It’s a strange one this.
A customer in Larnaca has asked me to cost the journey driving a Transit Van.
What would be the best route ?
Would it be to Athens and then catch a ferry?
Apparrently there is no import duty on vans in Cyprus, so the customer is keen to “Get Some In !”
Any help would be appreciated.
The backload would be no problem - It would be in the air.
Cheers,
Niall.
Niall,
I use to take my motorhome to Cyprus for the winter before the ferries stopped running a couple of years ago.
We drove to Ancona/Bari then ferry to Igoumenitsa/Patras.
There is a weekly frieght ferry from Piraeus to Limassol by RO RO freight ferry ( viamare.com/freight/index.htm).
I know nothing about the frieght side only using the ferries as a tourist these days.
I hope this helps.
Rgards
Don
Thanks for the info Don - I’ll keep you posted.
Cheers,
Niall.
Not sure how this works now! We used to do a job which involved dropping the trailer in Patras and going on the pss ( sorry I mean waiting for the trailer) It was a pleasant week visiting Agistri and Aegina while a little cypriot tipped my load for me 
Niall wrote
“Thanks for the info Don - I’ll keep you posted”.
Niall,
I would be very interested in the cost etc. As Cyprus is now in the EU it’s possible to cross from Southern (Greek) Cyprus to Northern (Turkish) Cyprus and vice versa but if you enter Cyprus from Turkey you must return the same route. The same applies to Greece if you enter from Greece you must return that way. Hopefully in the future you will be able to do a round trip in via Turkey and out via Greece or vise versa.
So I’m thinking I might ship the motorhome to Cyprus now we can tour the whole island. As EU citizens we can cross over (either way) at will, but at the Turkish side you have to show your passport, and at Greek side they are strictly searching you/vehicles to stop ANY tobacco or alcohol being brought across.
Regards
Don
Try this site… ferries.gr/
There are a “few” 
routes to choose from!!!
Cheers bullitt.
PS Merry Xmas all. 
I had a two n half year posting to Cyprus, from 11/81 to 05/84, when I was in the army. My wife and daughter came with me. We where allowed a 24 hour pass, for each full year we were there, to visit the Turkish side. We only used one, when my baby sister came to visit.
We had to go to Nicosia and cross the border to apply for a pass for my sister, they are normally only issued for the Nicosia crossing for tourists, but were very helpful and issued it for the Famagusta crossing when we explained that everyone else had to cross there on our military pass
Someone in the past had typed up an itenary for a visit to the north of the island, which we followed.
We started very early and crossed the Famagusta border within 5 minutes of them opening. We stopped at the Twin Towers Hotel, on the edge of Famagusta, for a fantastic breakfast and then had a look at the ancient walls and the fenced off tourist quarter of Famagusta. We then headed up the East coast to Salamis, stopping on the way at Richard the Lionhearts massive castle at St Hilarion, for a guided tour. This was a stop off point for the Crusaders and where he kept one of his mistresses. Salamis is a well preserved Roman Ruin. There were the remains of a sports arena and an amphitheatre. We then headed down the North coast to Kyrennia, stopping at the monastic Vinyards of Pantelimon (for a few samples) and another guided tour. Kyrennia was a nice little fishing town and where the Turkish army landed in 74 when they invaded. The road from there to Nicosia was still rippled by the tank tracks from then, it made an unusual tyre noise as you drove across the ripples. We stopped at a roadside tailors shop. The tailor made me a pair of wrangler jeans as we waited. We had to wait for him to complete the order for his previous customer. That was a set of three t-shirts, 1 Lacoste, 1 Fred Perry and another one I can’t remember. The tailor lifted all three shorts from the same pile and embroidered the logos on freehand 
. My Wranglers came from the same pile as someone elses Levis. The tailor put on the pockets, patches buttons etc there and then. . They where cheap too. From there we headed back to Famagusta for a late meal then crossed back through the border about haf an hour before it closed.
Apart from all the well preserved ancient works, one thing that really struck us was how clean the northern part of Cyprus had been. No empty polystyrene cup strewn at the sideds of the roads, or any other litter come to that.
From that short experience of northern Cyprus, reckon it would be well worth your while taking your camper over Don.
Simon,
I spent three years in Cyprus with the RAF (before the war) in the mid sixties. In the summer we use to pitch a tent for the summer on a beach east of Kyrenia, the family loved it.
