From Cartagena, Colombia to Antwerp, Belgium - January, 2007

Will give you all the details so hopefully you will learn from the mistakes I made.

I had a few problems finding a shipper out of Colombia back to Europe. It doesnt seem to the place that most people ship home from. I found out about a boat company called Horn Linie. Their website is http://www.hornlinie.com/. Couldnt get any information on shipping with them so walked into their office in Cartagena. They dont deal with the public so they told me to ring Hamburg in Germany. If you havent found Skype by this point in your travels, now might be a very good time to use it. I rang Hamburg, they told me it wasnt their job to organise it, I should ring Bogota. So I rang Bogota. They told me I couldnt go through them direct and I needed a shipping agent.
Step forward Luis La Rota. Now somewhere in the midst of this, you have to tell Horn Linie that you are intending to ship with them but I cant tell you whether that is Cartagena, Hamburg or Bogota. They all want to know but no one wants to deal with you. Also by this point I am guessing that you will understand what patience is.

Spent 1.5 days doing paperwork enough of it to finish off a rain forest. The port authority wont accept you just delivering your bike to the port so another agent is needed inside the port but Luis La Rota organises all of this. I felt he hadnt shipped a motorbike before but he seems to know his stuff. I never understood how the Horn Linie boat is advertised as Ro-Ro but they wanted the motorbike crated up to go back to Europe. So finally at the end of the 2nd day dealing with Luis and his team, my bike was inside the port area. It was left in a warehouse, no body managed to give me a straight answer on whether it was going in a crate, whether it was just gonna be strapped to a pallet or going home as it was. They didnt want anything left on the outside of the bike, the panniers were fine, and was told to leave an ignition key with the bike, no other keys needed. At this point I was told I had to come back the following morning (day 3) for a customs inspection of the bike.

Day 3, told this process would take 1.5 hours, it took 5 hrs. Did i mention patience? So finally after a customs clearance the bike was cleared to leave COlombia. I still had no answer on whether it was going in a crate or what was happening to it. I didnt like this feeling, and I all I could hear in my head was people saying dont leave the country and leave the bike in that country. Well I did, I left on this day 3 (4th January), knowing the bike wouldnt ship till 8th January.

So fast forward a couple of weeks to the retrieval process. The ro-ro boat calls at Dover, no motorbike offloading possible due to no ro-ro operation here, and then it calls at Antwerp. Due to bad weather, the boat doesnt call at Dover, and the motorbike is unloaded into Zeebrugge on Wed 24th Jan not Fri 26th Jan.

I got an email from Luis on the friday 26th saying dont forget to pick my motorbike up from Antwerp. Like I would even forget to pick my baby up from a foriegn port. Flew out of London City Airport on VLM airlines to Antwerp. Monday, found the office in the town, told needed customs paperwork of every country it has been in , and that the bike is actually in Zeebrugge not in Antwerp. Moment of insanity and just plain easy for me, flew back home to London, and drove back home. Arranged with a friend to go back to Zeebrugge, this time with spare key for the ignition and pannier box keys. Arrived into Zeebrugge, 3pm, the port office closed in 30 mins time, and final shut down was 4pm. They wouldnt deal with me today, had to come back tomorrow. Another night spent in Belgium.

Final outcome, Thursday morning 1st Feb, paperwork completed, Dock fees of 116.50euros paid, over to the other terminal to collect my bike. Bike is sat in a huge warehouse, pretty much alone, sat there on two wheels, no sign of pallets or crates, but apparently it has been in a huge container. Dead battery and wouldnt start, maybe another thing to think about before you ship it, keeping the battery and charging it before collection.

Rode straight out of the port area and on the road.

It is also possible to go home on the boat for est Euro1600 per person. Was told this can be booked up fully 6months in advance.

Break down of charges
Colombia

US$160 for Agency Fee, Documentation and formalities
COL$510,000 for Ocean Freight

Belgium

Euro 65 Custom formalities
Euro 1.50 Security surcharge
Euro 15 Import service charges
Euro 35 Adminstration Fee

My additional costs

Taxi rides in Cartagena
Photcopies again enough to finish off a 2nd rainforest
Flight and return to Belgium, hotel for 2 different nights, ferry return for a car, train one way for me and the motorbike, and more taxi rides.

Remember to take keys with you because when my bike appeared the ignition key had been lost
Remember to take paperwork with you of absolutly everything, all import and export papers you have, owners documents (titles) insurance for home, they didnt ask about tax or MOT , and driving license.
I got stopped by customs at the Eurotunnel and asked to open my panniers for inspection, it was a good job I went home and got the pannier keys, 2nd attempt is always good for me.

Good luck, ride safe and enjoy the journey