Ferry Xpress gone - now what?

[John Cordier]

I got confirmation from Ferry Xpress that they will stop operating on April 24. And they are unable to say IF they will ever restart.

What is the alternatives now. Is the sailboat Starlite the cheapest option? it is over US1000

[Sjoerd Bakker]

Air freight from Tocumen airport of Panama City , Panama is the fallback option , is faster than the STAHLRATTE , and costs less or so it was found in past research .I have not used either , so don't take my word on it.
But if I needed to choose I would take the plane, the boat is more of a torture cruise judging from all the stories. Lashing a bike to small sailboats may be cheaper but risky .
Yes , it is too bad but the market demand does not exist for such a large ferry vessel as was tried. There is really no big land transport of goods established south from Panama , no regular repeat travellers to keep a big ferry a paying proposition. Goods get shipped by sea containers and people fly . They grossly overestimated and put in a ship that was far too large and costly to operate.

[Peter Bodtke]

From reading post here on the HUBB and the HU Facebook group, I surmise that the biggest problem was lack of adequate dock facilities in Cartagena (feel free to correct me if it turns out the dock issues is in Panama...) The ferry loads cars and trucks in the aft section (the back of the boat.) A poster shared that in rough weather ferry needs to be stabilized by pilings on either side. Apparently in one of the ports the pilings have not been installed. A few trips were conducted then car and truck transport was suspended because of the docking issues.

I haven't crunched the numbers, but will take a flying guess that without commercial transport of cars and trucks the voyages don't make nearly as much money. Its a big boat with a large hold for vehicles. If this section is empty, then lots of fuel is used to move a too large boat without revenue for the effort. Perhaps a smaller, passenger only, ferry might be sustainable. Of course it would be great such a wishlist service included motorcycle transport... Colon to Cartagena is a fairly long distance. I would be very happy to see coastal service that transported bikes to Turbo, CO.

[Peter Bodtke]

Follow the link below to the Mamallena, a backpacker hostel in Cartagena. They book passage for several boats. No idea if they are the cheapest booking service. There are two boats that have transported bikes (and passenger) in the past: Jacqueline and Independence.

http://www.mamallena.com/sailboats-to-cartagena.html

There have been reports of difficulties transport motorcycles from Cartagena to Panama. It seems the custom officials weren't happy with the size of one of one of these boats. The riders who posted on the HUBB ended up airlifting to Panama. The Stalhratte is much bigger and does not encountered issues with customs getting bikes out of Cartagena. Captain Ludwig of the Stalhratte offers a great tour. I highly recommend it. I have no personal experience of the other two boats. I recommend contacting the captains to see if they are moving motorcycles and reading reviews about other passengers trips.