There is no way to drive from Central America to South America because the Darién jungle separates the southern tip of the Panamanian isthmus from Northern Colombia and no road passes through. Though insignificant when compared with the tens of thousands of miles on both the Alaskan and the Patagonian extremes, the Pan American is missing a critical 200 mile stretch and this gap is quite a barrier.
Commonly referred to as the Darién gap; nature, geography, war and drug-running combine to make this border region phenomenally dangerous. The Darién’s mountains, rivers, and jungle swamps are populated by indigenous peoples and armed groups from all ends of the Colombian political spectrum. Not infrequently, their numbers are supplemented by frightened adventure tourists chained to local trees for weeks on end, anxiously awaiting an international money transfer.
The gap creates a logistical challenge that has meant that few road travelers see Central and South America in the one trip. This is especially true for those who travel in their own vehicle. Indeed selling a vehicle in one sub-continent and buying a replacement on the other can prove to be simpler and at times, more cost effective. Add to that the wide availability of diesel vehicles, black market cash rates and the anonymity of local plates in South America and the argument becomes even stronger. Project Allende has accumulated too much ‘stuff’ to be taken on flights as luggage, too much time and effort has been spent rebuilding the vehicle so we were trapped.
We needed to cross the gap with our vehicle!
There is no way to drive from Central America to South America because the Darién jungle separates the southern tip of the Panamanian isthmus from Northern Colombia and no road passes through. Though insignificant when compared with the tens of thousands of miles on both the Alaskan and the Patagonian extremes, the Pan American is missing a critical 200 mile stretch and this gap is quite a barrier.
Commonly referred to as the Darién Gap; nature, geography, war and drug-running combine to make this border region phenomenally dangerous. The Darién’s mountains, rivers, and jungle swamps are populated by indigenous peoples and armed groups from all ends of the Colombian political spectrum. Not infrequently, their numbers are supplemented by frightened adventure tourists chained to local trees for weeks on end, anxiously awaiting an international money transfer.
The gap creates a logistical challenge that has meant that few road travelers see Central and South America in the one trip. This is especially true for those who travel in their own vehicle. Indeed selling a vehicle in one sub-continent and buying a replacement on the other can prove to be simpler and at times, more cost effective. Add to that the wide availability of diesel vehicles, black market cash rates and the anonymity of local plates in South America and the argument becomes even stronger. Project Allende has accumulated too much ‘stuff’ to be taken on flights as luggage, too much time and effort has been spent rebuilding the vehicle so we were trapped.
We needed to cross the gap with our vehicle!
Basic How-Tos of Car Shipments
Although air freighting a vehicle is an option for those with deeper pockets; as a general rule cars travel by ship and people by plane. People can also travel by boat but we failed to hook up.
A little research revealed two simple ways to ship a car by boat: in a container or break bulk. Containers come in two metric unfriendly sizes; twenty and forty foot. A dedicated twenty footer is the preferred method and simplest from the point of view of paperwork. However, twenty footers are also the most expensive option. Cars are rarely twenty foot and the width of a container is quite adequate for all but those foolhardy enough to travel in super-sized vehicles. Arnold of California with his penchant for the ludicrous Hummer springs to mind. Still there’s a lot of wasted space, a twenty footer can hold an average sized car with about six to eight usable feet to spare at one end. Thus, you could squeeze one or two motorbikes in there if you need to!
Most containers are forty footers. Though twice as long they cost less than double and so it can work out much cheaper to shared them, typically with another car. Again we didn’t hook up so we hunkered down to shopping for economy transport for just one vehicle.
The other common shipping option is called “break bulk”. Break bulk is more primitive but even cheaper than sharing a forty footer. Cars are simply chained to the deck in the open or below. From a security perspective, this method is frowned upon. Often travelers note parts missing or new dents or scratches on their beloved vehicles upon arrival. On longer trips some suspension damage happens to vehicles with lighter suspension systems. This results from to and fro motion as well as the car slipping left and right with the motion of the waves. A well stuffed container minimizes this motion.
The Ins and Outs of Shipping Cars
Containers are lifted on and off by cranes and require storage, packing and unpacking at both ends. This is costly and time consuming. Break bulk however, can also be Roll-On Roll-Off (RORO). This means that the car can be driven On and Off the boat, which is cheaper and can be simpler from a customs perspective. Break bulk shipping is not always available from every company or on every route whereas containers are ubiquitous.
