For those of you who are interested in the whole shipping a vehicle to the other side of the world story...... Getting Medwin From The UK To South America. When we first started to plan this trip, we decided quite early on that we would want to take our own vehicle with us. This was largely due to being accustomed to traveling this way as a family, and wanting to know that our transport and home for the next year was going to be fit for purpose and reliable. We got some advice from a friend who ships goods internationally and did lots of internet research on people who had done the same thing - this was how we arrived at the decision to ship Medwin to Uruguay. There are many horror stories out there of people having to pay way over the odds to corrupt officials in order to release their vehicle, as well as people who find their vans have been broken into. From advice and reading it seemed that shipping to Uruguay was going to be a safer bet. With those points decided, we started the process of booking Medwins transit. It took a lot of internet searching and ringing around before we found a company that would deal with individuals rather than companies, but we got there in the end. We used KG Logistics who were really helpful but like all other UK companies we found, no-one could offer any help with the process the other side. We had some delays in leaving, so had to keep getting updated quotes for shipping costs because these change every month. Once youve got your quote though its good for a month. Another thing we found out later was that the charges we paid them didnt include anything at the point of arrival - hopefully an outline of our costs below will help others with budgeting to do the same thing. Another company did give us the email of a customs officer in Montevideo though, who we bizarrely ended up meeting and who helped us loads, but before we arrived he was able to confirm by email an outline of costs the Uruguay end. So we finally booked our boat! Again, after some research we went for one that had the most direct route and avoided certain ports where thefts seemed to be rife. We had to deliver Medwin to Tilbury port 5 days before departure. We took the necessary paperwork, drove in to the relevant part of the dock and then got the measurements and weight checked. The guys at the port told us that vehicles under 3m high go under a different classification though, so this could be another consideration if trying to save money on shipping. Luckily wed been a bit generous with our height (as we added a roof rack), so there were no additional charges. And then we left her.....keys still in the ignition and all by herself in the middle of a massive dock! That was a nervous experience but also exciting as it felt like there was now no turning back. Apart from our deposit, we didnt have to pay the rest of the balance until the ship had left the dock. Again, we had heard that sometimes ships leave late or dont take all the cargo, so having the confirmation from KGL that all was underway was a relief. We paid the balance a week later and knew that we could definitely leave the country then. As we left within a few days, there was no time to get our copy of the Bill of Lading (BL) so KGL said they would telex it to Montevideo for us. Unfortunately, it turned out that Montevideo port dont accept telex BL so we had to go through the Uruguayan shipping company that dealt with our ship (KMA) to get it. So, 26 days after Medwin left England we went to the shipping agent (KMA) and so began the process..... * Go to the shipping agents offices to clarify their fee & what day the vehicle is ready for collection. Also, ask them to tell you the location and depositor where the vehicle is stored & what the vehicle stock number is, as youll need this for aduanas (customs) in the port. The sooner you can get this info the better. We were only given the depositor company name and phone number so had to find out the stock number ourselves. It took almost 2 hours of constant ringing and aduanas getting hold of someone elses mobile number to get through to them to find out the stock number so this caused quite a delay. * We paid US$580, another couple managed to pay US$350. This price was just for driving the vehicle from the ship to the storage area, storage for 5 days (although its free for 5 days & each additional day is then charged extra - never did get to the bottom of that!) and providing our BL (bill of lading) for the bargain price of US$67! * For aduanas, you will need a paper from the immigration office. If you have time to do this before it will save you a bit of extra effort on the day you collect the vehicle. The office is on Missiones. We were taken there by the most helpful Señor Kessler (the same guy who Id had email contact with before leaving the UK!) He works for aduanas, and while he could have charged us a fee to do all of the below for us, he instead talked and walked us through the whole process so we could do it ourselves with no additional cost. As such, we cant tell you specifically what to do, but the bit of paper you need is: Certificado de llegada. You take a ticket & head for the desks on the far left as youre looking when you go in. Hand over your passport to confirm the date you arrived in Uruguay, they will fill in a form and take your passport. You then need to wait in the middle of the building for your name to be called out. When it is, go to the desk and they will return your passport, give you the document and charge you U$153 (just under £4 at time of writing). * Go back to the shipping agents office on the big day with your money (they only accepted US$, no card payments), passport and vehicle documents. Get your BL - not sure whether they do anything with it if you already have it. * Take the BL to the sub agent who will stamp it. This is usually in a different part of town as its a different company. Ours was about 10 minutes walk from the shipping agents office. * Proceed to the port. This is the process when you get to the port: 1. Go to large aduanas building by port entrance - you need side entrance, up the stairs then through door on right (room 4). If youre lucky when youre reading this, then Miguel will be working - he speaks great English & is very helpful. Otherwise, try showing them the BL or say necessito admission temporaria para vehiculo turista. (This is actually a handy phrase to have, as Ive used it at every other border crossing so far!) 2. Fill in form: Ingreso Vehiculo Turista - name, passport no, address & phone no (we just used apartment where we were staying), name of port, name of depositor where the vehicle is located and stock number, nationality and place youre leaving Uruguay from (it doesnt seem to matter too much if this ends up being where you actually leave from or not), then sign. 3. Hand over completed form with copy of vehicle document, passport, driving licence and Certificado de Llegada. 