Tracking problems

[MikeT]

I have been having difficulty with the voyage MEA739HAL01 (that's a Bill of Lading Number, with Halifax CDN as the destination). This shipment left today.Normally, typing this into the "Bill of Lading Number" search field under Cargo Tracking will yield a rich harvest of VINs (Mercedes-Benz).smart VINs are always under the suffix "02". "03" and so on.Typing in "BAL" instead of "HAL" will usually reveal Mercedes that are Baltimore USA-bound, and, similar to the Canadian example, the suffixes above "01" will be smarts.With the voyage of the Undine that left Bremerhaven Germany on the 27th of September - EA739-UND (on which my new M-B B 200 is, by the way) - the only way I could determine that it had sailed was by typing in my car's PO number or VIN.Doing that brought up the fact that my car was loaded and on its way (yay!).....but the usual field for "Bill of Lading Number" that would come up with any car's VIN was empty. In all other searches up to this one, the Bill of Lading Number has been present.This is important for the reason shown above - namely that the Bill of Lading Number is the fast track to getting ALL smart and/or Mercedes-Benz VINs off the shipping site in one fell swoop. If they're no longer going to be posting the Bill of Lading Numbers, well we are probably hooped if we want to track the entry of all 451 smarts into Canada or the USA (which I do want to continue with).So, for this sailing of the Undine, I searched instead under Booking Number, using the Booking Number that my car's PO (customer reference) number search turned up. That brought up 200+ Mercedes VINs, but none of these data had a Bill of Lading Number next to them - the field was blank in every case.I hope this is not a new turn of events, where the mass tracking of VINs is becoming a lot harder.If it is, the only solution would be for club member spotters to record 451 VINs when the see them (the whole damned 17 digits) and send them to me or Awesys, so we can do Booking Number searches. And even then we might be missing a whole swack of cars.We were fortunate that we appear to have captured EVERY SINGLE 450 that came into Canada.I hope we can do the same with the 451.We will see if they retroactively add the Bill of Lading Number data to the EA739 shipment in the coming few days.Failing that, the sailing of Voyage 740 next week will reveal whether this one was a one-off fluke, or a new pattern of VIN-tracker counter measures

[smartzuuk]

And you know they read this stuff, haha... but hey... in 25 years, this stuff will be collectors lore.

[MikeT]

One other thing.... :smirk:If we could predict the Booking Numbers from shipment to shipment, it actually would be a better way to track the smarts, because sometimes several Bills of Lading come under a single Booking Number.The problem is, we cannot predict what a Booking Number will be, in a smart-specific sense anyway.That's the beauty of the Bill of Lading Number; it IS predictable, being a concatenation of "M", the voyage number (e.g."EA739"), the destination port ("HAL" or "BAL") and a sequence of numbers starting at "01" and never exceeding "09". Simple.....and predictable.But as I pointed out above, we could identify shipments AFTER they arrive in Canada by spotting VINs at dealers, or before they arrive by getting PO numbers from people with a factory order and deriving Booking Numbers from those, THEN finding the VINs that came over under that Booking Number.Short of that, we are high and dry, if the latest shipment is the beginning of a new secretive era....

[MikeT]

The usual Bill of Lading Number was added to the Undine data today, so we're OK!And 8 new CDN spec smarts are en route to Canada on that ship (with our M-B B 200).

[Awesys]

Excellent!

[Wheel_Man]

Can anyone track my new 451? WMEEJ31X38K073512, I have tried to track it as per directions but am unable to get any info.I'm expecting it this month!Jim

[Tom P.]

Can anyone track my new 451? WMEEJ31X38K073512, I have tried to track it as per directions but am unable to get any info.I'm expecting it this month!Jim

I entered your VIN into the WW tracking site but it said no tracking info available for that VIN. That either means the VIN is incorrect or the car has not been put on a ship yet or it has been unloaded in Halifax.I checked Mike's lists of VIN's in the "Tracking the 451's" thread and I do not see your VIN listed. Are you sure it is 073512?

[Wheel_Man]

Yes, I am sure it is the correct VIN. The dealer printed my order out for me with all the options ordered (all of them), prices and option codes.It is the correct VIN.Jim

[Wheel_Man]

I went to the dealership today and they confirmed that the vehicle has not yet left the other side of the world (France).

[Tom P.]

Well, I would be all over them because your VIN is earlier than mine (077270) and my smart arrived in Halifax yesterday.

[Wheel_Man]

you DOG!!!

[Fred J]

If I recall correctly from our experience with the 450's the VIN does not indicate the production order. We had various gaps where the cars could not be built due to a shortage of components. Eg. an unexpected demand for leather or in the case of the 450's there was an extended delay due to a shortage of Grundig radios.

[Wheel_Man]

My other smart was one of those delayed due to the heated, leather seats! I ordered the same car again!!!I am also keeping my 450.