Shipments done by Travellers

I shipped with Hermes from Melbourne to Auckland. They charged us A$315 based on 2 cubic metres. I obtained a steel framed crate from a local bike shop for $50 then removed the front wheel and topbox and crated the bike at Hermes depot in north Fitzroy, Melbourne.
There is a weekly sailing every Friday and the ship takes 4 days to make the crossing.
Their charges did not include the fees in NZ.In Auckland we had to pay:
NZD$ 130.00 Port Service Charge
NZD$ 7.00 Forestry
NZD$ 45.00 Delivery Order
NZD$ 5.00 Bacc Application Fee
NZD$ 5.00 Admin Fee
+ GST (12.5%)
We also had to pay NZ$65 for the MAF (quarantine) inspection. Bike must have all road dirt, etc removed and MAF check under mudguards, etc. I spent an hour at a Melbourne car wash using their jet wash for the princely sum of $10.

There are two men who speak good English and when calling, someone will hand you off to them. Communication is no problem. It appears this was the first time anyone airfreighted from Amman to Karachi but now it's easy.

Once you arrive in Karachi, contact your shipper and see if your bike arrived. If it has, before going down to the airfreight terminal Two, take a short rickshaw ride to the Customs House. Be sure and go there first because once at the airport, they will send you back there. On the third floor is the dept of registration and Carnets. Go in and explain your situation and they will give you the appropriate form to have Customs officials fill out regarding engine numbers and so forth.

Once at Terminal Two, find the Dnata office and explain your situation. They are now familiar with the process and it shouldn't take more than a few hours.

You don't need an agent, they will only complicate things. There are about forty dollars of import charges due of which you will be given a receipt for. Pakistani officials and locals will bend over backwards to help you. Believe it or not, you won't get hustled.

Sorry for the lack of contact details but I am still on the road and this was my first opportunity to post. More info later. Good luck my friends.
Glen Heggstad

Dynamic were very helpful, after a couple of phone calls re: size and weight to get a quote all we had to do was drop the bike off at a packers (all sorted out by Dynamic)near Heathrow 1 week before the flight. Bike was meant to go with BA but it got shunted off the 1st flight and ended up going with Air France. This was a bit frustrating as we were already in BA but Mike kept us informed via email of all goings on until it arrived in BA (a few days late).

Jeewan has done loads of bikes now and has a good rapport with the Nepal Customs guys. Very efficient... The whole process almost seemed a bit too easy!!

We shipped 2x BMW F650's including panniers. We had to strip fr wheel / forks and handle bars to make room for the panniers.

Costs were (with Thai Airways):
$1.37 Shipping per kg (Less than 500kg)
$1.07 Shipping per kg (More than 500kg)
$0.07 War Surcharge (insurance) Per kg
$20 Dangerous Goods Fee
$2 Air Waybill Fee
$8 Customs Fee (x2)
$55 Bike Crates (x2)
$22 Handling charge (Jeewan's fee's x2)
$239 Royal Nepal Airfare (x2)

We were able to lump the 2 bikes together on 1 air waybill, hence we got away with the $1.07 per kilo price. We were 556kg's all up.
Customs weren't too keen to do 1 air waybill, because they though we were trying to cheat them out of their second $8 customs fee. We explained (through Jeewan) that we were happy to pay 2 Customs fee's if we could have 1 Air waybill. They agreed that that would be OK.

Crated the bikes on site at the airport. Crate Builder stays on site to finish and modify the crate if necessary.

Need to drain fuel, disconnect battery and let air out of tyres.

At Bangkok, we had to pay 1300 baht per bike for handling etc before customs would release them.

It's a bit time consuming at the Thailand end, but no problems encountered and everyone very helpful.

A guy with a hammer took the crate apart and disposed of it for us.

There's a petrol station a few hundred metres down the road (wander down there while you're waiting) where you can borrow a fuel container to bring petrol back for the bike.

Take a pump to blow your tyres up...

Then... Go wild in Bangkok!!!!

I contacted Marcus in Cartagena (Colombia).

We put the bike on board at the Mobil-Station on the road from el Centro to Boca grande. We did this a few day,s before sailing to avoid last-minute problems.

I stayed on the boat two day,s before we sailed.

The journey takes 5 day,s but you need to deliver your pasport a day before (in the morning) since Captain Marcus will arange all customs formality,s.

You sleep the night before on the boat. Sailing at 6.

It take,s 2 day,s (and 1 night) to get to San Blas where you stay 2 full day,s having fun, snorkling, fishing, roaming the islands, what ever you like.

Then 1 day to Colon. You sleep on the boat.

The next day Captain Marcus aranges for the entry-stamps. If you need a visa you need to pay this for yourself.

That day you also arange your customs formality,s. You need to go to Oficina del Adouana, France-Field in the free trade zone.
Oficially you need a agent (U$ 20,=) to fill in the papers, but since this is very easy (and I am very persistend) we could do this ourselfs.
The customs permit cost nothing.

In the evening you unload the bike from the boat. The next morning (you still sleep on the boat) you pack and take off.

Included in the price:
All food and drinks (not beer). All food is prepared by Paola, Marcos,s wife. She is a very good cook and also a great friend.
Snorkling stuff, books, hamock,s... just about anything you can think of....

Melody (the boat) is a 42 foot (14 meter) sailing yacht with a steel hull (very safe). It has 6 bunks but Marcus takes maximum 7 people. There is usual a place to sleep for every one, but one has to steer anyway.
At the ancor-places its nice to sleep in a hamock on deck.

It,s a good idea to wash your bike upfront. Marcus has a tarp for it, but he likes to keep it clean.
I had no problem with spray or salt water, even though we had two very rough day,s with 8 meter wave,s.

Enjoy.

Maarten