In the past, shipping lines offered the savvy traveler a chance to travel with the vehicle and usually only with specific permission from the head office.
In these cases, travelers could go with their vehicles on the cheap, experiencing the beauty of an exclusive poor man’s cruise, hanging out and playing football with the crew. Sadly, that superb option is all but unavailable now. The nebulous threat of ‘terror’ means that the US has pressured ports worldwide to comply with new shipping security rules; port authorities and shipping companies are scrambling to comply as we speak. Even Panama’s ultra-modern ports are behind schedule, but the threat of blacklisting non-compliant ports has activities at frenzy levels worldwide. Scratch one more low-price transport option.
Once the preferred method of car transportation is chosen you will need to see whether it is available at the destination of your choice, and, if so, from whom and at what price, and the schedule. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your options are restricted to those companies with suitable sailings. Just because Maersk has a ship and CGA-CGM does not, doesn’t mean that CGA-CGM cannot offer a container on that Maersk ship for a reasonable cost. Once you have chosen your shipping firm you’ll need to check whether they have alliances with shipping agents at the destination port. Shipping companies often list their preferred agents on their Web sites but it is best to ask. Be sure to check for optional firms, if available, and make absolutely certain that all of the services offered to you by these firms are genuinely necessary to you.
Import & Export
One major cost saving is avoiding a customs agent. An astute Spanish-speaking traveler can save coin by expediting their cargo alone. Among other ways to spend less is avoiding freight forwarders and consolidators. A consolidator is probably unnecessary unless they can help you cut costs by sharing a container and a freight forwarder is usually not required at all. WE found companies which specialized in vehicle freight forwarding , their services were excessively expensive when compared with doing it yourself, more expensive still than a moving company.
A good shipping agent and an ally in customs is all you need. With their services, vehicle importation formalities can be easily accomplished but the choice of avoiding the services of a customs agent will be fought at every turn. You are not only breaking protocol and possibly risking delay; No most importantly you are doing their mates out of their cut!
Exporting a vehicle is simpler than importation and does not require help with customs either. In general, one needs to get the customs agent at the port to stamp both passport and temporary importation papers so that you and your vehicle can depart separately. Panama requires an extra step though…
Exporting a car from Panama
The Panamanian authorities require a separate document that could be considered an exit visa for your car. The logic being that the car could have had an accident or may have outstanding tickets, the car’s temporary tourist importation might have expired, or taxes might be owed so they need to certify that this is not the case.
To get this form you’ll need to drive your car to a special police office in Panama City called the Policía Téchnical Judicial (the PTJP) allowing a half-day; we did ours on our way to Colon port but we were cutting it fine. The procedure costs nothing but time and the price of the obligatory photocopies in duplicate. You will need to have an inspection of your car and they take an impression (with tape and pencil) of your VIN plate. They also conduct inspections similar to those conducted by the Mexican special drug police, such as checking for extra body compartments and solids (presumably cocaine) in the radiator etc…
Once the physical inspection is complete, the police search for your VIN and plates on their computers. If you come up clean then they’ll give you a form. Take this to the secretary general’s office in the same building and they’ll type up your certificate. The form is valid for eight days so you have this long to get to the port with the car. It helps to have a copy of your bill of lading before you go to the technical judicial police so that the police can see how you plan to export the car from Panama. They should write the export method and destination on the comment section of the form.
Choosing a Destination
So where do you and your vehicle want to go in South America? This may seems like a simple question but let me assure you it is not. Destination countries are listed in the order of their popularity with overland travelers but keep in mind that the number of drivers who travel from Central to South America is small and there are no simple solutions since the RORO car ferry to Colombia packed up it’s operations.
In most cases people need to travel by plane. Flights are not cheap and carrier choices are limited in this region. Cars travel by boat and unless you use the services of an international moving company you are going to have to be present when the car leaves and when it arrives so you need to sync up your tickets with your car’s shipment! If you have a restricted budget, you are going to have to do a lot of research, take your time and plan ahead. Remember each day you are waiting is also time and money burned, but there is plenty to do in Panama, so you shouldn’t be bored. It also helps to speak some Spanish (or Portuguese for Brazil). You could take a course!
