Shipments done by Travellers

Itinerary: Antwerp, Dakar, Santos, Zarate, Montevideo

Departure date: 13 February 2014

Duration of voyage (approx.): 25 days

Fare per person: £1,820.00 pp for cabin + £585.00 x 2 for bikes including accommodation,all meals, port taxes andbooking fee

The departure date is subject to change - Strand Travel will keep you advised of any alterations.

Name of vessel: Grande Amburgo

Arrival date at last port (approx.): 10 March 2014

No of passengers: 2

Total fare: £4,810

Deposit of £962 whereupon the balance, £3,848.00 is due 10 weeks prior to departure -

a Request for Payment will be sent to you.

Compulsory visa requirements: None, but onward tickets from Uruguay are required. Passports should be valid until at least 6 months beyond the end of the voyage. You are reminded that it is your responsibility to ensure you are in possession of the correct documentation for each country visited. Yellow fever for Brazil. You should consult your GP about any other health recommendations. A medical questionnaire signed by your doctor is also required before boarding the ship.

Facilities on board include a dining area and gym.

Contacted Rob after another post here from 2011. Very professional, he undercut another quote by $1000. Allowed me to crate the bike in the warehouse, offered use of tools etc. Everything happened as promised. Flew with Qantas Freight and the bike was waiting in their warehouse in LA.

They were a bit unsure of the process in the US. This is how it worked.

If the value of the bike is below $25,000, a broker is not required.

Take a taxi from LAX with your EPA Exemption email (approved before export), EPA Declaration and Road Transport Form (links were in the email from EPA); to Customs and Border Protection (1109 Sth La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles). They were initially confused by a Temporary Import, but be patient and let them figure it out. Clearance process took about 20mins and was free of charge.

Take paperwork to Qantas Freight (6555 West Imperial Highway LA). Clearance is straightforward with a fee of $35. After some negotiation they allowed me to uncrate and assemble the bike in their warehouse and they disposed of the crate (Wooden base, cardboard sides acquired from BMW dealer in Brisbane).

Special mention to Andy at Qantas Freight (LAX). He went over and above to assist me, including driving me to Customs and filling out the paperwork, because I lobbed at their door first, after being misdirected to a bus and walking 2 miles up Imperial Hwy! He argued for me to use the warehouse because the manager wanted me to get a truck to pick up the crate. He made it happen. Thanks Andy!!

Bike was there on time, No damage. Smooth as silk.

I cleared bike myself through US customs easy but slow.

I went to the Girag office at the Bogota Airport. Girag directed me to Veronica at Lyncargo. You cannot book your bike to fly at the Girag office in Bogota. They will send you to Lyncargo.

Two Airlines fly bikes from Bogota to Panama: Girag (twice a week) and Air Cargo Pack (daily) We used Air Cargo Pack as Girag did not have any space for another week. Interestingly, both Airlines say this is their busiest time of the year for freight. Would you believe, it is bacause they are flying flowers to the U.S. for Valentines Day! Air Cargo Pack cost $200 more than Girag.

No crates are required to fly between Bogota and Panama or Miami. All other destinations require a crate, which costs $400.(includes transport and inspection) It is possible to fly your bike from other cities in Colombia, it will cost another $500. It is $100 cheaper to fly from Bogota to Miami than it is to fly your bike from Bogota to Panama.

We did not have to disconnect our batteries and were allowed to have enough fuel in the tank to ride to a Service Station in Panama. Veronica's right hand man, Edwardo, was with us all day at the Airport and walked us through the whole process.

Panama Airport was not a problem. The Air Cargo Pack people pointed us in the right direction, we obtained the 3 stamps required and were riding away in2 hours.

Bike: Yamaha XT1200Z. Loaded with heavy panniers, tools, spares and motorcycle clothing. Nothing of a personal nature is allowed. The bike weighed 315kg. Once palletted, 360kg. Shipped weight 410kg due to volume calculations (not a true weight - just how they do it).

Having previously contacted Dakar Motos, they gave me a rough estimate of 2,000 USD. Argentina is currently in melt down with its economy and if payments can be made in USD cash, it is possible to save about 30% on all transactions. Sandra will advise on this. Cash must be used for ALL transactions. Sandra requires you to have 4 working days in BA to process your bike. The last day is in case of problems.

I took my bike and the documentation to DM on the Monday. Import document and Registration document. Sandra checked that all the numbers matched up. I paid 1000 pesos cash to Sandra for her services, about USD126.

Tuesday I took the bike to the International Airport with a full instruction sheet from Sandra where we were expected by her agent. The bike was ushered through to a loading bay where I stripped it down and they secured it to the supplied pallet. I removed the front wheel, handlebars and screen to reduce the volume. Battery terminals off, taped up and viewable, minimal fuel. The bike was then taken away and scanned (for drugs etc) and on return it was wrapped in cling film and security labels applied.

On the Wednesday, again following DMs instructions, I attended the shipping office at 482 Lavalle, 2nd floor, in the centre of BA (GPS S 34 36.126  W 58 22.398 ) where I met a guy, he gave us a slip to take to the bank to pay CASH for the shipping. The bank, I think, 'Banco Itau Buen Ayre' takes USD or Pesos. Located in the next street at Av Corrientes. (GPS s 34 36.190  W 58  22.476). I took the receipt for payment back to Lavelle St, this time the 6th floor and was issued my Air Way Bill (AWB).

The actual price to pay is not fixed till payment is made due to currenct fluctuatuions and the final volume of the packed bike.

NB Dollars can freely exchanged in the street for Pesos. Street price was about 12 per dollar, bank is 8 per dollar. Hence the best method is to have dollars BEFORE entering Argentina. They are NOT available once in country.

I was then free to book my flight home.

I collected my bike from Heathrow on the following Monday. What a bloody nightmare. Having travelled all of North America, all of Central America and a good part of South America, I finally arrive at a bureaucratic nightmare in my own country.

All the other countries were an hour or less admin with most of that being queuing up.

Heathrow - and sadly most of the UK it appears is a PITA. The problem is that there is no customs post at Heathrow. The busiest airport in the world has no customs post !! They shut it down not long ago. The customs office for Heathrow is in Manchester.

I like to do my own customs stuff when I can, and expected to turn up, do the paperwork and take my bike home.

I went to BA cargo and they were surprised that I did not want an agent to do the paperwork for me. Apparently that is the norm now. The cost of this was another £60 approx, on top of the £55 that BA wanted to deliver the bike from storage.

BA were extremely helpful. They supplied all the relevant phone numbers and faxing services.

In the end, I filled in a Form C21, available from the customs web site, faxed it to Manchester and waited. Luckily they took pity on me as I was sat at Heathrow with my trailer and they processed it in a couple of hours. But the normal time frame is around 12 hours.

For anyone interested, the paperwork needed was as follows:

...1) The Form C21. 3 Pages of which only 2 are used (but all faxed).
....... Box 30 needs 'GBLHR' as a country code.
....... Box 37 needs '000 041'
....... Box 40 needs 'Z-ZZZ-(AWB number)'
...2) The Air Way Bill into the UK
...3) the Airway bill out of the UK. (Probably not mandatory but helpful)
...4) The UK registration document.
...5) A list on plain paper of items imported. Something like this:
..... Items imported into the UK by (Name) on flight (???) on Date (date)
..... 1) 1 Yamaha Motorcycle (Model), (Reg), (Vin)
..... 2) 2 Helmets
..... 3) 2 Motorcycle jackets
..... 4) etc...etc....
..... Under this I wrote: These items are all UK VAT paid and were purchased in the .....UK prior to traveling abroad. It was then signed and dated.