th July 2002, 9:30am

[jlivingood]

Can't that you enough eBrit for all the pictures of the Aida loading! I simply marvel at this Internet thing somethings (and it's what I do for a living too). Just so cool to see this stuff more or less in real time all the way across the Atlantic.

Thanks for everything eBrit!!!

Jason

[jlivingood]

Quote:

Originally posted by Pamlico
Well, the WW site seems back to normal this morning. If my car made it onto the Aida I imagine the shipping status would reflect that. Unfortunately, there's no change and things only show received at terminal and booked. Grrrrr.

The site usually takes several days into the work week to update. I have the sneaking suspicion that a bit of manual data entry is involved! My car is still not updated...

Jason

[eBrit]

Well the Aida's out there in the Atlantic somewhere...shortly to be followed by the Isolde. Both make NY on the 6th and the 5th August respectively. It's been great fun catching shots of it all. Thanks for the thanks from you all.

So what's it like on board the Aida/Isolde? I found a great set of 360 degree zoomable Quick Time Virtual Tours on an obscure area of the WW site. I recommend

They are at

WW RoRo Virtual Tour

eBrit

[eBrit]

You might be interested to know the Aida (Call Sign SCFI) is showing up at approx. Longitude 49N Latitude 14W on OceanWeather.com

eBrit

[Lizzybobio]

The Isolde actually has a shorter trip to NY. Hopefully, I missed the AIDA (Booking GBSOU88327), and am loaded up on for the shorter trip. What's the call sign for the Isolde? I can't find it anywhere!

[jlivingood]

Looks like Aida is a little further along now:

Jul-29-2002 06:00
50 30' N
14 18' W
SCFI

Here is it's plot from earlier:


Jason