Shipments done by Travellers

...Our sidecar arrived two days later after we set foot on American soil in Los Angeles. To get it out of the port was really just a piece of cake. No checks, no questions, just a few forms and we were ready to roll again. We shipped our bike RORO from Sydney, Australia with Wilhelmsen Wallenius and all went well, although their service in Australia could have been better and they should have given us at least a discount.

HOW TO GO? Ship your own bike, and use a Carnet. It is possible to import your bike without a Carnet, but this will cost more at the end because you have to pay inspection, 1 year insurance, road tax, registration etc.

Cubic price: US$70/m3.
I paid US$270 (cargo:$165, customs:$40, agent:$35, storage crate:$30)
Costs in Japan: US$150 harbour tax only.
Insurance: $75 for 3 months 3rd party.

I left Japan to Vladivostok (ferry): $250 person + $100 bike (2 days, incl. food)

I left Panama City by airplane (169 US$ for the ticket). For the bike I used GIRAG Air Cargo to fly it to Columbia. GIRAG, Panama S.A. is located at the cargo airport, close to the international airport in Tolumen. At the roundabout at Tolumen airport just follow the signs of American Airlines Cargo to the left, app. 8 miles further on. After the first custom office in the cargo airport turn the first right at the roundabout and then ask someone for the GIRAG office.

Rene Peredes from GIRAG (507-238-4289, 507-238-4091, Fax 507-238-4417 and more numbers below) was very friendly and helpful. He speaks good English.

GIRAG PANAMA, S.A.
Apdo.: 2472 Panam

Well, The best thing with using this company is that they specialize on transporting brand new cars with special RO-RO ships around the world. Since they have experience with taking care of cars they treat your bike the same way - as it was brand new.

You will be assigned a ordinary parking spot on the ship among the cars - no crating needed - just leave it with the company with

...We shipped the bike to Mombasa and this was really the most stressful part of the trip due to delays of two weeks overall. We employed HC Travel in the UK as our agent there who in turn employed a company called Quintrans to arrange the shipping and packing. I left the bike with Quintrans in early June and it was due to be shipped on the 16th of June. Quintrans packed the bike and employed a shipping line called Rohlig UK to transport it to Kenya. One of those two arranged for a Kenyan company, Kenfrieght to be the receiving agents in Mombasa.

The main reason for the delay was Rohlig sending the bike on a ship which left one week later than the one they told Quintrans they would send it on and was itself delayed by about 4 days. Rohlig didn't bother to tell anyone this so the first we knew about it was when we showed up at Kenfreights offices. We introduced ourselves and explained they were expected to receive our bike arriving on the week beginning 10th June. Not surprisingly they couldn't find any relevant documentation at first but a couple of hours later they had found out what had happened.

Apparently Rohlig didn't have enough freight going to Mombasa to fill a container so they placed the bike with another shipping firm resulting in the change of ship. I've thrown away all the paperwork as it took up too much room so I can't tell you their name but their agent in Mombasa required paying about US$120 which Kenfreight added to their bill. By that point I didn't care as long as I could get the bike.....

Grant's comment: This unbelievable story runs and runs, and the whole process takes 4 weeks for Stephan and 'Chenda to retrieve their bike. See the gory details on their webpage: http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/solon/