Colombia Import Help Appreciated
 

G’day,

I am shipping my KLR into Colombia in a few weeks and would appreciate any advice than someone has. Few questions -

- What would a standard customs broking rate be?

- Do you need a customs broker?

- What are the requirements and necessary paper work to get the bike out of customs by yourself?

Thanks,
Simon

By "shipping," you could mean by small boat, by shipping container, or by air. I have limited experience only with the latter, and can report that fees were so minor that I can't remember them, and that I completed the process in a couple of hours on my own (using my very minimal Spanish skills and a lot of smiling and waving of arms around). I didn't even have to buy insurance, which some people have reported was necessary.

Small boats used to ship bikes into Cartagena, but the usual recourse (The Stahlratte) seems to have switched to Turbo due to some sort of change of heart by aduana officials.

That's all I've got. Hope it's helpful.

Mark

Bump - I will be doing this same thing in Oct-Nov. and would like to keep in touch to see which is the most cost effective option you found. Stahlratte is a little expensive at $1200, I have heard that you can find a small boat to do it for less than half of that.

Never heard about a boat doing it for "less than half". But if you find one please make sure that they can bring your bike legally into Colombia. Most boats trying that don't care much about that part and cause a lot of trouble with customs. Not only for the travelers but also for the other boats who try to do it legally...

Cheapest option is container share as far as I know (500-600$ if everything works out perfectly and you don't have to spend too much time waiting for your bike in Cartagena). But you miss out on the adventure of the sailing trip and you have to take care of all the paperwork yourself which is usually included in the boat trips...

Perfect, thanks mate. I really appreciate it and will keep you updated Bucephalus. Do you have any customs advice you’d want to share mark?

I've shared what I've got (and believe would be useful to you or anyone else) in my post above. I don't remember much detail anyway--it would have stuck in my mind if I'd found it in any way onerous. I entered and departed countries 40 or 50 times on that trip--most countries more than once--and it became pretty routine.

For example, I remember what a pain in the butt it was to return to Panama on my way home after spending most of the year in South America, and how glad I was to have spent the extra time officially canceling my TIP on the way south. When people ask, I suggest tending to this detail despite all the folks who'll tell you not to bother. But entering Colombia, which I did twice? Nothing noteworthy, nothing to prepare for or worry about....in my case.

Part of the deal in overland "Adventure" [sic] travel is that you don't always know what's in store, and sometimes things work out better or worse than you expect. Even if I could tell you in great, elaborate detail how things are supposed to work, your experience would probably differ from mine anyway. Ain't life great?

Hope that's helpful.

Mark