Shipping
from Cartagena, Columbia to Colon, Panama
This document was written from our experiences of
shipping from Colombia to Panama. Much of this information is just as
relevant
to those shipping from Panama to Colombia.
The port in Cartagena, Colombia for RORO is Contecar.
Seaboard uses another nearby terminal in Cartagena.
There are two ports in Colon, Panama, Cristobal and
Manzanillo.
There are two shipping lines that go between Panama and
Columbia and are popular amongst overlanders.
-
The first is Seaboard which requires that the
vehicle be placed in a container or on a flat bed. There is one ship
each week
doing this route.
-
The second option is Wallenius Wilhelmsen which
offer a Roll On Roll Off (RORO) service. There is a ship every two
weeks.
We found that the container service was marginally cheaper
than RORO but when we mentioned this to Wallenius Wilhelmsen they
dropped the
price and ending up being marginally cheaper than Seaboard.
The advantages in a container is that it is more secure, but
with this you have the added expense and time of loading and unloading
your
vehicle from a container.
The advantages of RORO is that no container is required and
the vehicle is simply driven on and off the ship. The disadvantage is
that it
is not as secure since you must leave the key with the shipping line.
To use
RORO you really need a way to lock up the back of your vehicle so that
even
with a key nobody can access the contents in the vehicle.
SEABOARD
(CONTAINER)
To ship in a container, SEABOARD is most likely the cheapest
option. http://www.seaboardmarine.com/SML/.
There
is a ship each week. Contact details are available at http://www.seaboardmarine.com/SML/ContactUs.aspx?CountryCode=CO
and reproduced here.
Seaboard
Cartagena
Bosque, Avenida Pedro Vélez No. 48-14
Cartagena, Colombia
Phone: (575) 672-2341 / (575)
672-2374 / (575) 672-2262
Fax: (575) 662-1719
Contact Person: Ambrosio
Fernandez
E-mail: ambrosio.fernandez@seaboardcolombia.com.co
Seaboard Panama
Sea Cargo Urb.
El Dorado, Ave. Miguel Brostella
Edificio PH Camino de Cruces, Local M2, Mezzanine
Panama City
Phone: (507) 360-5900
Fax: (507) 360-5940
Contact Person: Joris Deruwe
E-mail: jderuwe@seaboardmarinepanama.com
Website: http://www.seaboardmarinepanama.com
You cannot deal direct with Seaboard. You must use a
shipping agent. We would recommend that you use the services of Enlace
Caribe.
See details below.
WALLENIUS
WILHELMSEN (RORO)
To ship by RORO, the agent for Wallenius Wilhelmsen in
Colombia is Naves.
Shipping schedules are available from http://schedule.2wglobal.com/AppSchedules/countryList.do.
There
are typically two services a month.
The
office for Navas, the agent for Wallenius Wilhelmsen in Colombia, GPS
coordinate is “N 10 °
24.567’, W 75° 32.291’”. Talk
to either Arling or Stephanie. Both speak good English.
NAVES S.A. Cartagena, Colombia
Phone 57 5
660 9450/660 9451
Fax
57 5
660 9447/660 9454
Telex Via U.K. 051
94078814 NAVS G
E-mail oprctg@navescolombia.com
Website www.navescolombia.com
For RORO, you can do all the formalities yourself, or to
save a lot of headaches and confusion we would recommend that you use
Enlace
Caribe. See details below.
ENLACE
CARIBE LTD, SHIPPING
AGENT
We used Luis and Sonia La Rota of Enlace Caribe to handle
all the shipping formalities. Luis speaks good English. They run a
small family
business, are very professional and great to deal with. They charged us
US$165
to complete all formalities which we thought was good value. They have
a good
working relationship with both Naves and Seaboard.
The GPS coordinate of their office in Cartagena, Columbia is
“N 10 °
24.546’, W 75° 31.938’”
Enlace Caribe Ltda.
Manga, 3a. Avenida, Calle 28, No. 26-47,
Of. 103
Cartagena, Colombia
Ph +57 (5) 660 8960
Mob + 57 315 758 5872
E-mail gerencia@enlacecaribe.com
Website www.enlacecaribe.com
ACCOMMODATION
AND SECURE
PARKING IN CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA
Enlace Caribe, Naves, the port and the Getsemani area which
is full of cheap hostels are all within walking distance.
There is secure parking in Getsemani on Calle del Guerrero,
opposite Hotel Familiar. The GPS coordinate is “N 10 °
25.262’, W 75° 32.743’”. They charge US$5.50 per day.
FLIGHTS
BETWEEN
CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA AND PANAMA CITY, PANAMA
The
cheapest flights we could find between Cartagena and Panama City was
AIRES. We
booked the flight online and paid US$193 per person (including all
taxes).
Website
http://book.aires.aero
To
enter Panama you must be able to show a ticket leaving the country.
Having a
flight out of the US is not acceptable. The airline WEB site says that
you need
to buy a return ticket. This is not technically correct.
You can show the Airline and Panama
Immigration your Shipping “Bill of Lading” which satisfies the rule of
having
onward passage from Panama. Make sure that the shipping company
documents the
name of all people travelling in the vehicle on the Bill of Lading as
this will
be required by the Airline and Panama immigration to show that all
passengers
have outward passage from Panama.
If you have any questions, additions or corrections then please
let me know.
Geoff and Kienny Kingsmill
Email: gkingsmill@yahoo.com