Shipping Your vehicle...
Shipping Lines, Hints&Tips, Adresses, Possibilities,
Do's and Don't's....
At first we quickly give some hints&tips of shipping Your vehicle from
Costa Rica to Ecuador in specific. The shipping lines that we evaluated mostly
work worldwide - so our information can help You with any port that You
would like to ship to.
Further down we tell about the process and give general hints&tips of how
to ship, and which questions to ask. With our experiences that we made You might be able to prevent some problems and possibly safe
time&money.
Generally there is two possibilities - shipping RoRo (Roll-on, Roll-off)
or shipping with a container.
We evaluated different possibilities for quite a while (in our case from
Costa Rica to Ecuador). We had offerings made from different shipping companies.
Some companies told us, that they do not have services from Costa Rica to
Ecuador. Others did not answer at all.
Boarding our vehicle in Puerto Limon with TMM-Lines...
Depending on the size of Your car You have the possibility to ship it in a
container or RoRo (Roll-on, Roll-off). In our case we had both possibilities and
prefered to ship it in a container. Shipping in a container has the advantage
that You are the one putting the seal on the container and breaking it open at
the destination port (There is no Access to Your vehicle for any other person
unless You are present), but it harbours the disadvantage that this container
has to be moved to the port after loading and from the port after arrival
involving these moving costs.
In our case we had the following costs to ship our vehicle from Costa Rica to
Eucador in a container:
1. Shipping Company: 990$ (including the movement of the container after
loading
to the port and issuing the Bill of Lading)
2. Agent at the Port 140$ (for all the paperwork for export, for the inspection
and the loading of the vehicle. This includes the
"strapping" down of the vehicle
inside the container --> IMPORTANT!!!)
3. 10$ for the ropes to strap down the car
4. 30$ at the warehouse to load the car for the movement of the container to the
loading ramp
So we shipped for a total of 1170$.
At arrival in Quayaquil (Ecuador) we had a quite difficult process to get our
car and ADDITIONAL COSTS of about 250$ , about which I will tell a little more
about further down. Additionally I'll also try to describe the whole process
(with the DO's and DON'T's) to prevent bad surprises.
We finally shipped with:
TMM-LINES
CP Ships Centroamerica S.A.
Oficentro La Sabana, Torre 7, 6to piso
San Jose, Costa Rica
(506) 2905510
http://www.tmmlines.com
- Infos, Lines, Schedules, Tracking of Containers a.s.o.
In case this would be Your choice: Talk to John Otto Knohr - ...with best greetings of the two
"Swiss-Volcano-Hoppers"... :) !
Our Agent in Puerto Limon (recommended by TMM-Lines) was:
Humberto Alvarez, Alejandro Montero, email: amontero@grupoha.com,
Phone: (506) 758 00 25
In Case You should be shipping from Costa Rica we can definitely recommend this combination. They worked professional and
reliable in every move they made.
We felt more confortable to ship in a container as with RoRo - as someone has
Your car keys, boards Your vehicle and You need to block the access to all of
Your valuables inside the car.
General hint:
On a tight schedule: Don't book a flight, before Your car is "on board". Shipping-dates are
not too reliable and You should not leave without the document (Bill of Lading)
which is only issued after Your vehicle successfully boarded the ship....
TMM-Lines offered to us, that their office in Ecuador (Guayaquil) could also
issue the original Bill of Lading "BL" for us. But, we felt better to get this
document in Costa Rica before leaving the country, and paid the 990$ in cash at
the shipping company after the container had boarded the ship, getting the BL at
the same time.
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General Adresses/Adresses to ship from Costa Rica:
Before You ship we recommend, to check the following additional possibilities:
1. The RoRo-Ships leaving Puerto Calderas every beginning of the month
(K-Line and/or NYC-Line)
- K-Line generally charges $600
- NYC-Line charges $900
These two lines go once every two months at around the 2nd.... (monthly swapping
their turn). You will find them on the Internet searching for K-Line or
NYC-Line...
This is especially valuable if You have a big car as they don't seem
to have any price differences for big cars.
You will need an Agent:
A possible Agent is: Nautica Centroamerica, Milton Madriz (506) 2973100 (We
don't how much he charges and how reliable he is...)