I’m hoping all barriers will come done one day, maybe if/when Turkey gets into the EU.
For me the years are slipping away too fast, I’ve got so many places to visit I’m rapidly running out of time. The spirit is willing but the flesh is getting past it.
Don
You probably know all the places I visited then. It was just the once for me. I was based at Dhekelia, which was known then as the E.S.B.A. (Eastern Sovereign Base Area).
I was in Cyprus from 93-96; the first year at Episkopi and the remaining time at Dhekelia. Good times indeed!!
Even then we could only cross the border via Nicosia on a day pass or, if booked in advance, we could go for a week or two. I had some good ‘holidays’ in Kyrenia - a lovely place.
As far as I am aware the areas are still known as ESBA and WSBA although some of the other changes are huge. There is now a motorway that runs all the way from Paphos to Ayia Napa, McDonalds is now prevalent in most locations and Eros Square in Limassol is a ‘Russian Mafia’ stronghold and too dodgy for most people (gun in your back and frog-marched to empty your cashpoint)!!
Having said all that, I may end up going there again in Sep 05 but I doubt it will be as good as the last time.
As for the ferries, it was a regular way of people going back to UK with their Tax-Free cars and making a bit of a holiday out of it. It was a ferry to Greece, overland, and then another ferry across to Southern Italy. i still have contacts out there so can ask for the latest info, just let me know.
Martin.
Duty free cars, hee hee, that reminds me of a rumour doing the rounds when I was there.
The RAF would ship your car across for next to free, if all the paperwork was sorted. It had to be pre-booked so they could check everything was in order and it would go in the queu for the next Hercules heading back to the UK with spare capacity. All you had to do was leave a case of beer on the back seat for the crew and they would look after it for you.
Anyway, the story goes that an army captain, based in Dhekelia refused point blank to do the decent thing with the beer. So no-one told him about the other thing you had to do. Insure it for third party shipping. Apparantly the Herc’ had some engine trouble whilst over the Alps. The last car on was the captains brand new Jag’, so it was the first one off. Ooops.
I heard about that too!
There was no space when I left so I sent the car in a container for £600. The motorbike went via the ‘herci-bird beer-special’ though.
hi yer as a ex greek driver working for mondail the only and best way is italy/greece then take a ferry from piereaus(athens)ok egg on legs
Wheel Nut:
Not sure how this works now! We used to do a job which involved dropping the trailer in Patras and going on the pss ( sorry I mean waiting for the trailer) It was a pleasant week visiting Agistri and Aegina while a little cypriot tipped my load for me
wheel nut i think you are talking only what you heard get right 1st not saying you not done the job but what i read seems very iffy to me yours eggon legs the orginal
egg on legs:
Wheel Nut:
Not sure how this works now! We used to do a job which involved dropping the trailer in Patras and going on the pss ( sorry I mean waiting for the trailer) It was a pleasant week visiting Agistri and Aegina while a little cypriot tipped my load for mewheel nut i think you are talking only what you heard get right 1st not saying you not done the job but what i read seems very iffy to me yours eggon legs the orginal
No, I didnt read it mate. The load was whisky from Dumbarton, I worked for Lensveld in Holland and we dropped the trailers in the port.
John Dee and BRS were doing a similar job with Cigarettes. I dont know why we couldnt ship over, but that was how it worked.
I was probably the bloke sat in the corner of the bar listening to many tall tales which were told with alcohol
egg on legs:
hi yer as a ex greek driver working for mondail the only and best way is italy/greece then take a ferry from piereaus(athens)ok egg on legs
Hi Egg, Mondial, that names rings a bell, same as Anglo Greek!
There was another company from Enfield area who ran to Greece and Cyprus, light blue tilts or boxes with DAF 95 cabs, cant remember the name though!
Cheers, bullitt.
hi bullit i am not sure about the firm in enfield the only none springs to mind is cyrpen/fox latter became howe eurrpean after that a c h then presto nobbies there was a lot of iffy mobs about in those days i mworked for most of them
ps not same angelo greek only had 2 trucks mondial had a fleet
bfn egg on legs
hi wheel nut i done the whisky run many times and no way could drop the trailer in the port of patras we took it a sercurity pound in athens and was escorted to the airport duty free compound brs with had to be double maned across italy with the cigs
egg