…And the bushi is on board!

   All those days calling and mailing paid off: we have gotten the van a spot on the Grand Meditteraneo from Izmir to Alexandria! The last shipment from one of the last cargo carriers shipping to Egypt or eastern Africa. Not only because of the political situation services are cancelled, but also because of a current low point in the car selling business. So we are happy and relieved that we found our ride a spot. We will fly from Izmir via Istanbul to Alexandria, where we will wait until we can pick it up in the harbour.

It wasn’t all that easy to figure out this value chain. Grimaldi Lines is our shipper, who drive the Bushi from the dock onto their vessel, ship it and offload it. Then there are custom brokers, the ‘sjacheraar’ type of guys who arrange everything with customs. They run around from office to office, all carrying a black (fake) leather briefcase, and leave some money here and there, above the table as well as under the table. All dressed in the typical broker smoking: baggy jeans, old sneakers, polo shirt and five o’clock shadow beards.

Grimaldi introduced us to our broker guy and bargained for us. They both take 40% of the total price, the remaining 20% is for the port authorities. For us, it meant paying and then waiting and waiting until our broker hustler did his thing and came out of the office with a final okay. The Bushi is now parked between 3000 brand new Renaults waiting to be shipped.

We whip the car RoRo (Roll on and roll off), which means that the cars are not in a container but on open deck, keys inside, and are accessible in the ports as well as on the vessel. Meaning a risk of getting our car back without mirrors or missing interior parts. We have read stories from people who actually weld the doors before shipment and send chairs, dashboard and mirrors separately in containers (!). We have locked all valuables in the trunk, bought an extra lock and fingers crossed that we find it back in one peace in Egypt. Hopefully the fact that Mitsubishi is not Mercedes will help. Let’s see!

During the waiting days, we visited a car workshop area with dozens of small and very basic workshops, offering everything for those 4 wheeled loved ones: electricity, washing, welding, maintenance, paint jobs, anything. We had a problem with the solar panel not delivering enough voltage to operate our coolbox. Our do it yourself construction, done by a former consultant and a former manager without any decent knowledge on wiring, proved not to be so solid.

Turned out to be my fault: despite lessons from papa van Es in building wired stuff, I cut the + and – wires simultaneously during preparations. A firework of sparkles, a horrible smell and me with a hot cable cutter in the hand and a terrified look on the face. I almost electrocuted myself (well, okay, it was only 12 Volt), but definitely melted down some wires. The electricity king exchanged the black and melted remainders.

Also the distribution belts were completely worn off. We couldn’t explain what caused the squeeking. I imitated the noice, but while I was squeeking he only looked at me with a very strange look on his face. So he called his German speaking buddy, pressed Conny the phone in his hand and everything was translated quickly. And everything ran smoothly again!

After we paid, the man was so besides himself from joy (that’s how you know you definitely paid too much), that he invited us to beers & dinner with his friends. We had a wonderfull fish that night, Conny many beers, the (all big bellied) men 2 bottles of Raki, me one coke and water.

And as we drove home, Conny singing loudly on the passengers seat, enjoying the silence of non-squeeking distribution belts, we knew we had a very good day.