Friends of ours who shipped with NYC-Line had some fight with the unreliable
scheduling of the ships arrival and needed to postpone their flight 2 times as
the ship first did not arrive and then was not able to dock on. We've heard that
the Port of Puerto Calderas (Costa Rica" is not very well organised...
So, if You happen to get the possibility to ship with K-Line (Beginning of
every second month) this will probably be the cheapest possibility on the
market, but might involve a certain unreliability with shipping dates.
2. Maruba-Lines
Division Comercial - Maruba
Talk to Senora "Catalina Rojas O." - email: crojas@improsa.com
Phone: (506) 2862774
She made us a great offer to ship directly from San Jose in a container... -
The date
did not match with our travel plans and finally she got us to TMM-Lines. Catalina - many thanx for Your help!!!! Great service... :)
3. Intramar (Container)
Offers to ship directly from San Jose as well as from Puerto Limon or Puerto
Calderas. We had an offer to ship for 1275$ to ship directly from San Jose.
Boats leave every 7 days. Contact mselva@contimar.co.cr.
(Melissa Selva at Intramar in San Jose.
A possible Agent is: Franklin Morije (506) 257 95 55.
3. Others ...
a) Panalpina (from Panama to Guayaquil, Ecuador) - Container, approx. 1400$
& Insurance
b) APL WCA from Panama to Guayaquil, Ecuador) - Container - No offer,
Phone in Panama (507) 430 20 30
c) Maersk Sealand (Big Company!) - (from Puerto Limon, Costa Rica to
Quayaquil, Ecuador)
- Container, approx. 1730$ - http://www.maersksealand.com
The Process to ship Your vehicle - Do's and Don'ts....
Shipping a vehicle harbours several dangers to consider. We were quite
unexperienced with these and learned a lot while evaluating and finally going
through this process.
First of all it is hard to understand what charges You will be facing dealing
with the many parties involved in the whole process. Who charges for what, what
is included in a Service, what is not included...? If You are not able to ask
the right questions about this You might be paying for papers, movements
and expenses that You had no idea that they exist. This happened to us at
arrival in Guayaquil...
The involved parties doing shipments are:
Shipping Company:
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a) Shipment (across the Sea)
b) Issuing an initial Bill of Lading for the Agent according to Your documents
(Registration,
temporary import documents, Your list of things in Your car)
b) Issuing the Original Bill of Lading (The paper You need at arrival port to
get your car out)
--> This paper can only be issued after the ship
left the port
A good shipping deal covers:
1. The movement of the container to the place where You board it: This normally
is a customs warehouse at the port or in the city You board.
2. Putting the container to the ramp (You need a ramp!) to drive into it
3. The movement of the container to the port
4. The loading of the container/car onto the ship
Important:
--> Try to find out who is covering these movements of Your car or the
container and possible fees at the warehouse.
--> Find out who is responsable for a possible damage to Your car/things in
Your car in case it should move or pump against anything
--> What happens if Your car/container gets lost!!!?
Additionally Important (Especially If You ship with a container):
We did not get a clear answer of what will be included at destination port. As
we learned from other people we expected another fee of about 120$ for an Agent
doing all the paperwork but finally ended up going through a process much
more complicated and expensive as we expected. Evaluate the process at
destination port already at the beginning with the Shipping company asking who
pays for:
1. Costs or fees for Your vehicle/container standing at the port (how many days
without a fee?)
2. Additional costs (spanish: menaje?) - We had to pay 63$ at the port in
Guayaquil)
3. The movement of the container to the place where You take Your car out
4. Putting the container to the ramp (You need a ramp!) to drive out of the
container.
5. The movement of the container to a final destination for the
container? We had to go to the shipping line and deposit 350$ -. to be given
back after making proof, that the container is at its final destination and in
good condition(?!!) - ....
There might be differencies between different offers of Shipping lines -
Check them out!
Agent (leaving Port)
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a) Organises the export (process & documents) of Your vehicle
--> Documents for Export & Export process
--> Cancellation of Your temporary car Import
document (if there is one...)
--> Organisation of official car inspection and
possible fees & documents of this inspection process
b) Organises the process at the warehouse
--> Joins You to go to the warehouse with Your car
--> Organises the container (which should be ready
from the shipper)
--> Organises the ramp for You to board the car
--> Helps You to board the container and strap Your
car down
--> Organises the special lock with which You will
seal the container after loading
--> Organises that the container boards the ship
(transport to port & loading)
Questions to ask:
--> Possible costs for the ramp or other fees at the warehouse are paid by
whom? How much?
