Submitted by Klaas van der Meer
We shipped our Toyota Landcruiser with camper unit from Capetown, South Africa to Buenos Aires, Argentina in a 20-foot open-top container. It left on 29 August 2010 and it arrived nearly 2 months later, traveling over Durban and Santos (Brasil)! Here is the whole story and the costs:
Coming down the East side of Africa we contacted several agencies in South Africa months ahead. Only a few responded or could give a price indication. The one who was most accurate in responding was Adrian Schultz from EconoTrans, www.econotrans.co.za , in Cape Town. Shipping to Buenos Aires around mid- September would not be a problem. The costs were higher than we expected, but less than the other quotes we received.
Shipment per 20ft open-top container (there is no RoRo from South Africa to Argentina) from Cape Town to B.A. was a lump sum rate of ZAR 34,850 (about 3800 Euro). Due to the height an open top is the only option here and adds to the costs quite a bit (compared to a normal container). This rate includes loading/securing, cartage/grounding and return to port, export clearing, customs inspection, terminal charges, cargo dues, release fees, ocean freight , bunker surcharge, over-height surcharge, special open top surcharge, and river toll fee to the port in B.A. (Costs in Argentina are not included here.) They could offer Total Loss Only insurance for shipment at 1.5% of the vehicle value if required.
We settled on a date and when we came to Cape Town he told us the ship would take 32 days for the journey! We asked him why it would take so long, from Cape Town to Buenos Aires is not that far... It turned out that the container would be taken from Cape Town to Durban, where another ship would pick it up and bring it to Santos in Brasil, and then a third ship will take it to Buenos Aires... He said that there are no shipping lines anymore serving Cape Town – Buenos Aires direct, all is going through Santos in Brasil as a regional hub. After some research on the internet and with other agencies we agreed.
A few days before departure the agent found out that the door opening of an open top container is not 228 cm like he thought before, but only 195 cm due to the brackets looking inside ! Our car was 204 cm wide... Finally I suggested stretching the door opening by pulling with 2 cars on the top of the door opening. This is done more often, but the shipping company does not want it, so you have to do it out of sight. Our agent had his own compound. So we did and the car fit in after demounting the bumper; we could not use the full length of the container because of re-enforcements in the corners that took 23 cm each.
So the container left the 27th of August and we flew two days later with Malasian Airlines direct to Buenos Aires. (2 times weekly, single flight 395 Euro pp.) The container would arrive in Buenos Aires on the 3rd of October, so for that time we rented an apartment. (First we rented from For Rent Argentina, but it was a disaster. A terrible cot, although the pictures on the internet looked OK, and bad service. For the second month we rented from ByT Argentina, www.bytargentina.com and that was perfect, the apartment and the service.)
After a few weeks we were quite upset when we saw on the tracking page from Safmarine (Maersk), the shipping line, that the 2nd vessel left Durban without taking our container !!! They scheduled the arrival on the 12th of October now. Two days later they changed it again, to the 17th and then to the 19th. Later it was only by the 20th that the ship would arrive. Neither Safmarine nor our agent in Cape Town informed us about this 17 days delay.
In Buenos Aires we took an Agent: Weber Servicios Internationales www.webersi.com.ar (English and German spoken). They work together with a transport company in La Boca and they also have their own compound. (important for stretching the door opening). Only 3 days before arrival Safmarine wanted to give a calculation of the costs. But here they are in US$: Maritime Agency (Safmarine) Terminal Port Transport and Container Unloading IVETRA
Professional Fee for Weber, Customs Delivery, Customs Authorization, all for a total of US$ 1970 (this amount can fluctuate a little bit). You can also pay in Pesos. (For comparison, friends of ours shipped in a normal 20 feet container at the end of 2009 from Germany; they had to pay US$ 1400 in Buenos Aires.)
Finally on 22nd October we could get our container out of the harbour, but 30 minutes before we got out they started a strike and they blocked all harbour gates for the rest of the day. Next day, on Saturday (86 dollars extra for weekend work) we got our container at the transport depot. There they worked efficiently, stretched the container a bit as if they did it every day, and I drove the car out, no problem, no damage. The Agent Weber had arranged all the paperwork very well, so now we could hit the road again!