Shipping
a Vehicle from Cartagena, Colombia to Colón, Panama.
This
post is intended to help any northbound traveler navigate the steps necessary
to prepare and ship your car from Cartagena to Colón. The most important thing to know is that the
process takes time, is complicated and if your Spanish language skills are not
strong, requires the assistance of a shipping agent who knows the system. The details provided below are only based on my
singular experience and I expect that your circumstances could play out quite
differently.
Finding
a Partner and Deciding Between Roll-on-Roll-off and Container Shipping?
Through
the website drivetheamericas (DTA), I learned a good deal about the process and
available options. It is important to
state that there is no ‘ferry’ or road that connects Colombia to Panama. If you have a car, you must ship it. If you have a motorcycle, you have the option
of putting it on the deck of a sailboat traveling to Panama. Via the DTA forum, I was able to find another
overlander (http://earlybirdadventures.com/) to partner with for shipping.
Because ‘Roll-on-Roll-off’ shipments are exposed and not sealed, the
probability of theft is much higher. We
opted for a closed, sealed 40’ container that could fit both our cars.
Working
with a Shipping Agent.
Though
we contacted an agent at the start of the process, after some missed
connections, we decided to try the process on our own. If I were to do this again, with a non-fluent
container-partner, I would definitely work with an agent to smooth and expedite
the process. Our initial contact was
with Manfred Alwardt (manfred.al@gmx.net) and as suggested by the shipping
company, he is one of the best and most well connected in Cartagena. Even
though we ended up doing most of the work on our own, as you will see below, he
helped us procure some key, hard to find items and provided sage advice based
on many years of experience. He was even
kind enough to invite us into his home and help us through some difficulties (and
followed up with emails to make sure all worked out ok). The shipping company suggested these two agents:
CA Manfred H.H. Alwardt, Ing.
E-mail: manfred.al@gmx.net
Pie de la Popa, Parq. Res. "LA ERMITA"
Calle 29E #20-141, Apto 101
CARTAGENA de Indias / Bolívar - COLOMBIA
Mobil1: +57-311-400-6394
Mobil2: +57-301-222-1255
E-mail: manfred.al@gmx.net
Pie de la Popa, Parq. Res. "LA ERMITA"
Calle 29E #20-141, Apto 101
CARTAGENA de Indias / Bolívar - COLOMBIA
Mobil1: +57-311-400-6394
Mobil2: +57-301-222-1255
Luis
Ernesto La Rota R.
Enlace
Caribe Ltda.
Manga,
Calle 28 No. 26-47, Of. 103
Cartagena,
Colombia
E-mail: info@enlacecaribe.com
**************************************************************************
The steps,
knowing what we know now. (note: no guarantee of success implied)
11.
Have
Realistic Expectations for Time
a.
Anticipate arriving in Cartagena at least 5 days prior to ship departure to arrange everything. The container should be filled and closed 2 days prior to departure. Stay somewhere easy. While we had our car, we camped at Hotel Bellavista (40,000 COP/night) on the beach, north of the old city. This is an overlander landmark and should not
be skipped. Great cheap food (9000 COP
for a full dinner) from their kitchen and swimming across the street. Typically 15,000 COP for a taxi to the
Port. Once the car is in the container
you can continue to stay at Bellavista, but we found it more fun to stay in the
city center, closer to the port and other fun city activities. We decided on the Hostal MamaLlena which has
a young, energetic vibe and is close to folks who arrange sailing in the San Blas. We got a room with a double and two twin beds
and AC for 130,000 COP a night.
b.
Anticipate
a full 5-8 days between when you load the container and when it arrives in
Colon. This needs to be timed well with your personal travel to Panama (via air
or water). See next post for more details.
c.
Anticipate
1-2 days in the port in Colon extracting and importing your car.
22.
Contact
the Shipping Company. Prepare a quote.
a.
This
company is responsible for providing the ship and the container. Usually they do not provide the lashing materials
that keep your vehicle from shifting around at sea. We were lucky and they did it for us. They ultimately are responsible for moving
your container from one port to another.
b.
