Shipping From Panama to Cartagena Part 1: Panama

The process of shipping the Beast to South America had been hanging over us for a while now. Its an expensive and time consuming process that should be quick and easy but just isn’t. Ironically it looks like we may be some of the last overlanders to have to ship their vehicle as it looks like a new ferry service is going to start in May 2012. But of course this is Latin America so I’ll believe it when I see it – waiting for it would be crazy.

The necessity for shipping is driven by the Darien Gap which is a 100km hole in the Pan-American highway through inhospitable jungle stuffed full of drug gangs and paramilitary revolutionaries. The last successful motorised crossing of the Gap was in 1985 in a Jeep and took them 741 days.  Obviously its not going to happen for us !

Over the last few weeks I had contacted Seaboard, Barwil and Marfret by email. The only reply I had was from Marfret who told me that they would contact me with a quote and then didn’t.

So on arriving at XS Memories (a real RV park around 100km short of Panama City)  in Panama we hadn’t really made any progress with our shipping at all. Fortunately Sheila and Denis who run XS Memories were exceptionally helpful. Sheila got on the phone to Barwil Agencies (the agent for Wallenius Willhelmsen) and after about 5 calls we finally got through to someone who could help us.

Most people seem to deal with Evelyn Batista at Barwil but we didn’t speak to her at all and instead worked with Pamela Basurto who speaks good English and was very helpful.  After speaking to her on the phone it became clear that we needed to go to the office to see her.

On our second day in Panama City we got Alex to take us out to Panama Pacifico (an out of town industrial estate) which is 4km West of the Bridge of the Americas to visit the office of Barwil (They have moved in the last couple of years so the old office in the city is not their location anymore). The office is very modern and could be anywhere in the world – unlike most other offices that we’ve seen in Central America.

On talking to Pamela we were offered the choice of two ships both leaving the following week on consecutive days. One was RORO (Roll On/Roll Off) and one was LOLO (Lift On/Lift Off) but the price for both would be the same.  In both cases we would have to hand over the keys to the cab of the truck. LOLO involves your vehicle being lifted onto the ship by a crane while sitting on a palette (Very Scary). On this basis we chose RORO as this reduced the chance of damage during the loading process.

Pamela wanted copies of my passport (including the vehicle stamp) and the Registration document for the truck. She used these to create a draft bill of lading for us. She also gave us a quote for the trip ($60 per cubic Metre + 25% for bunkers (fuel)).  Pretty expensive but we were a bit stuck. There is much more flexibility if your vehicle can fit in a container.

She also explained the processes we would have to go to get permission to leave the country. After getting the clearance from the police we would have to return to Barwil and pay for the shipping (cash only !).

After leaving Barwil we got Alex to drive us to the police HQ where we would have to go with the truck to get our export clearance. I’m glad we did this because I’m not sure we wouldn’t have stopped in the right place as it looked like a builders lot ! Its in a pretty dodgy part of town so not somewhere you want to hang out !

This was all on Thursday and it was Easter weekend so we couldn’t do the inspection until Monday, then we’d have to deliver to the port on Tuesday for a Wednesday shipping. If all went well we would have the truck back in Colombia on Friday (as it turns out a vain hope !).

On Sunday night we drove the Beast into Panama City – a very slow and laborious journey as most of the city seemed to be returning from their Easter Weekend away.  We spent the night in a big car park on the Amador Causeway and had a peaceful  if hot night.

First thing on Monday morning we drove to the Policia Tecnica Judicial or DIJ. You need to arrive for 9am in order to register and get in the queue for inspections. It was pretty quiet though and there were only 2 others trying to get inspections.  For this process you have to wear long trousers and shoes (not sandals) – in fact we saw one guy be told to change when he arrived in flip-flops ! You need to give them a pack of photocopies including your passport, registration document, vehicle stamp in your passport and draft Bill of Lading (BOL).

The inspections start at 10am but in fact we were done shortly before then. The inspector checked the registration and VIN number. We noticed on another van he checked the number of the engine too but ours is listed as unknown on our V5 (registration document).

We were then told we could pick up the papers we need at 2pm from the Secretaria General which is across the main road from the DIJ.

Instead of sitting in the hot, slightly dangerous car park we decided to head to Allbrook mall for a few hours and indulge our long dormant shopping urges.

We got back to the DIJ car park just before 2pm and headed across the road to the main government building. You need to surrender a piece of ID to get in (not your passport) and then register at the front desk with your passport.  The Secretaria General office is down a corridor to the left of the reception desk and is around the corner, first door on the left.  It is clearly marked with a sign.

Once in this office you have to fill out a form and then you should be handed your clearance to export your vehicle. This is of course that you don’t have any outstanding issues with the police.

So we had to hot-tail it back to Barwil with a big bag of money to give to Pamela. She gave us a receipt for payment and then explained the port process.  We would have to be at the Manzanillo port in Colon first thing in the morning.

We spent another night in the car park by the Causeway and spent the evening re-arranging the truck for shipping. Everything had to come out of the cab and we had to secure the access hatch from cab to back. Everything came off the roof and we had to empty our jerry cans into the tank. RORO shipping has a reputation for leading to petty thefts so we wanted to make everything as difficult as possible for any thief.

The road from Panama City to Colon is a big highway – although a toll road (tolls cost us $8.80) – and it only takes about an hour to drive across the country. Just before reaching the free trade zone in Colon you turn right towards the Manzanillo port. Just inside the main entrance to the port is a car park which is in front of the Barwil offices at the port.

We had been told to meet  Alfredo who would be our fixer for the day. Alfredo spoke some English but was fairly economical with words, to say the least. First thing we had to do was visit the customs office where they would stamp the exit documents and also cancel the stamp in my passport. This was a five minute drive from the port and in a fairly shabby pre-fab office round the back of the entrance gate. Most of Colon seems pretty shabby though !

It only took about 10 minutes to get the clearance we needed though.

Next step was to go back to the Barwil office and visit the Aduana here to pay a fee of $54 and get permission to enter the port.

The last thing we had to do was drive the Beast to the main customs area of the port for an inspection. Sarah needed to get out and walk in, surrendering her passport for access, while I just drove the Beast in.

This was the most time consuming part of the process as we waited around for about an hour until the customs inspector was ready. He had a good look round the truck and then his drug dog arrived for a good sniff. Quite why they check for people smuggling drugs TO Colombia I don’t know !

Once we were cleared through customs we were done and had to leave the ignition key behind and the driver’s door unlocked. The Beast would be loaded onto the Pegasus Leader the next day (Wednesday) and was due to arrive on Thursday in Cartagena. This should mean that we would get her back on Friday. – but this is Latin America !

A short cab ride took us to the bus terminal and we were on a bus back to Panama City. Colon is not the nicest area and we’d been advised not to hang around, particularly as we were carrying bags of our things for the next few days.

Other Shipping agents:

Using Marfret: gmartinez@therozogroup.com.pa

Seaboard: vdegracia@seaboardmarinepanama.com (didn’t get a response from this one though).

Info:

Phone:  +507 263 7755

Fax: +507 223 0698

Customerservice@transcanal.com

Pamela.basurto@wilhelmsen.com

Mabel.estribi@wilhelmsen.com

Evelyn.batista@wilhelmsen.com