Shipping a
personal vehicle to Africa is not for the faint of heart. We were warned not to
even think about shipping our car to East Africa. The reasons included risk of the ship being
hi-jacked by Somali pirates and all the corruption at the ports. Well, I knew that if the Somalis managed to
get hold of Zain’s car, that he would go directly to Mogadishu and simply get
it back from the pirates or whomever they might have sold it!
Turns out there was a significant backlog of
shipments from Oman to East Africa. Our car, which
was in a shipping container by itself for obvious protection against bumps,
scrapes and temptation for thieves of any description or orientation, left
Toronto mid-February on a train to Montreal where it was shipped possibly to
Antwerp. From there, it arrived in Salalha,
Oman where it sat in a backlog to East Africa.
I recommend
installing a GPS to track the exact global position of the vehicle (we didn’t)
because no one else will be able to tell you where your car is at any given
time. I recall that the ship finally
arrived in Dar Es Salam April 10. It
seems that it took nine days for it to be unloaded because our car didn’t start
getting cleared by customs until about April 20. Part of the problem was that the Bill of
Lading said “cargo” which the port people thought meant the whole
container. Therefore, the “cargo” got
piled with all the other containers rather than being unloaded as
intended. The shipping agent back home should
have identified the “container contents” to be unloaded in Dar Es Salam.
The
Clearing Agent in Dar Es Salam, whom we had to pay another sum of USD in
advance, finally got the container moved and unloaded. The bonded driver started out with the car on
Friday, May 2. However, the Clearing
agent failed to give the bonded driver our original Purchase Invoice from
Canada to prove at the Rwanda border that we didn’t steal the car before
heading out to Africa.
That’s when
the driver called Zain at 8:30 Sunday a.m. in a panic asking in some kind of
broken English for the Purchase Invoice.
Obviously, the Clearing Agent at the port cleverly gives out only the
owner’s cell number to drivers for after hour emergencies. Zain managed to call the General Manager of
the company in Dubai because Sunday was a work day in the UAE. He told Zain that all the documents would be
with the agent in Dar Es Salam but we’d have to wait until Monday a.m. In the meantime, the driver called back to
say he was leaving the car and going back home to Dar Es Salam. Zain was quite irate at this point because,
if a man ever loved a car, Zain loves his 2002 Mercedes C320. Picture it parked by the side of the road at
a remote border crossing in the jungle.
In very
simple English, Zain ordered the driver to stay put and get a hotel room. By now, Zain had called the second Clearing
Agent in Kigali who rose to the occasion.
Through all of this, the driver had not been given enough money for gas
and Zain had to give the Clearing Agent in Kigali money for about another half
tank of gas. The Clearing Agent in
Kigali proceeded to the border crossing to resolve the issues which included
taking a copy of the Purchase Invoice which had been sent to us by email from
Dar Es Salam. It turned out that the
original Purchase Invoice was sitting in a completely different Clearing Agent’s
office in Kigali. When we changed
Clearing Agent way back when to save a few hundred dollars, the original
Clearing Agent was supposed to courier all the documents to the Clearing Agent
in Dar Es Salam. They didn’t.
Once the
car was in Kigali, the next challenge was to make sense of the Customs Clearing
charges particularly when we were told that “that’s the way it is”. Fortunately, Zain found a professional firm
that would take care of everything including a proper invoice, American style,
for a good sum less than the “that’s the way it is” scheme. Even still, the Clearing Agent in Kigali said
they needed proof that the shipper in Canada had been paid. It seems that they didn’t understand the
original wire receipt from our bank showing the details. Finally, after going directly to Customs with
the issue, the well informed Customs people told Zain that it was quite enough
proof. At least because we have a two-year Residence Permit, there was no
Customs duty on the car nor the pots and pans, books, and boots that we had
packed as personal items.
It’s May 6 and Zain is proudly driving us
around in his lovely car. “Izzy” which
is Zain’s short version of Ezekial, the name of our grounds person, also
proudly washes it by hand early every morning. We pick
up a lot of red clay due to road construction near our house. We have an International Traveller licence
plate, third party local insurance and international auto insurance which I
purchased before leaving Canada.
Insurance for the car here is almost half of what it would be at home. We still need to get a certificate from the Motor Vehicle Licence place which probably involves a quick check to ensure that the car is roadworthy. All is good that ends well.
Zain driving out through gate of our new house in the freshly washed car.
"Izzy" watching with pride!
Hi!…..Cool Idea…..Brilliant Stuff.
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We are a family of five, living close to Montreal and about to move to Kigali for at leat a year, probably 2. We are told it would be better to send a car from Montreal than to buy one there. We could also send some personal effects at the same time. Would you have a compagny to recommend? Up to now, I only found companies that will bring the car to Dar el Salam, and they cannot provide help with the transport from there to Kigali. Your experience with this process is very valuable. You blog is very helpful! Thanks for sharing your experience.
ReplyDeleteChoosing the wrong shipping service can really make your life difficult. These are some great points you bring up. Being without a car can be a real tough situation. Reliability is key!
ReplyDeleteAuto Transport
Thank you for this information. It is really very useful while hauling a car with trailer. The different hauling trailer and its properties need to be considered to avoid the accidents and to protect your investment. Recently my neighbor had shipped his car from California and he had hired an auto transport company https://www.allstatetostateautotransport.com/
ReplyDeleteto transport his car. One can go to the transportation company for safe and secure transportation.