SHIPPING THE CAR

On November 21st I reversed Hilux, filled with travel gear, into 20 feet seacontainer, which should reach Zarate- a port in Argentina not far from Buenos Aires, within 6 weeks. Prior to loading, we were fighting for weeks with carrier concerning different details of the shipment. We were explained that the undertaking is enormously expensive and were threatened with  severity of Argentina Customs. By the end everything went well on Estonian side and we sincerely hope that the shipment will reach South America according to schedule and in good shape.

Few remarks from our experiences, which could be of an assistance, if anyone would be interested to ship a car across the Ocean: 

- start with sending inquiries to ocean shipping lines directly (MSC, Maersk, P&O etc.), you can always turn to general transportation companies, which resell services of ocean shipping lines (eg. Schenker, Kühne&Nagel, DHL, DSV) if direct inquires do not give a satisfactory results.

- take into account additional costs involved (preparation and securing of the car, custom formalities etc.), these will add remarkable amount to actual forwarding and container handling cost .

- in port of destination you must find a reliable organisation, which will act in the quality of receiver of the shipment. You cannot send the shipment on your own name. The cost of  services at port of destination can vary vastly- take several offers.  In our case,  the total expense in Argentina  (including services of custom agent) are on  the same level, as we paid for Ocean freight.

- it's reasonable to insure the cargo - ask offers from several insurers, as premiums at same coverage can vary vastly.