Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB - Shipping car Jordan to Port Sudan

Recently Egyptian authorities do not allow 4x4 vehicles taken into the country anymore. If you are trying to reach Africa by taking a ferry from Aqaba to Nuweiba, make sure you are updated about the situation.

We were not able to tranfer our car with a ferry to Egypt (AB Maritime does not longer sell you a ticket for your car, note that normal cars (non 4x4) can get through). We had two options: ship our car from Aqaba to Port Sudan or Mombasa. There are also possibilities to ship it to Jeddah or Djibouti, but we only considered Port Sudan and Mombasa and decided to go for Port Sudan. The procedure is explained below.

Amin Kawar and Sons Shipping shipped our car from Aqaba to Port Sudan by RoRo. Costs are around 700 USD and include clearance, shipping and administration fees. It is very straightforward. Once you have made your decision, your car will be cleared. You will go with one of the employees to a policeoffice to pay your fines (if you have any). Next you will bring your car to the harbour. Make sure all valuable items are removed. We have heard stories of people shipping their car and after retrieving it, their stuff (from sweaters and shoes to jewelry and number plates) were gone. The shipping takes about a week.

This seems all pretty strightforward, but upon arrival in Port Sudan, things will get complicated. A so-called Bill of Lading was provided to us in Aqaba which states with what purposes our car is transferred to its destination.

We had two options:
- tourism
- in transit

If you go for the first option, you have to go the customs authority in Khartoum first to get approval that your car will temporarily be in Sudan for tourist purpose only. If you do not get this permission in time, your car will not be unloaded off the ship and continue to its next destination. How long it will take to get this permission is unknown to us. We also don't know where this authority is situated, because we chose the second option, which is not much better.

If you go in transit to another country (say Ethiopia) your car will officially not be allowed to drive in the country. This is only possible if you load your car on a truck which will transfer your car to the other border. Another possibility is to take a policeman with you. He will drive with you in your car all the way to the Ethiopian border, so don't expect to see much of the country driving yourself. This procedure costs around 450 euros and includes clearance, Sudanese insurance (+/- 750 SDG, if you don't have an insurance which the authorities here acknowledge), administration fees and a policeman to the border.

We are currently in Port Sudan considering a third option: 60 km south lies Suakin, the old port of Sudan. Here ferries from Jeddah often arrive with private cars for tourist purposes. We are trying to transfer our car to this harbour and get it into Sudan as a tourist vehicle. It supposedly saves time and there is no need for a policeman to accompanie you to the border.

Once we reach Ethiopia we will post an update here.