Any recommendations for a shipping company from Morocco to the US?

[chickadee]

Question: Does anyone have recommendations for a shipping company from Morocco to the US?

Hello everyone. My husband and I have been in Morocco since February 10, 2020. The borders here closed in mid-March. We were hoping to enter the EU when the borders opened again and make our way to Antwerp to ship our Sprinter van back to the US as we feel the next year or two of Overlanding travel is going to be heavily impacted by COVID-19. After being locked down in Morocco for months, we really don't want to be locked down again and have decided that it may be best to pause our around the world trip, ship back to the US and try again in a year or two.

Morocco's external borders are still closed without a clear date of re-opening and the EU has excluded the US from entry at the moment. There is a "transit passenger" exception, but who knows what the customs agents will decide if / when we arrive in the EU. We have started looking into shipping back to the US from Morocco and wanted to see if anyone has any recommendations. Our Sprinter van does not fit in a container and would require a flat rack or RORO that allows contents to be in the vehicle. We have a reservation with SeaBridge out of Antwept for a RORO, but doubt we will be able to get to Belgium.

Any thought / recommendations would be appreciated.
Thank you for your time!

-LeeWhay

 

[Christian P.]

Hello!

Sorry to hear that you have to interrupt your travel. Unfortunately you are not the only one in that boat..

Shipping out of Morocco is not a very traditional route so I doubt many people will be able to help here. That said, Tangier is a pretty big port and I am not there is a way to ship out of there.

Good luck!

 

[Arjan]

IF you could come to France you're welcome to leave the van here in a secure place - hopefully even under a roof late next year.

Although you're US passportholders, you're coming in from Morocco and I'm not sure that is impossible..

 

[sg1]

Hello everyone. My husband and I have been in Morocco since February 10, 2020. The borders here closed in mid-March. We were hoping to enter the EU when the borders opened again and make our way to Antwerp to ship our Sprinter van back to the US as we feel the next year or two of Overlanding travel is going to be heavily impacted by COVID-19. After being locked down in Morocco for months, we really don't want to be locked down again and have decided that it may be best to pause our around the world trip, ship back to the US and try again in a year or two.

Morocco's external borders are still closed without a clear date of re-opening and the EU has excluded the US from entry at the moment. There is a "transit passenger" exception, but who knows what the customs agents will decide if / when we arrive in the EU. We have started looking into shipping back to the US from Morocco and wanted to see if anyone has any recommendations. Our Sprinter van does not fit in a container and would require a flat rack or RORO that allows contents to be in the vehicle. We have a reservation with SeaBridge out of Antwept for a RORO, but doubt we will be able to get to Belgium.

Any thought / recommendations would be appreciated.
Thank you for your time!

-LeeWhay

View attachment 596043

I suggest you check with seabridge whether they can arrange anything. The other possibility is Grimaldi Lines. When I shipped from Uruguay to Europe the Grimaldi ship had a stop in Tanger.

 

[chickadee]

IF you could come to France you're welcome to leave the van here in a secure place - hopefully even under a roof late next year.

Although you're US passportholders, you're coming in from Morocco and I'm not sure that is impossible..

Thank you for your offer. We have potential storage options in Spain and Germany, but may just decide to ship back to the US due to state of the world at the moment.

We hope to know more in the next few days...

Maybe Morocco will open it’s borders.

 

[chickadee]

A little update on our situation.

We bought a ticket from Tanger Med to Sete, France for July 18,2020. We heard rumors it was cancelled, but no official notification from GNV, the Italian ferry line. We headed to the port after giving the van a good wash. After a few hours in the queue for the ferry, the authorities came and broke up the line stating that there wasn't a ferry and wouldn't be one until at least the 22nd of July. So, we are still in Morocco.

Hopefully we will be allowed to enter the EU in August. Inshallah as they say here.

 

[billiebob]

Check with Dan Grec, he shipped from North America to Morroco a few years ago, "The Road Chose Me" on youtube.

The Road Chose Me

Join me as I travel the world overland. In 2009 I quit my job and set out on the adventure of a lifetime. After reaching the Arctic Ocean in Alaska I turned ...

www.youtube.com

EDIT.... CORRECTION

Dan shipped from Halifax to Belgium.