We
worked with Giselle Ferrer (giselle.ferrer@seaboardcolombia.com.co) at Seaboard
Marine and she was wonderful, patient with our questions and very helpful throughout
the process.
c.
Start
by contacting the shipping company and deciding on a boat, shipping date and
container size. You will need to confirm
that your two vehicles will fit in the container (know their dimensions) and how
much they weigh (roughly). We got a 40’ ‘tall’ container and its inside
dimensions were LxWxH 12.032m x 2.350m x 2.695m. The door dimensions may be slightly smaller. You will also want to provide all the details
of your vehicle as outlined on your vehicle registration. Give this information
to your agent along with digital copies of passports for the vehicle owners and
they can provide a quote for your shipment.
Our quote was $1400 for 2 cars including the unloading in the port in Panama.
d.
They
do not help you fill the container (the ‘stuffing’) and they pay for the port to unstuff
in Panama.
e.
If
you make an appointment ahead of time, you can access the Seaboard offices at
the port in Cartagena. If going by cab,
ask for ‘Muelles El Bosque’ (Map Link)
and you will see and enter HERE. They will take your passport and give you a
card key. Once in the complex, you will
pass through another security checkpoint with revolving gates. Seaboard’s offices are in a block of low
offices to your left. They are only
accessible once inside the port.
f.
Once
your reservation is set, Seaboard will provide you with a ‘Booking Confirmation’
that defines numerous things including your booking number (connected to the
lead overlander arranging the shipping), two individual shipper numbers and your container
number. Other details (e.g. declaring
hazardous goods such as a propane tank) are also defined in this document.
i.
By
stating that we are shipping dangerous goods, we avoid needing to disconnect
our car batteries or drain our cooking propane tanks. This requires the filling out of a separate form
stating our goods and placing stickers on the container stating that there are
explosive materials inside and that care needs to be taken to not have open
flame or sparks when opening the container. We got these stickers from Manfred.
33.
Requesting
and Scheduling an Inspection with the Drug Police (Policia Antinarcoticos)
a.
Their
office is a bit further on than Seaboard in a grey two story building just past
the truck scales. (also accessible without entering the port, via the fenced area near the weigh scales) Knock, enter and
explain that you need a tourist vehicle inspection. You will be told to prepare an official declaration
that states information about yourself, your vehicle and a testimony that you
are not carrying anything bad including drugs, explosives, guns or other war
materials. You also state that you will
comply will all their needs during the inspection. This declaration requires a right index
fingerprint. If you ask nicely, they can
provide an example for you to work from.
b.
Once
you prepare the declaration, return to their offices and they can put your data in
the computer and schedule their inspection of your vehicle during the container
stuffing. They
will stamp and sign each declaration as ‘received.’ Schedule a date and rough time of day (AM or PM). After the inspections they will stamp and
sign the same two copies as ‘physically inspected.’
44.
Requesting
Entry into the Port to Fill the Container.
a.
The
name of the company that runs the port is Compas.
b.
Right
next to where you originally entered the port is their ‘Center for Documents.’ In this building you will do all relations
with the Compas, including payments (cash only, closest ATM/cajero is at the
Texaco gas station two blocks north, on the main road, Diagonal 21). Note that the port is distinct from the
shipping company as they are responsible for weighing vehicles, providing the facilities
where your container is filled as well as the manpower to lash the vehicles
down. They have no responsibility for your container once it loads onto the
ship.
c.
This
office is particularly special as there is a large waiting room (~40 seats) which
is often filled with folks that are not really waiting for anything but just
enjoying the air conditioning. As we
were in and out of this office during the World Cup games and there is a large
flat screen TV, the waiting room was often packed and rowdy, but we never waited
once to talk with a port representative.
d.
Show
the port representative your Booking Confirmation from Seaboard and you will be
asked to fill out a reservation page that schedules when you will bring your
vehicle into the port. We were there in the afternoon and arranged a stuffing the following morning. You will need to
give them copies of your Booking Confirmation, passports and vehicle
registration. Once this is filled out,
you will be given a bill to pay for the container stuffing (~840,000 COP, equivalent
to ~445 USD). Once paid, you will be
given a stamped and signed document for entry into the port. This does not have a hard time associated with it
so there is some flexibility regarding when you enter. This is important as your entry to the port
should be fully coordinated with the customs agent from DIAN (customs) and the Antinarcoticos.
