ferry boat between Egypt and Turkey

[itchyfeet38]

We looked long and hard and made many enquiries on the ground before our journey last November and only came up with Italy/Israel by ship (this was last year pre Mersin/Alex). Grimaldi ships dock at Gemlik and Limassol en route to (but not from) Israel. BUT they don't allow embarkation or disembarkation with a vehicle at either.You dock in Israel at Asdod (or Haifa in theory - in practice they usually sail right past Haifa...). The Med line then also goes on to Alex but again nothing/no-one allowed off the ship there.

Entering Israel you can indeed request they stamp a piece of paper instead of your passport but unfortunately the importation of a vehicle requires a stamp in your passport so you can't travel under the radar, which will potentially give you problems further on ie Sudan.

Israel/Italy was c. 365 euro for a Land Rover and c. 300 euro each for 2 people in a cabin. Cabins, food etc all v. good (free wine and so on). 5 days at sea.

But traveling south for now I think the Mersin/Alex is your only option by ship if you want to travel down the east coast.

[wearthefoxhat]

Sorry to sound naieve but, if we had 2nd passport that Isreal stamp was put in, do you mean that there isn't a ferry we could get off in Isreal and then drive through to Egypt?
Is the only option to get off at Alex and deal with that hassle?

[roro]

Don't forget the CDP (carnet de passage en douane)
It's mandatory for Egypt and Sudan and you can see on it which borders posts you have crossed... And at Sudan's border post they also can watch for this point and see you have entered Egypt from Israel and then don't let you in.
RR.

[itchyfeet38]

Roro is right.

You don't need a carnet for Israel but your port of entry into Egypt will be recorded. Now possibly you can go Israel - Jordan - Egypt and muddy the water but if anyone asks you to demonstrate how you got there you may have a problem. Or you may be able to blag it.

[wearthefoxhat]

Thanks, its not going to be easy either way.
Sounds like it may need more luck than judgement.
We're not expecting to have to leave Europe till next May / June so i'll have to keep monitoring the ferries and the Libya route.
Shame, we'll be in Cyprus with the car next spring anyway and ferry from there would be perfect.
If you hear any updates please let us know.
Scott

[Anneka]

Hi,
We're planning to Travel Bristol - Capetown down the East side at the start of next year.
Need more info about this 'Roro' Ferry from Mersin to Port Said.... Is it possible to book this before we go/ has anyone had any contact with a ferry company that would make this possible!? Not sure we want to just turn up in mersin hoping it will work with Libya or Syria looking like dead ends!
Any comments at all would be grand!
Anneka and Harry

[benmbutler]

We've just been through the process of getting us (2 people) and our Landrover from Iskendrum (Turkey) to Port Said. The Wyndleys in another Landrover & Frank on a bike have done the same. Here's what we did:
(Benandjenadventures.wordpress.com)

Ferry Booking

Currently there is no ferry between Mersin and Egypt. There is a talk of a new ferry starting sometime in Oct/ Nov according to Megamar and Alcor Shipping
Instead the route is from Iskendrum, operated by www.sisashipping.com/ Kadmar Shipping (sisa agents in Turkey, Kadmar agents in Egypt)
The boat is scheduled for Wednesday and Saturday departures, leaving at 12:00 with a 19 hour crossing (actually took us 2 nights which seems normal)
There is an online booking from on Sisa’s website but as we couldn’t read Turkish or see any confirmation of prices so we decided to head for Iskendrum and arrange things face to face
We spoke to Saba at Sisa Shipping before arriving in Iskendrum, she is very helpful and speaks good English, her contact details are saba.ipek@sisashipping.com +90 (216) 444 2954.
We learnt from the Wyndleys that it’s possible to book directly with Sisa via a bank transfer if you contact Saba
If you’d rather do things face to face then Remon Travel in Iskendrum can book tickets they are one road up off the sea front – Savas Mah. Maresal Cakmak CD No 16 Zemin Kat. Tel +90 (326) 614 10 12. If they try and ask you for a further $50 to start the Customs process a day early to ensure you don’t miss the ferry decline their offer of help. We had no issues by sorting it out ourselves on the day of travel
We paid $260 for the 2 of us plus $460 for our Disco (total $720), this was without a cabin as this would have totalled $1200.
Iskendrum Parking

