Shipping Across the Darien Gap Panama to Colombia

The biggest challenge for many travellers is their first shipping experience across the Darien Gap, shipping to and from Panama to Colombia. You can be assured with us, the process will be stress free, simple and plain sailing.

You have several different options for getting your car, 4x4, Motorcycle, truck or motorhome across the Darien Gap:

• RORO Shipping (All Vehicle Types)
• Container Shipping (Limited to 2.597m door opening for a 40ft HC Container)
• Flat Rack
• Private Sail Boat (Motorcycles only)

 

Shipping Routes Panama to Colombia

The main shipping route is between ports on the Caribbean side of Panama to Cartagena Colombia, some ships also call at Santa Marta & Barranquilla.

RORO Shipping from Panama to Colombia

RORO is the best and cheapest option for oversized vehicles that cannot fit into a container. The alternative is to go flat rack. For smaller vehicles the cost of RORO and sharing a container is comparable.

RORO shipping is less complicated than Container shipping as there is no requirement to stuff and truck the container to and from the port.

RORO Security

However, RORO does pose a greater security risk, as employees of the shipping line will have access to your vehicle. Most travellers nowadays ensure that their vehicle is secured in such a way that the rear portion is not accessible in any way, many do this by creating an internal barrier and ensuring any doors cannot be opened.

Carriers, Routes and Costs

There are several RORO carriers that go from Panama to Cartagena and Santa Marta in Colombia. The prices between each of these carriers can fluctuate quite significantly in addition to the transit time.

Transit times can be anywhere from a single day (fast ship) to 14 days (Slow Ship via the USA), depending on the carrier.

Other options

You can also ship to and from Cartagena, Colombia via Veracruz Mexico & Galveston Tx, Brunswick, Port Everglades and other East Cost ports in USA. Please see our shipping from USA to Colombia page.

RORO Schedules Manzanillo to Cartagena and Santa Marta Colombia

Schedules Panama to Colombia 

**Fast Ships**
Dep       Arr
18/08    19/08
22/08    23/08
22/10    23/10

Schedules available 2-3 months in advance

**Slow Ship**
Dep         Arr
03/08      17/08
19/08      03/09
06/09      19/09
19/09      01/10
07/10      19/10
Schedules available 1 month in advance
*Note Slow ship can call at either Cartagena or Santa Marta depending  on whether there is other cargo to pickup.

Schedules Colombia to Panama

**Carrier 1**
Dep        Arr
21/07 22/07
23/07 24/07
30/07 31/07
11/08 12/08
21/08 22/08
04/09 05/09
09/09 10/09
03/10 04/10

**Carrier 2** 
Dep        Arr
01/08    02/08
17/08    18/08
03/09    04/09
19/09    20/09
01/10    02/10
19/10    20/10

*Schedules last updated on 18/07/2018

RORO Shipping rates Manzanillo Panama to Cartagena / Santa Marta Colombia 

 

Size Vehicle	Rate	BL	THC Pan	THC Col
Slow Vessel Rates
Sedan	0		0	0
4x4 or small van – To 25cbm	0		0	0
Large Van or Motorhome To 60cbm	0		0	0
Large Vehicle 60 + (then $ cbm)	00		0	0
Fast vessel Rates
Motorbikes	0		0
Small Cars	0		0
Everything  Else	cbm		0

*Minimum Freight / BL charge of 0 
*Motorhomes with Gas IMO Cert 0    
*Rates do not include port fees, BAF, LSL,or Booking & Doc Fees, or an agent for customs clearance.

As an estimate including all charges you should expect to pay the following, :

Motorbike	$   800-] ,000
Sedan / Car:	$   950-] ,200
SUV/ 4x4:	] ,200-] ,350
Motorhome:	] ,300- [,100
Truck / L Motorhome:	] ,500- [,900

The cost will vary by route and vehicle.  *Units that have any type of gas on board may be charged USD150.00 for an IMO Certificate – Some carriers will not allow any gas at all. All RORO shippers state that they do not accept responsibility for any loss or damage to personal effects or spare parts.

Read more about our Roll on Roll off service (RORO) or request a shipping quote.

Motorbikes

Motorbikes do not need to be crated on this route, however a minimum BL fee applies which means for a single bike you are looking at close to 00 inc port fees etc.

RORO Shipping rates from Cartagena Colombia to Manzanillo Panama

Size Vehicle	Rate	BL	THC Pan	THC Col
Carrier 1
Sadan	450		0	0
Other Vehicles	.5 per cbm		0	0
Carrier 2
Motorbikes	0		0
Small Cars	0		0
Everything  Else	cbm		0

*Minimum Freight / BL charge of 0
*Motorhomes with Gas IMO Cert 0
*Rates do not include port fees, BAF, LSL,or Booking & Doc Fees, or an agent for customs clearance.

As an estimate including all charges you should expect to pay the following, :

Motorbike	$   800-] ,000
Sedan / Car:	$   950-] ,200
SUV/ 4x4:	] ,200-] ,350
Motorhome:	] ,300- [,100
Truck / L Motorhome:	] ,500- [,900

*Units that have any type of gas on board may be charged USD 150.00 for an IMO Certificate – Some carriers will not allow any gas at all. All RORO shippers state that they do not accept responsibility for any loss or damage to personal effects or spare parts.

The cost will vary by route, vehicle and whether you use an agent or not.

Read more about our Roll on Roll off service (RORO) or request a shipping quote.

Container Shipping from Panama to Colombia

Container shipping from Panama to Colombia is the most secure method, provided you are present during the loading, sealing and unloading of the container.  We (where possible) use loading warehouses where our customers can be present at these critical times.

Recently Manzanillo International Terminal (MIT) has introduced new processes to improve the efficiency of the port, one of the changes introduced is to allow containers to be loaded in the port, by the port staff.  This means that for many carriers there is no need to load the vehicles outside the port and then to truck them in.

One of the consequences of this is that you may not always be present during loading as the vehicles are dropped off at the „valet parking“ to be loaded (note a port fee of around is required on drop off) in to the container later in the day or next day. Unfortunately, this reduces the security benefits over shipping RORO.

You have the option to ship in 20ft containers or 40ft High Cube (HC) containers. In a 20ft container you would normally only be able to fit one vehicle, 40ft HC you can fit 2 vehicles, or one vehicle and a number of motorbikes.

The cost of a single container for one vehicle surpasses the costs of RORO shipping, however if sharing a container, the costs become comparable.

Container Shipping prices Manzanillo Panama to Cartagena Colombia

Container Size	Dimensions	Price
20ft	Door Height 2.27m, Door Width 2.34, Internal Length 5.898m	00 –  00
40ft HC	Door Height 2.58m, Door Width 2.34, Internal Length 12.031m	00 – 00
40ft Flat	Internal Length 12.064m,	50 – 00

*The costs above include all port fees and taxes. A proportion of the fees are payable locally and can range from 0 – 0.

The prices are dependent on the carrier, the number of vehicles, and the port fees charged.

Other Resources

If you are planning to travel independently in South America this Facebook Group is a valuable resource for information, road conditions, border crossings and much more Overlanding South & Central America.