From Colon, Panama to Caracas, Venezuela - May, 2002

We shipped 2 Kawasaki KLRs from Panama to Venezuela and this is the story.

The company we worked with is one of the cheapest company in Panama. It cost us only $330 for two bikes to Venezuela. They charge by cubic metre and not by kg. The company ("servicarga") has a very nice manager called Gladys. She does not speak English but other people there do. The office is in Colon and not in Panama city (as most of the shipping companies). It's located in the Zona Libre of colon which is a very big sort of duty free. You can call her or email her. They charge about $110 per cubic meter but for us she charged only $90. Venezuela customs wasn't so bad as we were told before (they have new laws for tourists coming in the country with cars/motorcycles) and they knew what to do. No extra charge for getting the bike in Venezuela. The custom located in "la Guaira" which is 45 min from Caracas.

***Important***

The company that servicarga works with in Caracas called "pulumbo shipping". Since the manager of servicarga in Panama didn't know about the new laws in Venezuela that a shipper doesn't need a custom agent to get out the bike from the custom, she sent us to the offices of "pulumbo" in Caracas to get the paperwork done. They wanted more than US$800 for that !!! We found out about the new laws and did the paperwork without them. Do not use the service of this company in Caracas. The only thing you need from them is the shipping bill. Just take it and go. Do the paperwork by yourself!!! It is not difficult and takes less than two days. Eyal