66.
Scheduling
a DIAN inspection, (Dirección
de Impuestos y Aduanas Nacionales or customs)
a.
The
DIAN offices (Map Link) are not near the Muelle El Bosque.
They are north of the Port and are best accessed by a ~10,000 COP cab
ride. Though there are cabs just outside the port,
they seldom are available and you need to walk out the big road (Diagonal 21)
to catch one.
b.
At
the DIAN offices, you need to go through a security gate, get a badge and walk
through a breezeway under one building an approach the glass doors of another long
3-story building. Just inside the door
on the left is a glass office that does document verification ('Radicacion' stamp and sign). You will need to fill out a document for the
Exit of a Tourist Vehicle. You can get these from Manfred or ask the exportation officers if they have a copy you can fill in. You will need
two copies of this document as well as attached copies of your DIAN temporary
importation form, passport and vehicle registration. When you have these documents ready, take
them to the glass office and have them stamped, dated and signed. The glass office keeps one copy and you take
the other to the DIAN vehicle exportation expert whose office is on the left, toward the back of the building. Ask for
c.
The
export expert (in our case we worked with Erika) is responsible for verifying
that your vehicle is same one that you brought into the country and confirming
that it truly was stuffed into a container and will leave Colombia. This can happen two ways:
i.
The
DIAN officer can run out and look at your vehicle just outside the DIAN offices,
confirming you VIN and license plate.
After you bring it into the port you will bring them back a document (entry
document stamped with weights and signatures as well as antinarcoticos stamped
document) proving that it went into the container. (This is what happened for
us)
ii.
The
DIAN officer will come to the port and be present during the stuffing,
verifying the vehicle VIN and stuffing.
d.
The
DIAN officer will sign your stamped Vehicle Exit document as well as provide a signed
‘auto export and inspection’ form that confirms the vehicle is leaving the
country.
7
77.
Bringing
the Vehicle into the Port and Loading the Container.
a. On
the day of the scheduled Compas Port entry, drive up to the scales with your
entry document taking care to have filled in your name, passport and license
plate information. Make sure you have a helmet, vest, long pants and closed-toe shoes. Also, make sure you bring water and food as it can be a full day or work/waiting. Give the person at
the booth two copies (the 'Plania') and they will weigh the vehicle and stamp the information
onto the form including the weight of the driver.
b.
Next
a Compas representative will come over and do a ‘vehicle condition inspection' that is like a rental car form that documents the state of your vehicle (dents,
scratches, glass, etc.). This representative
will also lead your through the port to your container and connect you with the
folks that will do the stuffing and strapping.
We also had to be proactive and go directly to the antinarcoticos to show them our stamped declaration and confirm with them that we are here and that we would be ready for inspection shortly. Make sure to attach to the declaration copies of
c.
Once
parked near the container, we asked the port employees to open the container,
move a loading ramp to the entrance and give us space to unload our belongings
for the police. For our van I had to
take out every bag or box that could be removed from the car. This was maybe 15 or 20 items.
I did not immediately empty every cabinet in the Westfalia as this would have been an epic undertaking and I’d rather just have them request local looks into a particular space. Once the officer came over he went through all our suitcases, bending and probing things, looking for hard items. All pillows and sleeping bag stuff sacks were bent over his knee or folded in half to confirm that nothing was inside. I had to open the engine compartment and there was lots of tapping of surfaces with a swiss army knife, apparently looking for places that should be hollow but were not. I had to open all the battery compartments and he took of the front door panels and cut the plastic lining to see if there were things stashed inside.
I was curious to see too. He went through our medicines, selecting a pill out of a bottle or foil pack, snapping it in half, smelling it and tossing it down. By the time this was done, there was a small constellation of snapped pills littering the ground just outside the van. I had to take the grill off the front of the vehicle for more reading around beside the radiator and tapping. He even took a picture of the inside of our water tank but was disappointed that his iphone did not light it up very well. Once he was done, he texted his boss who arrived on a cute little purple scooter. The two went back over the vehicle, this time with the first officer posing as if he was going through our stuff while the boss took action photos from different angles. Must be some kind of ‘proof of work’ thing. Nice guys, just thorough. I was surprised there were no dogs. Seems that would make things easier. Next they moved on to earlybirdadventures truck.
