Shipping – Rotterdam to Montevideo

Our plan was to ship our vehicle from Europe to the southern part of South America. Some Overlanders warn against shipping to Brazil because of the high level of corruption. Uruguay is suggested as a safe port.

This was our second experience of shipping our vehicle. Like most things in life, things become a lot easier the more you do it. At first glance, the process seems complicated. However, think of it as a normal border crossing, the difference being that you do not drive across the border. Transfer is by ship and one typically uses agents to assist and facilitate the task.

The process is as follows:

• Find an agent who will take care of all the formalities. We used UK based shipping agent IVSS (Martin McGowan) and it proved to be a wise choice. E-mails and questions were promptly answered, all paperwork was done without a hitch, vehicle was secure.
• Deliver the vehicle to the shipping agent warehouse for loading into the 20ft container. We stood by whilst the vehicle was loaded into the container. The container door is sealed with a tamper proof seal, which has a unique number. We cross checked the seal when we took possession of the container at the destination.
• The shipping agent transports the container to the port where it is loaded onto the container vessel. We were given the details of the vessel and could thus track the vessel in real time. We also have a GPS tracking device in the vehicle, which we used to track the whereabouts of our vehicle. The vessel took 30 days to reach Montevideo.
• One needs a shipping agent at the destination port to take care of formalities. Martin McGowan normally uses Eduardo Kessler. He speaks good English and did everything possible to have our vehicle delivered and cleared from customs.
• The vessel arrived almost within the hour of the expected date and time of arrival. Not-withstanding a general strike, the container was off loaded and delivered to the shipping agent premises, which is within the port area, within 24 hours. Some Overlanders believe that containers are roughly manhandled and vehicles get damaged. They prefer the Roll-on, Roll-off option in which case the vehicle is driven onto the vessel similar to a car ferry. This means that the vehicle is more than likely driven by port workers, which for us is way too risky with the vehicle being full of our personal stuff. Vehicles are very securely tied down within the container and we believe there is a little risk of damage. We were present when the seal on the container was cut and we drove the vehicle out of the container ourselves.
• The vehicle was scanned by an X-ray machine, and no other inspections were undertaken.
• The agent assisted to obtain all the compulsory documents including temporary vehicle import permit, public liability insurance and immigration.

  

  

The whole process was hassle free, mainly due to the excellent work of the two shipping agents.