Shipping a vehicle from Niamey to Europe
Shipping from Niamey, Niger to Europe
Following an unpredictable problem which developed soon after entering Niger from Algeria in December 2000, I found myself having to ship my vehicle from landlocked Niger. The vehicle was shipped from Niamey, via Cotonou in Benin, to Le Havre in France. Some of the details relating to this shipment, which may be useful to others, are written down here.
In Niamey, Niger
The process began with us looking for a shipping agent in Niamey. The Yellow Pages advertised about 5 International Shipping Companies. Being all out of time and just as short of French, we dealt with AGS who advertised in English and had at least one staff member who spoke our language.
AGS have an office in Niamey on the main road to the airport, some 8km from the terminal building on the left hand side when driving between the airport and town (contact Francis Leclet, Route de l'Aeroport, B.P. 13612 Niamey, Niger, Tel 227 74 28 80, fax 227 74 19 40). AGS also have offices in Benin (tel 229 33 55 54, fax 229 33 55 07), Burkina Faso (tel 226 36 16 79, fax 226 36 18 25), Cote D'Ivoire (tel 225 21 25 73 73, fax 225 21 25 75 75), London, Paris etc. The company provided us with a reasonable initial quotation (1600 quid) and we agreed to return in a couple of days to pack the vehicle and seal it in the container. Most of the business was done through the manager Francis Leclet. Once we were committed to flights back to Europe, we returned to stash the vehicle, seal the container and sort out the paper work. It's a good idea to bring some good quality padlocks if you are planning on shipping. With the container secure, we attended to paying the bill. To our surprise AGS accepted a cheque in Sterling from a UK branch of Barclays. Unfortunately the price ramped by a good 30% once the commitment to AGS had been made and it was clear we had no time for alternatives. If we were to repeat the process, we would be sure to insist on a hard quotation on AGS letterheads. As it was we had no way out with 15 minutes till the end of our last business day in Niger. It seems Niger-like business standards pervade even the international companies.
We left Niamey with a receipt of payment in hand. The original Bill of Lading (the passport for release of the container at the destination) had to follow once the container was at the coast. This eventually transpired via DHL. From what we can work out, the container sat in the AGS yard in Niamey for a month before being transferred on the back of a truck to AGS in Benin. It was then loaded onto the ship 'Theresa Delmas' which was doing the milk run along the west coast.
Clearing the Vehicle in France
The shipping company which AGS used for the Cotonou to Le Havre leg is the Le Havre based Delmas. With the port of destination listed as Le Havre on the Original Bill of Lading, which had been sent by AGS Benin to us in the UK, we were free to deal directly with Delmas in Le Havre. This cut down some of the costs as the only quotation we had from an independent clearing agent in Le Havre (the AGS recommended Transcap) ran to over 400 quid. Incidentally AGS in Paris failed to reply to 6 French written faxes (maybe the internet translation package was abusing them in foul French) and as many emails. The communication with AGS Paris was made while I was trying to work out how to clear the vehicle through the French port. No less than 140 quid of the shipping cost from AGS in Niger had been in payment to AGS Paris for clearance - or so the quotation said!
In the end Delmas in Le Havre could not have been more helpful. I dealt directly with their staff via telephone and fax (fax 33 232 74 10 15). They were super efficient and clear in every dealing. In order to clear the vehicle in France I needed proof of insurance (green card), carte grise, 1040 French Francs in cash for terminal handling (this covers the costs of unloading the ship and so on), my passport, and the original Bill of Lading.
At a ten minute walk from the P&O ferry terminal buildings in Le Havre, the main Delmas office is conveniently the very first building you come to when heading straight into town. I was met at the Delmas offices by the staff member who had been dealing with the paper work. There I paid the fees and handed over the ORIGINAL Bill of Lading (no other copy will do). A 'Bon a delivrer' certicate was issued indicating that Delmas where happy for me to clear the vehicle and from there I walked over to the main customs building (only 400 yards away). From what I could gather Delmas had made sure customs would clear the vehicle without any hassles. Once at customs an official inspected the 'Bon a delivrer' certificate and photocopied my cart grise and passport. She checked to see that the carte grise was in my name and asked how long I intended to use the vehicle in France. I showed them my return ferry ticket to the UK for later that day. This seemed to bring an end to their questions. Customs stamped the 'Bon a delivrer' certificate and I was then free to proceed to Hangar 120 in Bougainville docks. Delmas even kindly phoned for a taxi and looked after my bags while I was at the customs building. The taxi charged 100 FF for the 16 km trip. In all, the clearance through Delmas and Customs took about 1.5 hours. This contrasted with the last time I cleared a vehicle through customs - in Felixstowe where customs took three long days and inspected the vehicle twice.
Once in Hangar 120, I presented the 'Bon a delivrer' form in the site office and was taken to the still sealed container which had been placed in a neat row with all the other containers outside. An axeman with a huge pair of bolt cutters and a skinny paper pushing official with clipboard came along. The container doors were facing a wall, so the clipboard official radioed for help. Within minutes an 8 wheeled frame, rather like some HG Wells inspired supermarket trolley from Gulliver's Travels (complete with an operator in a pod 4 storeys up), scooped up the container, spun it round, and banged it down on the tarmac. The boltcutter wielding axeman destroyed all vestiges of seals and locks, revealing the dusty veteran of our Tenere crossing slumbering in the still humid tropical air of the container. Within a few more minutes the tie downs and wooden wedges were bludgeoned by the versatile bolt cutters, the Landrover fired up, and I was heading out of the docks in the freezing midlatitude rain. It amused me that all the customs paper work had been concluded without anyone ever looking inside the container.
Delmas Schedule from West Africa
In the case of the December 2000 trip which left us in Niamey, Niger, it would have been a major advantage for us to have driven the extra day to the port of Cotonou in Benin rather than to have shipped from landlocked Niger. This would have saved at least a month on the shipment (which took from 29 December to mid March) and about 1500, quid not to mention all the pissing about with AGS in Paris and Niamey. Since Delmas were so helpful in clearing the vehicle in France, I have looked into dealing with them directly. The London office kindly provided the following details.
The most recently available Delmas schedule from West Africa (issued in April 2001) covers the months of April, May and part of June. During those months Delmas are operating 17 ships from West Africa to European ports. Of these, 8 are roll on roll off ships, while the remainder are containers or containers and freight (check). Container vessels leave Cotonou in Benin on the following dates in the indicative schedule: 19, 27 April, 2, 10, 16 May (i.e. roughly once a week). All those vessels call at Apapa (Togo?), Tema (Ghana), Abidjan (Cote D'voire) and Dakar (Senegal) in West Africa. They all dock at Le Havre, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Felixtowe, taking about 22 days from Cotonou to Le Havre and another 5 days to Felixtowe.
Cotonou has been chosen as the example here because Benin is a stable country in West Africa, conveniently located for a quick exit from Niger. Agadez, on the fringe of the Sahara, is just a day from Niamey, Niger and Niamey a day from Cotonou in Benin. Sailings to Europe from Abidjan are twice as frequent, but Abidjan has had a rough year politically and isn't as convenient with respect to the central Sahara north-south crossing via Tam in Algeria.
The price quoted by Delmas for a 20 foot container from Benin to Felixtowe is about 25% of the AGS cost from Niamey to Le Havre. These sort of costs at least begin to balance against the costs of petrol, ferries and wear and tear, not to mention the boredom, of the long drive north at the end of a Sahara trip.
Richard Washington
April 2001
Travellers reports from the Sahara