Report from William Rhode
The shipping process went very well. We used Stan at ABC Auto Delivery Service in Baltimore to empty the propane tank. He was recommended by Danielle at Seabridge. The process is you turn the tank upside down, open the valve and wait a couple of hours for it to empty. The valve tends to freeze so it's a long process. For this I paid $30. He did supply me with a receipt that stated the tank was empty. Of course the only one who ever looked at the receipt was me. No one on the dock including customs even asked if we had a propane tank.
Stan would have delivered the van to the dock for an additional $150. He charges $50 per hr. for the service and said it would take 3 hours. Instead I used an escort service, also recommended by Danielle. 7:00 am of the morning after the tank was emptied I was at the escort company (A1 Escort and Delivery). By 8:00 I was following the escort onto the dock, and by 9:00 he was giving me a lift back to our hotel. No one inspected the van, not even customs. Because our vehicle is a van and anyone with a key would have access to the entire van I constructed a net (modified cargo net) to close off the drivers area from the back. This idea was passed on to me from several members of the Silk Route Network.
Something else regarding LPG tanks, originally I wanted to ship on Hoegh Lines as their schedule was a better fit to ours. In preparation to book Danielle found out that they recently had become very strict with their propane regulations. They now require the tank to be purged by a "certified marine chemist". She said it was very expensive. Sounded like too much red tape to me so I went with Wallenius-Wihlemsen.
Later, when in Baltimore I talked to Stan the propane guy from ABC Auto Delivery. He confirmed what Danielle had said. It is very expensive to do this - as in $600. I can't confirm this price, but Stan swore it was true.
Also, when I was at the dock waiting for the paper work to clear the day we picked up our van in Zeebrugge, I meet an Australian who was preparing to ship his rig to South Africa. He had delivered the rig to the dock and found out he had many problems. He gave away his two propane tanks (it was the easiest thing to do), threw out his gasoline can, had to strap down all contents in the exterior storage compartments, and arrange to have an inspection by an outside company to certify that the rig was safe to ship. So, ship from Baltimore to Zeebrugge with WW, no problem. Ship from Zeebrugee to South Africa with WW, big problem.