There are a few secure parking sites around, we used one quite close to the port, not far from the police station and it seemed pretty good with fences, gates, cctv and big dogs. 7.5 TL/night
GPS Co-ordinates are N36 35.384 E36 10.742
Iskendrum Port

On the day of travel you need to go the Port Gate B. This is just off the main road as you go into town and is signed as Liman B (you’ll see the road is kind of divided by concrete barriers and the side nearest the sea and railway track is where you need to be)
We got all the car/ customs paperwork sorted by being whizzed from one side of the port to the other. We were not asked to pay anything here.
There’s a lot of waiting around so take some food!
A guy without any uniform or ID arrived mid afternoon to take the passports away in a big box. They were retuned later complete with exit stamps
Ferry crossing

We finally left at 21:25
On getting on the boat everyone had to hand their passports over for Egyptian police
We were also called to the Reception desk mid afternoon on day 2 and asked to pay$83 for the car being taken into Egypt. The guys behind the desk did appear to be Egyptian Port Officials/ Police and also had our passports. They also issued a receipt, this was needed later.
We had to spend a second night on board and then docked at about 06:00 the following morning and got the car off the boat shortly afterwards. We then spent 8 hours on the boat waiting for our passports to be returned complete with entry stamps (everyone on board did the same).
Try and have some food for this last day as no food is served on the boat
We had already got Visas before we travelled so I’m not sure what the process would be if you plan to get them on arrival (Others said it was sorted on the boat)
Total time from Port entrance to Port exit (with the car still in the port) - 2.5days.
Ask for “Customs (Gomrok) garage”, leave vehicle there.
Customs & Carnet – Port Said

Customs is closed on Fridays and Saturdays so you may want to opt for a Saturday sailing to avoid delays in Port Said
We used a fixer guy from the Port called Eslam Elshamaa, his details are – Tel 002 0128 9220 002, email eslam_elshamaa@yahoo.com. I liked him a lot, he knew what he was doing and was nice to deal with, he sorted the following…..
Day 1 AM - The $83 receipt from the boat was used to get documents from Kadmar Shipping to give the shipping number for the car and the whole load.
Day 1 AM – Went to port office to get a pass to re-enter the port
Day 1 PM – Customs office in port organising papers, many papers! (close at 2:30)
Day 2 AM – Customs office again to get paperwork & Carnet sorted
Day 2 PM – Transport office in port to get car license, other office outside port to get number plates. Return to Garage to pay garage fee & ollect vehicle.
For our Landrover Disco total payments were 2800Egyption Pounds (£280 uk) + whatever you agree as payment for the fixer. Get your fixer to break down the cost for you before you start the process.
There aren’t any secure parking facilities in Port Said so we hunted down a hotel for $50 which had parking, it’s on the main road by the beach. Noras Style Beach Hotel (the only white a blue hotel)

[michnus]

Thanks doe the info!

It seems going from Port Said to Turkey is the headache wrt Egyptian officials and paper work

[johnnybarker]

Hi,

We are booked onto the ferry for the 20/10/12. We booked it in Istanbul by popping into their offices and they seemed very organised and professional. It cost us $720 dollars for 2 people and one heavily laden Land Rover 110. The nice lady at Sisa shipping promised me it was 5 stars accommodation too.....

Regards,

Johnny and Lizzie (on our way to Cape Town).

[dstehouwer]

Originally Posted by michnus

Thanks doe the info!

It seems going from Port Said to Turkey is the headache wrt Egyptian officials and paper work

YES! it is absolutely horrible and very costly.
We start day 4 now... and no stamps on the carnets yet!


(also, the ferry is not allowed into port because a fishing boat sank in the port and they are looking for it)

[spiritsxxi]

Go here for some up to date reviews on how to make this journey:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...kenderum-66987

[JimmyW1984]

Thanks to Ben for the write up above, very helpful!