I did not immediately empty every cabinet in the Westfalia as this would have been an epic undertaking and I’d rather just have them request local looks into a particular space. Once the officer came over he went through all our suitcases, bending and probing things, looking for hard items. All pillows and sleeping bag stuff sacks were bent over his knee or folded in half to confirm that nothing was inside. I had to open the engine compartment and there was lots of tapping of surfaces with a swiss army knife, apparently looking for places that should be hollow but were not. I had to open all the battery compartments and he took of the front door panels and cut the plastic lining to see if there were things stashed inside.
I was curious to see too. He went through our medicines, selecting a pill out of a bottle or foil pack, snapping it in half, smelling it and tossing it down. By the time this was done, there was a small constellation of snapped pills littering the ground just outside the van. I had to take the grill off the front of the vehicle for more reading around beside the radiator and tapping. He even took a picture of the inside of our water tank but was disappointed that his iphone did not light it up very well. Once he was done, he texted his boss who arrived on a cute little purple scooter. The two went back over the vehicle, this time with the first officer posing as if he was going through our stuff while the boss took action photos from different angles. Must be some kind of ‘proof of work’ thing. Nice guys, just thorough. I was surprised there were no dogs. Seems that would make things easier. Next they moved on to earlybirdadventures truck.
d.
Lunch
time came and everything stopped. All
the port workers had friends deliver lunches and cool drinks. They ate in the shade and talked. We reloaded our vehicles and watched them eat
and drink, hungry and thirsty ourselves.
It was probably 85 degrees F and 95% humidity and the sweat from my head
evaporated, condensed in my helmet and dripped around the rim like some salty Feng-Shui water-element office fountain.
If I leaned forward the condensation would pool in the front of the hard
hat and piddle onto whichever suitcase I was picking up. Wet work indeed. The port employees helped us drive our vehicles in the container. I backed in and Troy the Tundra drove straight in. Tight fit for that wide guy. Even needed to deflate the tires a bit to get through the door.
The port employees helped us drive our vehicles in the container. I backed in and Troy the Tundra drove straight in. This way if any shifting around started we would be bumper to bumper. The port guys did a great job of strapping the vehicles down using super thick straps that Seaboard provided. After the lunch, the Antinarcoticos officer had us sign some documents stating that he had done his inspection and that we were loaded. Once the container was sealed with the vehicles inside, we put a serial numbered lock on the door (which we bought from Manfred) and walked away. We got no new documents during this process which was kind of strange. We did go by the small police office in one of the open bodegas and they confirmed that everything was done and official and our Declaration letter was stamped and signed.
(photo: earlybirdadventures)
(photo: earlybirdadventures)
The port employees helped us drive our vehicles in the container. I backed in and Troy the Tundra drove straight in. This way if any shifting around started we would be bumper to bumper. The port guys did a great job of strapping the vehicles down using super thick straps that Seaboard provided. After the lunch, the Antinarcoticos officer had us sign some documents stating that he had done his inspection and that we were loaded. Once the container was sealed with the vehicles inside, we put a serial numbered lock on the door (which we bought from Manfred) and walked away. We got no new documents during this process which was kind of strange. We did go by the small police office in one of the open bodegas and they confirmed that everything was done and official and our Declaration letter was stamped and signed.
e.
Our
next move was for both owners to take a cab to DIAN and show them the Antinarcoticos and Compas
documents (and give them copies) stating that the vehicle was in the port and
loaded. DIAN gave us finalized, signed
copies of the Exit and Export forms.
f.
We
returned to the port and went to the Compas Documents Center and showed them
all our completed documents from DIAN, the police and the port. They then prepared an invoice for port
services as well as storage of the container in the port until the ship is
scheduled to arrive. In the future we
suggest even buying a few extra days just in case the ship is delayed. If you are not fully paid-up for port storage
fees when your boat is ready to go, your container will not be allowed to be
loaded. Watch out. Our total for port use and storage was ~460,000. Compas put their final stamps on all the
documents and gave us a canceled invoice for the port fees.
g.