There is no road-most-traveled, no obvious route. Budget is an issue as is time but destination is key!
Ecuador, Peru, Chile
Ecuador is popular, close, reputedly simple (from the point of view of paperwork), and a relatively safe choice. It also includes options for the popular Galapagos island trips from its shores. Passage is available using both RORO and container service; this popular route is relatively cheap. Passage onward to Peru or Chile is also available (often on the same ship) and arrival in Chilean ports is not that much more expensive.
Naturally, one departs from a Pacific port such as Balboa port in Panama and the car arrives west of the Andes. From there, one can drive south to Peru or east to Colombia where the border is relatively uncontested. Travel and shipping to Ecuador is relatively cheap and easy; the downside is that if you want to see the Amazon region you are on the wrong side of the Andes. Still, if your plan to religiously follow the Pan-American Highway, you’re set. For speed, economy and simplicity, Ecuador is likely to be an excellent choice. It was not ours.
Colombia
Colombia was the destination for a regular RORO passenger and car ferry service up until the 1996. However, traffic to the most dangerous destination country in Latin America has fallen off and that ferry service no longer exists. Don’t rule out Colombia though! Multiple destinations are operating both private, such as Cartagena, and public ports. Huge quantities of goods travel to Colombia from the north and vice versa. On the plus-side, Colombia is a high traffic (read: cheap) destination with RORO available and shipping by all the major carriers and some smaller ones. For a list of Panama shipments consult the Monday Panama newspaper supplements which list upcoming sailings of nearly all ships. If you want to avoid Panama, you can ship to Caribbean ports in South America from Puerto Limón in Costa Rica.
On the less-positive side, Colombia is now, and has been, at war for quite some time. War is expensive so the lucrative business of kidnapping thrives in Colombia with more than three thousand persons a year finding themselves on the receiving end of the forced hospitality of their captors. Furthermore, the complexity of the Colombian political situation makes it very difficult for an adventure traveler with foreign (especially US) license plates to avoid contact with the wrong people. In Colombia it is not just a matter of the good guys and the bad guys, there are lots of guys and girls with guns and they can be difficult to identify and very difficult to avoid.
The omens are not good for Colombia. The country is unfortunate enough to offer the world a lethal cocktail of exports: energy and drugs. Oil and drugs often attract the negative attention of US foreign policy and Colombia has fallen victim to its own productive success. Recent peace efforts by Mexican President Fox offering to conciliate between the warring parties have not been well received by Washington. US President Bush replied by slapping an extradition order on Juvenal Ovidio Ricardo Palmera, also known as Simon Trinidad, the leader of the FARC currently jailed in Colombia. Thus, complicating any trips to Mexico for negotiations.
Excellent T-shirts are available from a Scottish publisher called AK Press printed with the logo: “If you like Vietnam you’ll love Colombia”. They show US helicopters flying over drug-infested jungles. Says it all, really.
On the brighter side, Colombia is a cheaper destination. The country is beautiful and has an advanced infrastructure. Furthermore, Cali and Medellin are reported to have some of the most beautiful women in the world. If you intend to travel to Venezuela, you might note that the border continues to exhibit an explosive charm. The Chavez junta expects a US backed land-based invasion from Colombia at any time. One expects this may not be delayed long after al Sadr is dealt with in Iraq.
Venezuela
Further to the east lies the huge country of Venezuela with its gasoline at 2 US cents a liter (or ten gallons to the dollar for you metric unfriendly folk). Venezuela is not (currently) at war and the country has reasonably good infrastructure, excellent food, rum and coffee. It also has a safe and legal currency black market, so is advantageous to travelers carrying hard cash.
Many Caribbean ports are available, the two largest being La Guaira near Caracas (our eventual choice) and Puerto Cabello further west. There is also a Venezuelan freshwater port in Ciudad Bolivar. Traffic to and from Venezuelan ports from Northern and Central American ports is sparse for the country’s economic importance but available and not overpriced.
Flying to Venezuela is not cheap. From Panama exclusive operations are offered by Copa airlines; Lacsa and Copa operate from Costa Rica. For those of you interested in visiting Trinidad & Tobago, Copa also has an arrangement with Aeropostal which makes onward trips from Caracas to Port of Spain essentially for free.
