From Panama City, Panama to Guayaquil, Ecuador - March, 2000

...how we sent our bikes from Panama to Guayaquil...

Cost US$150 per bike (weight not important). However, only take CASH. Shipped as loose freight in a container with other stuff. Need to arrive in Colon with bike and complete paper work day. Give yourself a full day to complete everything. Boat leaves usually on Sundays at about 5 p.m. Takes 2.5 days to arrive in Guayaquil.

See Mr. Campbell in Colon....VERY HELPFUL...Will take you to container and get you through customs immediately (we gave him a tip of 6 US dollars). Will let you push your bike into the container and let you see that it is secured properly.

Pick up contact in Guayaquil:
Monica Jordan de Cervantes
email: mjor...@bonita.com
tel:593 4 481 447 or 481 439
fax:593 4 481 449

Did all paper work for us. Very nice lady. Speaks English. Went out of her way to help us. Processing fees were about 15 US dollars per bike. Also, we had to get a letter of transit from the American Embassy (US$50)...getting the bikes out of the container and customs will probably take 3 days in Guayaquil (that is what it took us, anyway...maybe longer in other cases).

Update from Chris Bright post on bulletin board - Dec 2000

VERY "IMPORTANT: for and shipping (and flying???): make sure your 'bill of lading' has the magic words 'for temporany importation only' written on it. Also, if you are shipping, there is some sort of special code that should be written on it, which allows you to drive your vehicle out of Guayaquil port. if you don't have this, you will have to pay a trucker ($30) to drive your closed container out of the dock gates and somebody else to remove the container from the truck, so that you can unload it.

...you WILL need a letter from your embassy / consulate saying you are a tourist and in transit. (There is a line in the customs book that says precisely that!) We heard that the British and Dutch consulates in Guayaquil are very helpful, but the American consulate requires hard work: the Californian couple we spoke to refused to leave the lady's office until she produced the letter. They were there 3 hours!"

Grant's comment: Recent information (Feb 2001) is that Ecuador requires a carnet if shipping by air, does not require if entering by land, and by sea is variable. It is officially required, but land border guards ignore it.