Crossing the Darien Gap from South to North
Detailed description and costs
Carriers performing the transport:
RoRo - Willenius Willemsen
RoRo - SC Line - to go with the ship as passenger is possible
LoLo - Seaboard
Container: n/a
Contacts:
Luis Ernesto La Rota ernestolarota@hotmail.com all carriers
Rodolfo Castro cartagena1@jansmar.com SC Line only
Offers for 74cbm, 11 Tons
Prices Luis Ernesto La Rota
Flatrack with Seaboard: $4185 all Costs in Cartagena included
Harbour costs Panama approxm. $900
Transit time: 1-2 days
Frequency: every sunday
Passengers allowed: no
RoRo with Willenius Willemsen: $6385 all Costs in Cartagena included
Harbour costs Panama approxm. $500 (as offered, maybe less in reality)
Transit time: 1-2 days
Frequency: every two weeks
Passengers allowed: no
Prices Rodolfo Castro for RoRo with SC Line
Freight costs for 74cbm $2800
Harbour costs Cartagena $300
Agent costs $200
Harbour costs Panama $100
Transit Transit time 12-14 days via Florida
Frequency: every 2 weeks - Delays of more than 4 weeks possible
Passengers allowed: yes
per Passagier: $500 for 1-2 days
per Passagier: $750 for 12 days
per Passagier: $900 for 14 days
Preparation as per example of Flatrack with Luis Ernesto La Rota as agent
Meeting and explanations, 15min in Luis office
copy of all papers needed, 30min in Luis office
With Sonja (employee of Luis Ernesto) to the harbour and freight registered, 60min
Deliver the car
With car and Sonja to the harbour. Only the driver is allowed to enter the premises
Customs inspection from outside only and paperwork
Car will be parked in the harbour
Sonja pays all bills
Total time 3 hours
Drug inspection
With Sonja to the harbour for drug inspection thru the police.
All trunks must be open and all items should be unloaded and clearly visible. Have fun at 35 grade Celsius and 90% humidity.
When everything is prepared the police comes and makes a real in-depth inspection. They had no drug dog.
They look in every box and corner also inside
However everything is very relaxed and in a friendly atmosphere. Time approxm. 30 min.
After this all items are stored away again.
Doors, windows and trunks will be sealed
Then I drive the car on the flatrack
The dockers lash the chassis cross-over with chains and secure it in addition with tension belts.
After this the job is done and you can only hope that this people are knowledgeable in what they are doing.
Total time 4 hours
Unfortunately you cannot see how they load the cargo as the ship is not yet in the harbour at this point in time.
In Panama
buy an insurance for the car (SOAT). $15 for 30 days
Car cannot be collected without insurance
Adress: IS International de Seguros / Av 4 Sur, oder Calle 50, Ecke Calle 60 Este.
GPS: N 08 59 04.9 W 79 30 55.9
Taxi to Colon.
Yellow taxis $50.
The large hotels have more comfortable taxis for $90. We negotiated $60.
Ride approxm. 2 hours
A SOAT can also be baught in the mall next to the Radisson Hotel
At the harbour of Manzanillo
Get the original bill of lading at the office of Seaboard
Go to customs and get your temp import paper. Is half way on the street to Colon on the right.
Back to the harbour. Collect stamps at different places and pay the fees.
It`s a good idea to hire an agent at the harbour for $20. With him all is done in one hour.
After this go approxm. 500m to valet parking and deliver the car key.
After 30min they bring your car.
Drive away and be happy
Remarks and Summary
All costs are for reference only and from November 2015.
Luis Ernesto offers an all inklusive service and does a great job. His agent fee of $300 is also included and pays off.
In Panama we paid approxm. $100 to get the car out of the port. However normally
the flatrack handling costs are approxm. $900 but they made a mistake and handled us like RoRo
The RoRo costs in Panama of $100 is our best guess.
If you are very lucky you may get a SC Line tour which goes directly RoRo from Cartagena to Panama in 24 hours. In this case the passenger costs are $500/Person. The trip via Florida costs $750-$900 depending on the length of the journey.
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