Panama Colombia Crossing - Ferry Express

The Ferry Express is located at (N08 58.491’W79 31.0830) http://www.ferryxpress.com/

I was wondering that if the ferry leaves at 7 pm – why ask me to get to Colon at 8 am? Well, I got to Colon at 8 am and found out

First it was a relief to see the ferry – even after I had been to their office and got my tickets I did not really believe there would be a ferry?

Big one at that capacity is 1000 plus passengers and 500 vehicles/100 ship containers – this time around they had a nice small number of 13 Cars/trucks and 4 motorcycles and it took the incompetent wankers 12 plus hours to process them!

Talk about multiple layers of redundancy – different people from different offices all doing the same thing – over and over again – copies after copies (at 50 cents a copy) – the mother of all border crossing a red tape nightmare!

A mind numbing exhausting process

Don't go with the list of required documents that the Ferry Express office/website gives you – it’s meant for locals

The only document you need to start the Aduana process is a clearance from  PTJ that largely clears you and your vehicle of any wrong doing in Panama and everywhere else (apparently they also ping Interpol)

First, go to the PTJ (Policia Tecnica Judicial - N 08°57.951' W 079°32.674) office to get your vehicle inspected - the whole process will take a day – give or take a couple of hours – get the inspection done in the morning and the clearance document in the afternoon and wear trousers! I was not allowed to enter as I had shorts on

Once you have the clearance – pre Aduana (customs) work is done – you will also need the clearance to get your ferry tickets

Get to Colon Cruise terminal (N09 21.597”W079 53.610) around 10 am as that’s when the officials show up – first someone from Ferry Express will log in all your/vehicle information to send to the Colombian authorities and also for the Bill of Lading (which will cost you 25 US to pick up once you get to Colombia) you need the Bill of Lading for the Colombian authorities but you only get it right at the end of the process and no one asked me for it!?

Get a lot of copies of your passport, vehicle registration, PTJ clearance and Panama vehicle insurance – LOTS OF COPIES!

Once the ferry person is done with you – the Aduana process starts or tries to start! There is a lot of spinning of wheels – the actual process takes 20 odd minutes but getting there takes forever! Once Aduana is done then vehicle inspections start and never end!

Humans (or a version anyway) sniffer dogs, humans again, sniffer dogs, humans again, sniffer dogs again!

In the end the sniffer dog gave up and refused to move! Told his handler (in dog speak) to bugger off - I am done with sniffing BS!

But the port authorities guys refused to give up – they now wanted us to offload all our luggage and get it x-rayed!!!??

This was the last straw we refused to unload anything – the only thing we were willing to do at this point was to board the ferry and we did at 8:30 pm

Good things to say about the ferry – clean, good food, cold beer but expensive. No one had any complaints about the ferry

Insurance scam!!! A so called insurance agent will try and sell you vehicle insurance on board and tell you that you have to buy it or cannot enter Colombia – bullshit!

The insurance on board costs 75 US – you can get the same insurance on the Colombian side for 25 odd dollars

The process on the Colombian side is long drawn but not as painful as Panama – first immigration followed by Aduana – then you get your insurance decal and Bill of lading and you are done – all that paper work and no even checked it as I was leaving!?

Great shot of the....

Cartagena skyline while I wait!