With
these final stamped documents, we went over to the Seaboard offices and
presented the pages that demonstrated that we were paid-up with the port and
that our vehicles were released by DIAN and had been inspected by the
Antinarcoticos. With all this done, they
were able of draft the official Bill of Lading that is vital to retrieving vehicles in Colon and potentially assist our entry into Panama.
h.
At
this point we gave high-fives and said thanks to Giselle and left the port
excited to move on to the next part of the adventure.
18.
Notes
regarding travel between Cartagena and Colón.
a.
Once
your car is in the container, be certain that you have paid the port enough to
cover storage of your filled container while it sits on their property waiting
for your ship to arrive. If the ship is
late, it is not the port’s responsibility.
Note that ships arrive a little later than scheduled and you should be prepared
to pay a few extra days. The daily
storage price is only around $30 per day.
Leaving Cartagena before your shipping container is a bit risky as if
there are issues at the port and you are already on a sailboat bound for
Colombia, your container may not be loaded on your scheduled boat, creating
considerable complications that often involve returning to Colombia to resolve
things.
b.
Also,
contact your shipping company’s representative in Colón and tell them
explicitly the day and time you plan to extract your vehicle. This is vital as it gives them a head start
in knowing when to have your container relatively accessible. Make sure the representative in Colón
confirms your request.
c.
How
we traveled will be detailed in the next blog post.
29.
Extracting
your vehicle from the Colón Port (Manzanillo International Terminal ).
a.
NOTE:
as stated before, these instructions are based on our one-time experience and
may be flawed as we did not fully comprehend each step along the way. Your experience may end up different than
ours, so pay close attention to what you are doing and ask lots of questions of
port, customs and shipping agents to make sure you follow all the necessary
steps.
b.
General
Info: It took us 1 and a half days to complete
the extraction process. If you were very efficient and nothing went wrong, you could do it in one. Our second day was a Saturday. Ben and the EarlyBirds
stayed in a hotel in Colón ($66/night for 3 beds) while Cana and the kids
stayed in Panama City in the Casco Viejo neighborhood ($70 for 2 big beds). Colón is not a very nice city and certainly
not a place for a family to tour around while others do port business. For example, both entrances to our hotel were
guarded by men with shotguns. Travel
between Panama City and Colón is easy and cheap. Options are bus (PC: Albrook Mall Terminal to
Colón Bus Terminal, 1.5 hours, $3.50) or tourist train with great views of the
canal (PC to Colón, 2 hours, $30).
c.
You
will need a FEDPA seguro obligatorio (minimal liability insurance) for your vehicle
and you can do this ahead of getting your vehicle from the port. As the system requires contacting the head
office in Panama City, where it takes a lot of time to process (1.5 hours). It costs ~$15 per vehicle. The port and customs require that you have
this document. They should also give you
a carbon-copy accident report. You will need to bring to the office:
i.
Passport,
Driver’s License, Vehicle Registration
d.
The
Seaboard offices are in the Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT) at the
north end of town, past the duty free zone.
They are inside the port office complex (no security check-in required)
in the last building after passing through the gate (9.365955, -79.881192). You will have to take a taxi here as there
are no busses and it is far from the city center. Should be around $5.
e.
At
the Seaboard office, you will:
i.
Show
them your Bill of Lading. Tell them you
want to get your vehicles from the container.
In our contract with them, we were also told that the port fees / unstuffing
fees were covered in our $1425 payment.
This was a little confusing to them, but ultimately they agreed. Be sure to clarify this ahead of time. They will tell you that you need to pay the
shipping fee (for us, $1425). The only
way to pay is via a cash deposit into the CitiBank offices which are outside
the port. There is a cash machine just
outside this bank so you don’t need to carry around all the cash, unless you
have a daily withdraw limit on your account.
You can make the payment in two parts.
