Shipping from Dubai to Mombasa

[-Roland-]

I am on my way from Europe to South Africa. Plan was the east route by going by Iran -> UAE- > Saudi Arabia -> Sudan -> Ethiopia and than going south.

I am now in Oman.

That became a bit difficult when Ethiopia kind of closed and looking for alternatives I asked a few quotes from shipping companies. I found this to expensive and choose to try the Chad route with knowing that this could be difficult.

However, yesterday a shipping company contacted me to tell me that the costs dropped. From 1500 to a bit less than a 1000 euro. This makes it way more attractive. I had a call and I am happy with how they handle things. Other than 400 dinar for a customs check there are no extra costs or surprises on the Dubai side.

But he could not tell what to expect in Mombasa. Has anybody shipped into Mombasa and know anything about customs and harbour costs, time it can take etc.? Thanks

[Grant Johnson]

Looks like no one has any experience with that Roland, but please tell us what YOUR experience is!
We hope it's a good one!

[-Roland-]

I could find very little information. I will share my experience. Bike is now at customs in Dubai, inspection will be tomorrow and the boat sails on the first of February. Around the 18th my bike should be in Mombasa. Bit "scared" for the proces of getting my bike in Mombasa

[mika]

Hey Roland, I am following your journey here on the Hubb, thank you for posting.

Dont be 'scared', you will get your bike out in Mombasa. Relax, sleep and eat well. See it as a challenge, see it as a paper game (money paid to a corrupt official is also only paper, dont forget this), see it as part of your journey, a learning curve, an experience if you will.

I have checked my bike in and out at a lot of 'off the beaten track' ports and air ports. New Delhi, Almaty, Caracas, Havanna, Santo Domingo to name just a few. Kenya I entered overland, it took a few hours but we managed to pay very little for our transit visas at the border and I remember myself saying back then: 'Your english has to be better than that of a Kenyan border official, if you want to travel Africa.'

All the best
mika

[MJP]

Hi Roland, I will be interested to hear your experience of this route. I am currently in Namibia, having shipped my bike to Cape Town, and when I eventually get to Kenya, plan to ship from Mombassa to Oman en route back to the UK. Hope it all goes well and maybe see you somewhere on the road

[-Roland-]

I am still in Mombasa waiting for my bike. The boat should have arrived last Tuesday but since then it is waiting just outside of Mombasa. Guess the port is busy. Still hoping for this weekend.

When I have my bike I will write up the proces and costs and the mistakes I made.

Enjoy your trip!. I am going towards Cape Town so maybe we cross into each other.

[-Roland-]

I am back on the road. Writing this when I am just outside (not allowed in on bike) Tsavo national park watching elephants at the river.

https://www.polarsteps.com/RolandHeeling/5384537-to-cape-town

In the end the process took long, became very expensive but was quiet smooth.

In Dubai I agreed on 3800 dinar for shipping, another 400 dinar was needed for customs. 4200 dinar total or around 1050 Euro. I was aware that there would be costs in Mombasa. They just did not know how much.

Ship would leave Dubai at the 1st of Feb and they needed the bike a few days early so on the 26th of January I brought my bike to Auk shipping. I had to leave the carnet but would get it back after customs. Also meaning I had to wait in Dubai until customs was done. I had hoped that I could leave asap as being 6 weeks on the Arabian peninsula was more than enough. The customs kept being delayed so I kept extending my hotel but at the 31st customs was done and I booked my flight to Mombasa. They promised me to send the carnet on the 31 to my hotel but they did not manage. So, they send my Carnet free of charge with DHL to Mombasa. Just took a few days. When arrived I noticed they stamped the carnet wrong :-( I think it will be fine.

Then the waiting started. the container with the bike stayed another week in Dubai, another boat was used. This boat left Dubai on the 8th. A week later than planned. After the boat departed, I got a phone call from Global express. The company that would do the arrival part. I explained to them that I am not importing, that I am a tourist with a carnet. All was fine.

As with flightradar there is something similar for boats. So, I already saw that the boat was delayed. When arrived it waited for 48 hours outside the harbour before it could dock.

In the mean time I got an invoice from globalexpress of 684 dollar. That was a bit more than I expected and they were not really able to explain the invoice to me. Was just for destuffing, moving and warehousing the bike. Prices were way to high but that happens in Kenya when they see a foreigner. They also knew I did not have much choice.

Paying was a bit difficult. They only accept Mpesa payment, and I don't have that. As an exception I could pay cash. They used a ridiculous exchange rate of 133 (instead of 127 as official) and their excuse was that their bank was using that rate. If they ever going to change back to dollar. Another 40 dollars added to the costs.

Being in their office paying I asked where and when I can get my bike and go to customs. They told me I can't and that I need an agent for that. They of course could help me with that. Normally I would try myself but having lived in Kenya and knowing the bureaucracy I seemed wise to use an agent. They messed up a bit by changing to another agent without telling me so when I was talking to one agent another had send a quote to me. 450 dollars for agent work and customs. I got mad at the wrong person. Anyway, when I understood that global express line had changed the agent I apologised. (in their words, the company decided. Which made me wrote a very nasty email explaining that when I am paying, I make the decisions)

I talked 50 dollars off and continued with the agent. He told me that he could go fast. Unfortunately, the bike was not in the warehouse on Saturday morning so it was last Monday (27th) that he could work on it. However, not after sending me another invoice of 162 dollars for port charges. I was more than a bit annoyed. He explained to me that it includes moving the bike and warehouse costs. That sounded familiar and I told him that I already paid that to global express. They could not explain in a way that I understood but it was really something else. In the end I believe this last invoice was the only genuine one I got.