4. The forms will be processed and then given to someone else to check. They say this takes 10 minutes...expect it to take between 40-60! 5. Get your documents back, along with a printed sheet with your magic number on! 6. Take all this across the road to the ANP building. Go to the far office on the right (ground floor) and hand over your print out from aduanas. You will be asked the vehicle value in US$ - this is what they use to calculate the port charge so we were advised to say a low figure. We said US$2500 and were charged US$57 (again payable in cash only). Other overlanders said US$8000, then reduced it to US$4000, but were still charged about US$300. The person in the office will write the amount on your print out, which you then take outside and to the left to a window where you pay. 7. Back to aduanas - this time past the first building you went to and into the main port entrance to Salon de Pasajeros. Go into main building, then to a tucked away little door in far right corner - ring the bell. The people we saw spoke no English, but if you show them your paper work they will disappear for a while before coming back to tell you where your depositor office is based in the port and that after youve collected your vehicle you need to return to them. 8. Back to the first aduanas building - this time to room 6 (which is along the corridor from the place you started). They are supposed to issue you with a number that you give to the depositor. When we went there they said there was no need as the number had been written on by ANP. From our experience of to-ing & fro-ing, Id say its worth double checking with them before you go to the depositor as theyre so close to where you are in the port at this point. 9. Go to depositor - if youre on foot, and depending on who your depositor is, it may be worth getting a taxi to take you as the port is huge. Show them your papers with the magic number and in theory they should give you your keys, along with a document for you to take back to Salon de Pasajeros aduanas to say you can exit. When we got to this stage there was a storm raging and a power cut. Thankfully one of the guys who worked on the gate understood our plea of having no-where to sleep that night apart from the van (by now it was already heading towards the end of the day). He walked us to the depositors office so we could begin this part of the process. He also let us park the hire car inside the gate with the boys inside as children are not allowed in that part of the port. We were told we needed another document which in the end we didnt but thats a whole other story. If this ends up being your experience then our advice is to disappear for a while and say that someone else (whoever they suggest you see) has told you that you dont need it and just persevere! 10. Drive your beloved vehicle back to Salon de Pasejeros, park up and go back to the aduanas inside. Take all the documents youve used so far along with the originals. We were told they would come out to verify the vehicle - they didnt (possibly due to the storm and me going in looking like a drowned rat), but be prepared for this to happen. They filled in the Salida Temporaria de Vehiculos with personal & vehicle details - this is granted free of charge & is valid for a year. Again they asked value of the vehicle (and although they raised an eyebrow when I repeated the figure I just said it was old!) and which town we would be leaving Uruguay from. 11. Take your final, and now most important document with you, and drive straight out of the port - happy travels :) We started this process at 10.30am and left the port at 6.30pm. Some things helped - having got the Certificado de Llegada before hand, having a hire car to drive to the depositor, finding really helpful port workers who went out of their way to help us. Some things hindered - not being able to get the stock no held us up about 2 hours, the opening ceremony of the World Cup being shown while we were in aduanas meaning the whole place ground to a halt, the mother of all storms leading to a power cut in the port. The most important thing is to persevere, not expect anything to be straightforward or quick, and just keep focused on getting your vehicle! A word on insurance..... Wed been told and read different things about insurance in South America, so decided to at least get a quote as we were most likely to need it getting into Argentina. After much roaming around from place to place, we suggest the best option if youre going to get it, is to get Simple insurance which covers you for all Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay & Chile). The only place we could find that did this was Mapfre. I think theyve got a few offices around Montevideo but we went to their main building on Juncal (on the corner with the Plaza). With the aid of google translate we managed to get what we needed, valid for 1 year, for US$166. We completed the forms in about an hour one afternoon, then went back the following morning to pick up our documents. We were given these, then sent to Abitab along the square to pay the bill. We got the SOA sticker for the windscreen that covers Uruguay & the green card that is valid in the other Mercosur countries. A handy bit of lingo we picked up here is that a motorhome is called a Casa Rodante in Spanish!
Posted on: Mon, 28 Jul 2014 18:59:04 +0000
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