They give you a carbon-copy receipt acknowledging payment. This is the only record of your large
deposit. Do not loose it. Once you have this, you can return to
Seaboard, show them the receipt and they will give you three signed copies of
your bill of lading. On these three copies
of the B/L they should put two stamps:
1.
‘Pagado’
which acknowledges that we have paid.
2.
‘Sirvase
Entregar’ which (we think) means that we have met all of Seaboard’s requirements.
f.
Go
to the Aduana office to prepare your temporary import papers
i.
The
Aduana office is in a strange, small building located behind a gated area off
the main road out to the port (Avenida Radolph). We only found it because our cab driver from
the port knew where it was. The coordinates
were: 9.346682, -79.879025. Be sure to
bring triplicate copies of the following documents:
1.
Front
page of passport, vehicle registration, seguro obligatorio, B/L
ii.
Inside
the office, the first desk on the right is Victoria’s and she will likely be
the one to process your papers. Their
offices close at 4 so make sure you are there before 2 as they need time to do
the data entry.
iii.
The
first step Victoria did was to ghost-write a letter on my behalf to the regional
administrator of aduanas, in which I request permission to bring my vehicle
into the aduanas area. This form was
then walked to and stamped by the boss in a back room granting us 30 days in
the country.
iv.
Victoria
then entered various data describing myself and my vehicle into a digital
form. These data were then used to
prepare the foreign vehicle entrance document which was printed, signed and
stamped. Three versions of this are
stapled to your packets of documents.
v.
My
passport was also stamped with information that references this document to
prevent me from legally leaving the country without my car.
g.
Return
to the port for seaboard approval and various stamps.
i.
At
Seaboard’s office, show them your approved documents form the aduanas. At this point, they can authorize the port to
begin unstuffing your vehicle for exit from the port.
ii.
BUT,
before you can leave, there is a terribly confusing sequence of stamps and
payments that must be dealt with before going to the car pick-up-area. We are pretty sure that we did not do this
all correctly, but in the end we got our vehicles. Most these stamps are located in the area
near the entry to the port office complex (9.363823, -79.880386). Good luck figuring this out for yourself!
1.
First,
we got the authorization from Supercont (the port?). This stamp (one on each of our three copies) might
have not been necessary.
2.
Second
we went to the small block of blue buildings near the entry gate to pay for
fumigation. With this letter we then
went to the quarantine office near the other stamp windows to get a green stamp
on all three copies.
3.
Next
we went to the Aduanas window who gave us blue stamps and one that said ‘liquidacion’
on it. Supposedly this last one we were
not supposed to have.
4.
We
were then sent over to a blue tent on the other side of the parking lot (9.362595,
-79.880727) where we lined up with a group of truck drivers and were
reluctantly given a large red stamp stating that we were processed or ‘Tramitado.’ This one felt unnecessary and the officials
said that it was only for folks officially and permanently importing goods into
Panama (typically requiring a large hot-pink paper), but they gave it to us
anyway.
5.
After
this, we returned back to the windows to pay a final sum of ~$70 to the port per
vehicle for ‘security and fumigation.’ With
this payment we got a large circular green stamp that said MIT – Received. This one was important as we were repeatedly asked
to go get it.
h.
Get
the vehicles from the ‘Pick-Up-Area’
i.
This
area is located a ~15 minute walk from the main port offices (9.367234,
-79.879032) and only one person per B/L is allowed to enter. After a security checkpoint, you show your
stamped copies to a MIT representative who (if everything is in order)
coordinates the unloading and delivery of your vehicle. Note, as far as we can tell, you cannot enter
the port, observe or assist in the unloading of your vehicle. You simply request your vehicle and a port
employee drives it to you like a valet service.
This creates a bit of a security issue as your vehicle and its contents
are fully accessible to the port employees, which is what you tried to avoid by
shipping in a container. We had no
issues with damages or lost/stolen items.
Between requesting our vehicles and driving out, this step took ~2-3
hours. When you are ready to go, you
must sign documents confirming that your vehicles are in good condition and you
are free to go.
ii.
Note:
there is no gas available on the port road and no gas available on the Colón to
Panama highway. Gas up before leaving Colón. Celebrate in Panama City!
