Submitted by Frank Cartwright
I used Seabridge for my shipping agent and MOL for the shipping line. MOL has 2 sailings a month from the Eastern Seaboard to South Africa. They, depending on requirements, stop at Walvis Bay, East London and Durban from Baltimore, Savannah and Jacksonville. We chose to ship to East London as it was further south and not as hot and humid as Durban. This worked out to be a great choice as East London is where the Mercedes Benz factory is located and they ship out the 'C' class which they manufacture there and ship in the 'D' & 'E' classes, so the dock was super safe and secure and lucky for us as the ship arrived a couple of days early and the truck had to sit on the dock while we were still flying. We later heard bad things about Durban from more than one traveler, so highly recommend East London. Walvis Bay would have been more expensive and it was really the wrong time of the year for Namibia and Walvis would have screwed-up our routing as it would have required a ton of back-tracking. Rainy and dry seasons really need to be considered when making plans as we quickly found out.
We used the RO/RO service as we had just an inch or so height clearance for the Hi-Cube container and I wasn't comfortable with that little clearance. The RO/RO charge from Baltimore to East London was $4,441.00 and was based upon us being 1,320 cu ft and 10,300 lbs. Our agent was Jennifer Perkins and she was extremely efficient and I would use her again. The docking and agent fees in East London was just short of $700.00 and we used the John Fish Agency in East London for customs clearance. They did all the work and I just had to show up with the carnet and sign a couple of papers and open the camper for inspection (customs were just curious to see inside as they really didn't pay much attention or do any searching around) and I was on my way.
Other travelers also used MOL to ship their truck from Southampton to Walvis Bay and they had a similar experience there. The only differences being that it took a couple of days to get a an appointment with customs and customs didn't even look at their truck, just stamped their papers and they were off and running.
Shipping back from South Africa is a little bit more awkward as you can only bring your truck to the docks 2 days before the sailing date otherwise there is a $125.00 per day storage charge..... so planning is of the essence when shipping back.
A carnet is essential, otherwise the import process is expensive and lengthy (a couple more days at least) and you would need to repeat the process at each border crossing outside the Southern Alliance, which consists of South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Swaziland and Lesotho.
For information on obtaining a Carnet de Passage, which is required for vehicle travel in Africa, use this link