With the money I went to customs.A colleague of the agent was there already a whole day to get my bike released. Still, when I was there it took another 3 hours. He was running from 1 office to another and back again. But I did find my bike and I was happy :-)



I had to give the details of when I will leave Kenya, the date and at what border. I have glue yet so I guessed bit. Hope they are not to strict in this.

At the end the Carnet needed to be stamped and I volunteered to get that done (making sure they stamped it correctly).

Just for getting the stamp they needed a copy of my passport, the front of the carnet, a page of the carnet, a copy of the form where I had put the date and border would leave. Went all very slow and when stamped they asked for money because it was diner time and they were hungry. I was happy with the stamp and therefor happy to provide them diner money.

In the end I paid:

1050 Euro on the Dubai side for packing, shipping and customs
685 dollars on the Mombasa side for unpacking at Global Express Line LTD (completely fake invoice in my opinion)
250 dollar for the agent work, a lot for Kenyan standards but okay
150 dollar for custom cost (I did not see a separate invoice for this)
162 dollars for port costs. I very much think these are the customs costs that the agent just charged me twice.
Around 70-dollar exchange rate loss

Total costs of shipping my bike 2437 dollar. But already forgotten now I am back on my bike.

Advise I have for other travellers doing the same. Find a company with office in both harbours and negotiate an all-in price.

[Hound_Dog]

Originally Posted by -Roland-

I am back on the road. Writing this when I am just outside (not allowed in on bike) Tsavo national park watching elephants at the river.

https://www.polarsteps.com/RolandHeeling/5384537-to-cape-town

In the end the process took long, became very expensive but was quiet smooth.

In Dubai I agreed on 3800 dinar for shipping, another 400 dinar was needed for customs. 4200 dinar total or around 1050 Euro. I was aware that there would be costs in Mombasa. They just did not know how much.

Ship would leave Dubai at the 1st of Feb and they needed the bike a few days early so on the 26th of January I brought my bike to Auk shipping. I had to leave the carnet but would get it back after customs. Also meaning I had to wait in Dubai until customs was done. I had hoped that I could leave asap as being 6 weeks on the Arabian peninsula was more than enough. The customs kept being delayed so I kept extending my hotel but at the 31st customs was done and I booked my flight to Mombasa. They promised me to send the carnet on the 31 to my hotel but they did not manage. So, they send my Carnet free of charge with DHL to Mombasa. Just took a few days. When arrived I noticed they stamped the carnet wrong :-( I think it will be fine.

Then the waiting started. the container with the bike stayed another week in Dubai, another boat was used. This boat left Dubai on the 8th. A week later than planned. After the boat departed, I got a phone call from Global express. The company that would do the arrival part. I explained to them that I am not importing, that I am a tourist with a carnet. All was fine.

As with flightradar there is something similar for boats. So, I already saw that the boat was delayed. When arrived it waited for 48 hours outside the harbour before it could dock.

In the mean time I got an invoice from globalexpress of 684 dollar. That was a bit more than I expected and they were not really able to explain the invoice to me. Was just for destuffing, moving and warehousing the bike. Prices were way to high but that happens in Kenya when they see a foreigner. They also knew I did not have much choice.

Paying was a bit difficult. They only accept Mpesa payment, and I don't have that. As an exception I could pay cash. They used a ridiculous exchange rate of 133 (instead of 127 as official) and their excuse was that their bank was using that rate. If they ever going to change back to dollar. Another 40 dollars added to the costs.

Being in their office paying I asked where and when I can get my bike and go to customs. They told me I can't and that I need an agent for that. They of course could help me with that. Normally I would try myself but having lived in Kenya and knowing the bureaucracy I seemed wise to use an agent. They messed up a bit by changing to another agent without telling me so when I was talking to one agent another had send a quote to me. 450 dollars for agent work and customs. I got mad at the wrong person. Anyway, when I understood that global express line had changed the agent I apologised. (in their words, the company decided. Which made me wrote a very nasty email explaining that when I am paying, I make the decisions)

I talked 50 dollars off and continued with the agent. He told me that he could go fast. Unfortunately, the bike was not in the warehouse on Saturday morning so it was last Monday (27th) that he could work on it. However, not after sending me another invoice of 162 dollars for port charges. I was more than a bit annoyed. He explained to me that it includes moving the bike and warehouse costs. That sounded familiar and I told him that I already paid that to global express. They could not explain in a way that I understood but it was really something else. In the end I believe this last invoice was the only genuine one I got.

With the money I went to customs.A colleague of the agent was there already a whole day to get my bike released. Still, when I was there it took another 3 hours. He was running from 1 office to another and back again. But I did find my bike and I was happy :-)



I had to give the details of when I will leave Kenya, the date and at what border. I have glue yet so I guessed bit. Hope they are not to strict in this.

At the end the Carnet needed to be stamped and I volunteered to get that done (making sure they stamped it correctly).

Just for getting the stamp they needed a copy of my passport, the front of the carnet, a page of the carnet, a copy of the form where I had put the date and border would leave. Went all very slow and when stamped they asked for money because it was diner time and they were hungry. I was happy with the stamp and therefor happy to provide them diner money.

In the end I paid:

1050 Euro on the Dubai side for packing, shipping and customs
685 dollars on the Mombasa side for unpacking at Global Express Line LTD (completely fake invoice in my opinion)
250 dollar for the agent work, a lot for Kenyan standards but okay
150 dollar for custom cost (I did not see a separate invoice for this)
162 dollars for port costs. I very much think these are the customs costs that the agent just charged me twice.
Around 70-dollar exchange rate loss

Total costs of shipping my bike 2437 dollar. But already forgotten now I am back on my bike.

Advise I have for other travellers doing the same. Find a company with office in both harbours and negotiate an all-in price.

You got ripped off bad!