--> Additional costs
Customs Warehouse (at the place You load the container)
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You should not have to deal with them and theses documents and fees that
have to be paid there.
--> Ask the agent to be sure!
Important:
- Before You board Your car into the container: Take pictures to have a
proof, that Your car is in good condition.
- Make pictures of how Your car was strapped down inside the container
Leaving Port (where Your car or container boards the ship)
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You should not have to deal with them, theses documents and fees that have
to be paid there (movement of car, container a.s.o.)
--> Ask the agent if there is additional costs to be paid there!? In our case
shipping with TMM-Lines there was no costs at the leaving Port.
Boarding RoRo You might have to pay for the one's driving the car on board(?).
Important:
- If You are shipping RoRo Take pictures to have a proof, that Your car
is in good condition.
Arrival Port:
As I mentioned earlier we suggest You evaluate this process, Agent, and costs
right at the beginning too as there might be significant differencies between the
different shipping lines. This will involve telephone calls to the shipping line
at the destination port and the Agent there.
Next time we will definitely ask our representative to make these calls for us
and make these statements before we ship.
RoRo-Shipment would be definitely less expensive and much easier at
destination port, as there is no movements and no Container handling involved.
In our case (with TMM-Lines) we first had to go to their offices to get a stamp
which stated that the BL was correct(!?).Then we had to leave a deposit of 350$
for the container which we should get back after we make proof that the
container is at its final destination and in good condition(!) ... - What does
this mean (?) - we honestly don't know(!). Is the customer responsible for the container!!!?? No one told us this before.... -
Welll, - we found this quite
incredible.
Well, ... here's what we paid for the process at destination port in
Guayaquil (Ecuador) so far:
Shipping Line: 22$ for a stamp on the BL, 350$ deposit for
container(!)
Agent:
120$ (Import documents&process)
Port:
45$ for moving the container (for the official inspection)
63$ for Menaje (taking care of the container/Movements)
50$ for bringing the container to its final destination
...ends up at a total of 300$ to get the car out of the Port in Guayaquil
(Ecuador). Quite expensive isn't it.
General things to know about shipments - import - export:
0. Check if the Country that You are shipping to needs the document
"Carnet de Passage" for You to temporarily import Your vehicle.
From our Experience first shipping to Canada, then driving all the way up to
Alaska and down through the U.S., Mexico and ALL countries of Central America Ecuador
in South America is the first Country where You definitely need the Carnet de
Passage. (See Nr. 4)
1. You always need an Agent to handle the Import- or Export process. There is
no way around it (at both shipping-port and arrival port).
2. It's best, if the Agent closely works with the shipping line as documents and
information go back and forth
3. Shipping with one or the other line can involve great differencies in the
duration of the shipment from Port A to Port B. In our case it was interesting
to see that shipments from Panama to Ecuador tended to be slower (7 days) than
directly from Costa Rica, as many of the ships from Panama first go down to Peru
and then come back up to Ecuador. Indirect shipments involve a greater risk of
delays and damage to Your car as containers might be transfered (moved) to other
boats
4. For temporarily importing Your vehicle into Ecuador You definitely need a
"Carnet de Passage" (Document of an international Car Association,
where You made a deposit). We first tried everything to get around this as
Ecuador would have been the first country that insisted on this document. We
asked the Ecuadorian embassy in Costa Rica, talked to the Minister of
Imports/Exports of Ecuador. Finaly answer is: There is no way around this!
Arriving in Ecuador (Guayaquil) we checked again at customs offices of possible
alternatives:
There is a possibility... - but this ends up to be a troublesome and very
expensive process:
a). You have to find an Insurance Company in Ecuador, which will send a
representative to check Your car, find out about the value of Your car and
b). Setup a contract on behalf of which You have to make a deposit (percentage
of the value) - pay this deposit Bank-transaction
c). Make proof that this money arrived at the Insurance Company
before You can start Your import process of Your vehicle.
This ends up to be more expensive (expensive fees!) than what we paid for the
carnet de passage in Switzerland (150 Sfr.)
We are happy that we had the "Carnet de Passage" made in Switzerland
and had it sent to the Swiss Consulate in Guayaquil. At least this process was
fast, reliable and comparatively cheap.
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