Mr. Chavez recently rewrote the Venezuelan constitution so import law books are relatively new and some procedures may seem a little naïve if simplistic. Interestingly enough many laws are published in small book form available on the streets of Caracas from vendors and in bookstores. The law books governing importation of goods in this new Bolivarian Republic are called the “Organic” law. You don’t need to buy a book but for $2 it wouldn’t hurt and you can practice your Spanish.
The Lower Antilles
Smaller destinations include Trinidad & Tobago and other Caribbean islands. Some, Trinidad included, offer ferry services to the mainland. Shipping your vehicle to these islands is however expensive and complex. Freight forwarders who are vultures at the best of times are used to dealing with tourists with big budgets for luxury destinations such as Barbados and St. Lucia. They are happy to offer incredibly expensive options to non-Spanish speakers. No, speaking Spanish won’t help either! Even shipping companies such as Maersk have to add a freight-forwarding levy to their shipping charges to these islands so as not to compete with their freight-forwarding customers.
Brazil
Another interesting option is Brazil where sea and Amazonian ports are both available. There are few roads in the Amazon regions of Brazil so arriving by boat is quite an excellent option. Ocean going vessels can go deep into the Amazon and they do so with surprising regularity.
Suriname, British & French Guyana
Along the South East reaches of the Caribbean where the sea opens up to the south Atlantic lie the Former Dutch, English and French colonies of Suriname and the Guyanas. We spent very little time researching these options as the infrastucture of these countries when it comes to roads to the Amazon are less than primitive. South-bound access is to northeastern Brazil only and many access routes are via water. We have spoken with some travelers who have passed these ways, Suriname being popular with adventure tourists from Holland and British Guyana being an interesting tourist spot for the monoglots of Trinidad and Tobago, and Britain for that matter. We shall leave it to other adventure tourists to suss them out.
Time to Decide
We decided to opt for La Guaira, Venezuela so it was time to go shopping. After an abortive attempt at shipment from Limón, Costa Rica, we headed for Panama telling the border guards that we planned to return to Costa Rica so as to avoid the return or onward ticket problem. Shipping is difficult at the best of times. Shipping a car to a country that is not particularly familiar with car shipments is a further challenge, such is the case with Venezuela, but nothing is impossible.
The Project Allende car was retrieved from the port of La Guaira (near Caracas)!
Here is how we did it
We found our own shipping company in Panama City by requesting quotes from all the main shipping lines over email then visiting likely candidates. Maersk was the least expensive and is one of the largest lines, so we decided to use them. However, when we went to the office to complete the paperwork, we discovered that they had no available containers on their own ship and the next sailing wouldn’t be for over a week. The woman helping us called some colleagues in other firms and found us a container leaving within a few days on their own the Torbin Maersk.
The incredibly helpful Maersk agent organized the quote and sent us over to CMA-CGM, French Shipping to complete the formalities. The quote from French Shipping was $892, about $100 more than Maersk. The actual shipment costs $600; everything else is tax, services, etc. We negotiated out some of the stuff, but you can’t get around taxes!
We drove the car to the port of Manzanillo, Colon (the Caribbean side) and then had to pay another $192 for container services: packing the container, sealing the container and then loading the container on the ship. You cannot pack your own container, so this fee is also non-negotiable.
Since we left Panama before our car did, we were sent the Bill of Lading in Caracas via DHL; this was expensive and avoidable. The car and the Bill of Lading papers arrived on the same day, so the first day (Wednesday) was a bust. CGA-CGM uses Intershipping to process all of its containers in La Guaira, so we contacted them. The head of Intershipping, La Guaira, met with us Thursday morning and we began the process of importation.
First, we went to Aduana (customs) to find out exactly what we would need to drive out of the port legally. They do not have much experience with a temporary car import, so the customs official referred to the Book of Organic Law. Articles 107, 146 and 147 define what is needed for temporary tourist passage.
Referring to these laws explicitly, our agency wrote a letter to Aduana, which stated the car owner’s name, passport number, requesting permission to introduce the car into Venezuela, in accordance with Articles 107/146/147. This letter also listed the details of the car, including the make, model, color, year and VIN and finally, the ship number, container number,reason for the visit (touring this beautiful country), and when and where we would be leaving (which border town). In our case, south to Brazil.