We took the ferry this weekend, and had a bit more of a difficult time in Turkish customs, so thought I would post some more detail (see below).

Also, please note, this ferry is now going to Port Damietta (not sure if this is permanent), about 40 mins away from Said, but obviously all the processes this end are slightly different.

Just going through the fixer process now, will post an update when I'm done...

Iskenderun Customs:

The optional $60 charge by Remon travel to navigate customs is exorbitant, but you need to bear in mind that nearly everyone else just pays it, so there is no system / support for those who don’t

Some notes which should help you navigate:

You need to secure 2 stamps in your passport before you can join the ferry

- The customs stamp (car owner only)
- Visa exit stamp

The process you need to follow after arrival at Liman B (to be safe I would aim to be there by c.9am on the day of departure – even though the ferry is unlikely to depart before dark, it will be easier to get the paperwork done earlier in the day):
- Arrive at gate and park up behind the portacabins
- Take car insurance / ownership docs and passports to customs official (light blue uniform)
- He will review these docs, check over the car, and then will probably get security to escort you to where you will wait for the ferry (these security guards are from a company called Securitas and wear white uniforms)

Once at this car park, expect no more help / direction, you are on your own!

From around 9.30am, you will start to see a medium sized blue bus running people back and forth (it may park behind the waiting room building so keep a keen eye)

Get on this bus with all your documents, it will run back the way you came, past the Liman B entrance, and over to Liman A

There, exit the bus, show the guards your passports and ask for customs / Gumruk

You will then need to walk away from the port for c.5 mins, before taking the first right, follow this around until you see a very tall building with a blue frontage – customs is located on the 9th floor (this is open 9-5, with an hour closure for lunch 12-1 – it’s also outside the port complex, so you could probably have a go the day before)

Show your insurance, ownership docs and passport here to get a customs exit stamp

Return to your car via the same bus

You will then need to get a visa exit stamp from the police – here we showed our passports without a stamp, and were ushered off to the right place, but if that doesn't work, the police are in the furthest office at the back of the block of buildings where the waiting rooms are (about 5 mins walk)

These guys speak a bit of English, and are helpful, but for some reason wear no uniforms

After that, follow the crowd / Ben's directions and you’ll be fine!

[JimmyW1984]

To follow up on the above, re fixers.

The ferry now appears to be going to Damietta, instead of Port Said. I’ve no idea how long this will continue.

We used Eslam, as recommended above, who charged us 3500 EP, and had a few issues with him. We eventually had to wait 4 working days to get our car through customs. To be fair to him Damietta is not his territory, and he doesn’t know anyone, so the work is a lot more difficult (plus the process generally seems to take a lot longer there). However, he was dishonest with us on what he would do and when, a few times, and hard to get hold of when critical deadlines approached.

The main man in Damietta, seems to be a bloke called Yasser. Eslam ended up outsourcing a lot of the work to him. Unfortunately, I lost his business card with number, etc, but he was there when the boat arrived to meet it, just try to have a look for him when you’re waiting to drive to the customs garage (he’ll probably approach you). He speaks excellent English, and I think he’s a good guy (though obviously ultimately it did take him / Eslam 4 days to get the car through). He offered us 2500 EP at the port for his services (a fact we mentioned to Eslam when we got poor service), though he later told us that was a quote for ‘lost cause’ cases at the port who he thinks are already using someone, so you’d have to see what happened in practice.

I would give him a go, if landing in Damietta though.

PS if you get stuck in Damietta for more than one night, move out to a place call Ras El Bar (about 20 mins away – 50 EP in a cab if you negotiate well), it’s a tourist resort for Egyptians, and has a few hotels, and a strip of restaurants (much nicer than Damietta). We stayed at Al Tayatran on 38th and Nile St, which was pretty nice for 200 EP per night, for an apartment which slept up to 4.

[CourtFisher]

Because the current Egypt-Turkey ferry situation is so fluid, and on-the-ground
folks are posting in different sub-forums, it might also be helpful to see this:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...kenderum-67637

[frankie boy]

does anyone have an update on the situation on the ferry from turkey to Egypt is it still opperating