Customs at Karachi Port – A 5 Day Process!

Although it’s created a new chapter in the Sergio drama, I’m glad we found out just how difficult it is to send anything out of the Karachi Port in Pakistan. Similar to picking something up at the Lahore airport and getting customs clearance, in Karachi you also need to hire an agent to guide your belongings through customs. For a large container, the process takes about 5 working days. Depending on your trust in the agent, you may or may not need to be present during this tedious process. To load Sergio’s 1980 Fiat Van onto the boat, hire an agent, and pay customs duties, it is estimated to be about 90,000 rupees (900 euros, $1,136). Since Sergio was due to fly back to Italy on Thursday, now he needs to change his flight date and hang out in Karachi until the van is through customs and securely loaded on the boat. Talk about a nightmare!

When the Fiat van broke down in the first place, we encouraged him to fly back to Italy and buy a new vehicle. So far, shipping the Fiat to India, repairing it with Toyota Landcruiser parts, getting it sent to Karachi, and the process in the port have cost about twice the value of the van! Lesson learned here? If a car is worth so much to you, and you depend on it for your livelihood, don’t ship it all over the world! Visas, customs and shipping in developing countries are processes best avoided if you want to remain sane.

Guest Free

Well after 24 days, our house is guest free! Sergio has made his way south to Karachi, with the help of our landlord’s son, to put his van on a boat and send it back to Italy. With the worsening security situation in Balochistan and the fact that the visa for Iran may or may not ever be granted, he realized the best thing was to get back to Italy as soon as possible and give up on his crazy solo overland journey. His van was loaded on a Bedford truck (an all night affair just to get it loaded) and shipped down to Karachi from Lahore. To ship the van, it costa bout 46,000 rupees ($581). Now, we are praying that Sergio’s van gets through the port and clears customs. Not until that van is somewhere in the open sea and Sergio is on a plane to Italy will be really be able to relax! Anything could happen dealing with the bureaucracy at the port.

After three weeks of not sleeping properly due to this drama, we’re ready for a break. It seems we’ve been running on empty since before I went to Bangkok. May there be a miracle at the port so that van can get sea borne, Sergio can get air borne, and we can all rest in peace!

Guess What This Boy Was Doing…

Any guesses why a pink-shirted boy with an electric rotary saw was doing at our house? It certainly wasn’t a fashion shoot, although you might wonder with the choice of clothing and shades.

Well, first he plugged the saw into the socket in the typical Pakistani fashion as shown above. You must picture that this extension cord is sitting on wet ground that he maid has just hosed down. Then he proceeded to cut the giant metal tool box off of Sergio, the stranded Italian’s, camper van so that the van could be loaded into a Bedford carrier truck. Sergio’s van broken down three weeks ago on the way over the border from Attari to Lahore, and he’s been stuck since trying to figure out how to get back. The truck was fixed, but when he started to really think about driving from Quetta to Iran and talking to the local authorities about it he realized it would be akin to a suicide wish. Balochi separatists and Tabelban back from Afghanistan are ruling the roads these days, and just two days ago an American UN worker was kidnapped in Quetta. A very white Italian man in a camper van coming down the road is like saying, “Here I am! Kidnap me for some ransom!” It’s much safer to go by public transport in Balochistan these days than by private transport where you’re alone and more vulnerable. Anyway, there goes the tool box. Now, they’re trying to load his van on a Bedford carrier that will drive it to the port in Karachi. Bedfords are slow moving, so it will take about three days to reach there.