Hi,

I'm Gary from Ireland. I'm an ex biker and now turned to overlanding in a landcruiser.

We are thinking of shipping two Toyota Landcruisers to Dakar, Senegal in October 2014. We will put them in a 40ft high cube container and ship them from Dublin.

We have all the charges worked out here but we have had a problem contacting an agent in Dakar. We eventually did manage to get a reply to one of the many email we sent out and eventually managed to get a quote for clearance etc. in Dakar.

It's astronomical IMO and I am including the contents of the quote below in red.

Are we being ripped off. Is this the usual/normal charge?

1.The total clearing charges will amount to 762 EUROS per vehicle

2.THC :
- if weight of vehicle is between 1501 and 3000 kg : 77.55euros per ton
- if more than 3 tons: 155.1 euros per ton

3.Port taxes:
- 14.8 euros per ton

4.Lifting fees ( relevage ) : 56 euros per Container

5.Other fees (communication fees , notice of arrival): 53.35 euro

To all charges you must add a VAT of 18%

Hi Garfieldus.

I have worked for overland tour companies, and we did ship a truck (16 tonnes) from Dakar to UK via Zebrugge (from memory) back in 2009.

All I can remember was that the total amount, all in, came to around £4,500 GBP.

Sorry to say I can't offer a detailed break down of this I didn't keep notes for this one.

I found a more detailed write up I did on The Hubb from 2010. This was for shipping a 16 ton Mercedes truck from Port Elizabeth, South Africa, to UK. Obviously not the same start point/finish point as what you are after, but gives you an idea of comparative costs for handling fees (see point 4):

Incase anybody planning something similar, here goes:

1. I used Wilhelmsen to ship a truck back from South Africa to UK. Vessel calls at Durban and Port Elizabeth, going to Southampton via Zebrugge. Ship took 2 weeks from loading to arriving in UK. Vessel name TORREADOR.

2. Wilhelmsen are SUPERB. Fantastic communication and very efficient. I do not hesitate to recommend them, they wiped the floor with the competition with regards price and efficiency. They're always back intouch with the answers to your query within hours.

3. For a Mercedes 1617 truck, approx 8 tonnes weight, dimensions 3.4 meters high, 7 meters long, 2.5 meters wide.

They charge 65usdollars per cubic meter, so you times the length by the height by the width, then multiply that figure by 65.

Once you have that figure, you add on 23% of that for a BAF charge (fuel surcharge). This percentage seems to change according to fuel prices, so could go up or down.

4. Local charges at Port Elizabeth were numerous (5 things to pay for in total). Everything from customs scan to bill of loading to customs fees.....total of 6900rand, which was at a 11.46 to the pound exchange rate.

5. Once in Southampton, we had to pay 60 pounds to customs for the bill of landing. We had a carnet de passage but basically the Brits dont care about it (but then why would they?)......so even though we are Brits and the vehicle was British, we still had a 60 pound fee at Southampton.

6. This was on a RO RO ferry (not a flat rack or container, these options were WAY more expensive). Also port fees were slightly more out of Durban so we opted for Port Elizabeth.

7. We didn't actually pay the shipping or BAF charge until back in UK. It can be worth while waiting until the dollar pound exchange rate is in your favour.

All in all Wilhelmsen were brilliant, I can recommend them if you need to ship your vehicle.

Dave The Hat