Perhaps Nissan USA does not get a list of what VINs are on a ship until they make that list here ... as the cars are being unloaded?
One would think that Nissan Japan would have a list of the vehicles in their "parking" area, and of those being loaded onto any given ship. Possibly the cars are just parked and arranged in Japan so that the first loaded will be for the last Port of Call?
But, maybe they do not share that list with Nissan USA?
Maybe there is difficulty matching the VINs with the intended dealers and customers?
Maybe the VIN is only matched with a dealer-order number when it arrives in port in the USA?
In any case, it seems strange that BOTH sides of the Big Pond do not have a VIN-Locator system that can locate any car "instantly", AND hands off the cars to the intended Country.
Is there a convenient external barcode (or patch) on each car to scan as they are produced, parked, moved, loaded, shipped, unloaded, etc.?
If not, there SHOULD be, and it would be relatively easy to make such an application, perhaps for the iPhone!