Shipments done by Travellers

"I approched United Airlines direct in Auckland airport without the use of an agent. After getting an airwaybill from the airline was I able to get the carnet stamped, this took 20mins. Then back to united airlines to fill in the dangerous goods form myself. Having filled in a few prior to this I was confident to do as much of the paperwork myself in orded to keep cost down and speed up the process. I did not get any problems here. The whole task lasted less than two hours.

United don't fly direct to Canada,but to L.A, this was to be where the bike ended its flight and was put on a truck to Vancouver this took three days door to door. This was due to the recent events of sept 11, and dangerous goods, this was all in the price quoted. Paul was the guy at United and who gave me a great service and lots of coffee!

The cost as follows;

Bike weight 256kg
Price per kg nz$4.92 =nz$1259.52
Dangerous goods form nz$60.00
Airwaybill and dangerous goods form plus other charges came to nz$125.48
total of nz$1405.00

The bike was put into an ALN container supplied by the airline. Allthough this is realy a crate the cargo was charged on the bikes actual weight and not volumetric weight the latter being a lot more. I had to disconnect the battery and tape the terminals up,but was able to leave in the oil and no more than a quarter tank of fuel. The collection in Vancouver in less than one hour, allthough not needed I used my carnet to speed up the process, I gave this over to the customs only after he had asked if I had one. A carnet is not needed for Canada or the U.S. "

From Harald and Udo Lamers (the Bike Brothers)

We paid USD 42/m3. Documentation fee: USD 34. The bikes were crated but we used our crate from earlier shipping. We stored our crate at the port for USD 20. In Yokohama, Japan we needed to pay USD 265 for unloading 2 motorbikes. Before to get your bike you must go to the JAF, Japan Automobile Federation, to get 'authorisation' for your carnet. This means a kind of translation and is FREE.

I always wanted to cross the North Atlantic by ship (something different, because I do it about 20 times a year by air), so I booked passage on the Queen Elizabeth II, a large cruise ship operated by Cunard.

Their fee for bringing the moto along with me was quite expensive - more than it would have been had I shipped it by air using Motorcycle Express.

Overall, it was a trouble-free shipment - just arrive at the dock a few hours before the normal passenger embarkation, ride the moto onboard, it is put in a vehicle elevator and taken down to the ship's garage, then you tie it down (Cunard will do it for you, or assist, if you want).

When the ship arrived, the UK customs' folks had already pre-cleared the moto, so I just rode it off the ship. Total time from docking to hitting the road on the moto was about half an hour.

Interesting, unique, glad I did it, but I don't think I would do it again this way. The passage takes 6 days to make. NB: You must bring along formal wear (tuxedo or black tie) for dinner in the evenings.

I asked Nippon about shipping-dates. There is only one ship every 2 weeks. I made the reservation.

The bike had to be on a platform and I covered all in a big plastic. Everything had to be tidied proper. 2 days before packing, I went to the custom to get my carnet stamped out. A copy of this carnet needs to be sent to Nippon, also a copy of the passport. The bike had to be on the warehouse 1 day before leaving, to be loaded on the vessel. Anna and Mr. Pat Walters from Nippon took care of all.

Charley at the warehouse was helpful with the bike. I paid all the fee as I delivered the bike, so it was only one way. Anna also made the contact in Japan, so the bike was expected, and I had already an address. She cold give me the approximate date of arrival, and the exact cost I had to expect in Japan:

Port service charge, LCL Handling charge, D/O Delivery order fee: about 2000.00 Yen for one bike.

This was all very straight forward, I can recommend this company. Good luck, Angela

We shipped 2 Kawasaki KLRs from Panama to Venezuela and this is the story.

The company we worked with is one of the cheapest company in Panama. It cost us only $330 for two bikes to Venezuela. They charge by cubic metre and not by kg. The company ("servicarga") has a very nice manager called Gladys. She does not speak English but other people there do. The office is in Colon and not in Panama city (as most of the shipping companies). It's located in the Zona Libre of colon which is a very big sort of duty free. You can call her or email her. They charge about $110 per cubic meter but for us she charged only $90. Venezuela customs wasn't so bad as we were told before (they have new laws for tourists coming in the country with cars/motorcycles) and they knew what to do. No extra charge for getting the bike in Venezuela. The custom located in "la Guaira" which is 45 min from Caracas.

***Important***

The company that servicarga works with in Caracas called "pulumbo shipping". Since the manager of servicarga in Panama didn't know about the new laws in Venezuela that a shipper doesn't need a custom agent to get out the bike from the custom, she sent us to the offices of "pulumbo" in Caracas to get the paperwork done. They wanted more than US$800 for that !!! We found out about the new laws and did the paperwork without them. Do not use the service of this company in Caracas. The only thing you need from them is the shipping bill. Just take it and go. Do the paperwork by yourself!!! It is not difficult and takes less than two days. Eyal