We returned with the letter and presented it to the Aduana. There was a small glitch – the car owner had written down that he’d be in VZ for ten days on his tourist card, because we were going to park the car and fly to Trinidad for a few weeks and then return to VZ. The Aduana guy could not wrap his head around this, and his boss was out for the afternoon, so could we come back tomorrow. I explained that it was the same as extending a airplane ticket within the allotted period, but he was looking for a bribe so we walked away to pay less another day.
We then drove to the airport and explained the situation to the Head of Immigration. He signed our passports, wrote ‘90 days’ in them and told us tourist cards don’t matter as long as you don’t overstay the 90 days allotted to you upon entry. We returned to Aduana to show him the signature, and tell him what the Head of Immigration said, but he asked us to return in the morning anyway. Naturally we did.
The next day we were in the Aduana office at 9am; our guy was there along with his boss. They accepted our documentation and wrote up an official document on SENIAT letterhead, signed and dated it, allowing us to import the car. A small bribe was necessary for him, his boss and an associate (approximately USD$8 each).
We went to the yard (Almacen) to have the container ready to be opened. The second glitch was a container deposit. Most storage facilities expect you to come and collect a container. Customers usually send a truck to pick up the container, empty it, and then return it. The container is inspected for damage and you get your deposit back. The deposit for a twenty foot container is USD$500. The deposit is paid before the container is released by the shipping yard. In order for the deposit to be refunded, you will need an address and/or an account in a Venezuelan bank into which the refund can be credited when you return the container returns. We explained that we only had to open the container and drive out and as such, they could keep the container in the yard. This was puzzling to them, but we were finally able to sidestep this process with the help of a call from an accomplice in accounting in our shipping agent’s office.
Glitch number three was next; the jefe (boss) at the almacen (shipping yard where the containers are kept) all of a sudden realized we did not have a declaration of the contents in the car, i.e. our personal effects. We told him that Tourists were allowed to import personal affects with the car to an official value of up to USD$1000 as stipulated in the law and explained by our Aduana friend. This is similar to the non-declaration exemption for people arriving by airplane. The shipping yards live in fear of the National Guard to whom the Aduana papers are surrendered on exit from the port so the jefe insisted that we should have another document for this which would have to be prepared by a importation agency, at extra cost. Such a list of items was on our Bill of Lading required for packing the container, hence we argued, we could use the Bill of Lading instead, albeit misspelled and in English. The jefe insisted that would not suffice; he suggested a return to Aduana to have them sign and stamp our Bill of Lading as a declaration of personal effects. We protested, then relented and went back to the Aduana, where our guys from the morning said, we absolutely did not have to declare our personal effects. And refused to sign any more documentation.
We were sandwiched in Latin confrontation between officials, we couldn’t win so I asked for the Aduana employees mobile phone number. He gave it and told us to tell the jefe to call him to confirm. People who run shipping yards love to get the cell-phone numbers of Aduana executives so, in the end everyone was happy. The jefe called, the Aduana guy confirmed and the jefe relented. By this time, we were up against the clock, as the Almacen closes at 4.30 pm and Aduana at 5pm. It was 4:15pm.
The Almacen had our container ready and we opened it in the pouring rain, breaking the numbered seal with lots of smiles. They then inspected the car to release it to us. We signed off on it and we paid the charges: $102 for removing the container ship to yard, bringing it down off the heap, inspection and, as always, tax on top.
Our final fee was to Intershipping. Their staff were extremely professional, helpful, and personable; a total of $45. We had at least one of their employees with us at all times, sometimes two or three. We drove out of the port at 5:35 with no problems. The National Guard stamped our paperwork and wished us a Buen Viaje. Our total cost including taxis to and from Caracas, a DHL waybill with the Bill of Lading, and all services and tips was $1350 not including our air tickets.
We intentionally shipped the car low on gas because we knew prices were less expensive in Venezuela. The first thing we did was gas up, for a whopping $1.75 (yes, for the whole tank!) This is going to be a fun journey!
So we didn’t need a carnet nor did we need a libretta. They were never mentioned by the aduana and are not in the Book of Organic Laws so save your money for gasoline.
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