 

[sg1]

Once you are in Europe shipping to the US is no problem. There are various options. Right now the problem is to ship from Morocco to Europe. Morocco is a favourite destination for older folks with RVs to spend the winter. Unfortunately ferry service was suspended because of Corona. Lots of snow birds still stuck in Morocco and waiting for a ferry to Europe.

 

[chickadee]

Once you are in Europe shipping to the US is no problem. There are various options. Right now the problem is to ship from Morocco to Europe. Morocco is a favourite destination for older folks with RVs to spend the winter. Unfortunately ferry service was suspended because of Corona. Lots of snow birds still stuck in Morocco and waiting for a ferry to Europe.

We are stuck here with them. There is a lot of chaos surrounding the ferries from Morocco to the EU. Some repatriation ferries, some GNV ferries to Sete, France and Genoa, Italy. I have a reservation with Seabridge, but need to explore options out of Morocco if we are unable to get to the EU. Being Americans along with all the other issues surrounding movement between Morocco and the EU is making things very difficult for us.

 

[Latetom]

I was hoping to find an answer here. Our 4Runner is parked at the Marrakesh International Airport. We elected to leave Morocco although after 5 months in the U.S. and watching El Jefe continue to screw things up we wished we had stayed in Morocco.
Like you we feel international travel will not bounce back until late 2021 or 2022. So we want to ship our 4Runner that fits in a container back to the U.S.
I am going to contact the different people we have used between LA to Sydney, Darwin to Singapore, Kula Lampur to Calcutta, and Mombi to Genova and ask for recommendations.
As soon as I have something to report I will post here.

 

[chickadee]

I was hoping to find an answer here. Our 4Runner is parked at the Marrakesh International Airport. We elected to leave Morocco although after 5 months in the U.S. and watching El Jefe continue to screw things up we wished we had stayed in Morocco.
Like you we feel international travel will not bounce back until late 2021 or 2022. So we want to ship our 4Runner that fits in a container back to the U.S.
I am going to contact the different people we have used between LA to Sydney, Darwin to Singapore, Kula Lampur to Calcutta, and Mombi to Genova and ask for recommendations.
As soon as I have something to report I will post here.

I'm sorry I wasn't notified of your post. I am just updating this thread and saw this. We too do not think international travel will bounce back for some time. We were luckily able to get out of Morocco in early August and are shipping our van back to the US from Belgium now. We did get in contact with a company that thought they could assist us.

• American Lamprecht Transport
  • 800 S. Conkling St
  • Baltimore MD 21224
  • Phone: (410) 633-0550 EXT 1700
  • Direct: (410) 633-0551
  • Fax: (410) 633-0556
  • www.lamprechtusa.com
  • Branda Lang, Import manager
    • +212522641616
• KLINE RORO
  • +212522641616
  • 
  • Our contact with TA Trans was Driss Tahiri

On a completely different topic, is your 4Runner silver with a black ladder on the rear? Front runner roof rack with a black metal box on the roof?
If so, we saw your vehicle early on in our trip to Morocco at Akchour. We waited for a bit to say hello to a fellow American, but we did not see you.

-LeeWhay

 

[chickadee]

I wanted to update this thread. After a few cancelled ferries, we were able to get on a ferry from Tanger Med to Sete, France after taking a COVID-19 test. We did not have any issues entering France with our US passports / US registered vehicle. We are currently in Belgium shipping our van back to the US.

We were in contact with Driss Tahiri from www.tatrans.ma in regards to RORO from Morocco to the US. He was very nice and attempted to get us a quote. We luckily were able to get out of Morocco before he was able to get us a quote.

 

[Latetom]

Yes, that was our 4Runner. The other description I tell people to look for is the dents in all four corners of the 4Runner -- all during our six months of driving in India & Nepal.
I also wish we had been able to meet up. I was driving alone, my wife joined me a week or two later. I must have still been hiking one of the trails along the river. Beautiful place hope you enjoyed as much as I did.
Thanks for the info on T.A. Trans S.A.R.L. I will attempt to contact them tomorrow.
Best of luck on your return trip home.