Shipments done by Travellers

This was an easy process. I showed up at the airport terminal in Panama City and 2 hours later the bike was on its way to Colombia. In Colombia, it took about 4 hours including customs. Very easy.

it's complicated. they quoted me X amount of $$$ and end up paying Y amount of money.

i do understand that the final bill will be determined by the size (mass weight or volumetric weight, which ever is higher) but there were alot of things that they did not quote me. they used a low amount of quote to lure me to their company (due to my greed for cheap service), where i compared the quote with other company, they had the cheapest because they did not quote me many other stuff. Bad business tactics. dirty and shameful.

after sending the bike to them and packed, i was not happy with the price and wanted to verify. they got fed up, because i was just a SMALL CUSTOMER TO THEM. they said they want to return the bike, refund me the money MINUS THEIR COST!they know that i have no time to play this game as my flight would be in 2 day's time.

i had to apologise to them, swollow everything and agree to the high charges!

they are using my bike as a 'HOSTAGE' and i have to pay a 'ransom'.

i am dissappointed with these business people!

anyway, it's $4.85/kg.

based on mass weight of 284kg, volumetric weight of 509kg.
read my blog for what happened to the packing that cause the volumetric weight to increase that much!

other fees were

a) documention and handling $25.00
b) fuel surcharge $361.39
c) airfreight charge $2056.36
d) Hazard / Restricted Goods Handling $50(NOT IN THE INITIAL QUOTE)
e) screening Fee - HAWB $50.90(NOT IN THE INITIAL QUOTE)
f) DG (dangerous goods) cert $75
g) security surcharge - HAWB $50.9(NOT IN THE INITIAL QUOTE)
h) packing (my grandmother can do better) $200
i) airport transfer $50.90 (NOT IN THE INITIAL QUOTE)

SWINDLE LOGISTICS took 45% of our travel fund for the next 6 months!

#%$#%#$^!@!!

Chris Merson is a saint! Unbelievably patient and helpful while we dithered about dates and destinations. Really quick replies to all our questions by email or by phone. These guys ship anywhere by air or sea.

This cost included pick up from Wimborne in Dorset of our crated bikes (2 Honda Falcon NX400 in one metal Hayabusa crate). Bikes were crated separately by Howard at Conquest Motorcycles at Three Legged Cross (sal...@conquestmotorcycles.com). Our total weight was 386 kilos.

Dynamic will also crate for you if required with wooden crate that meets all the wood specifications that most countries now require.

They do the Dangerous Goods Certificate. We had to provide copies of reg docs, and proof of ownership (ie our sales invoices for the bikes) plus letter from Conquest to confirm the batteries were disconnected, tanks fully drained, and bikes were CLEAN (took me 2 days to clean them!), and tyres let down. Dynamic then added an extra cardboard outer packaging to the safety clingfilm packaging round the metal crate because they were worried about security of the tank bags we'd included in the crate.

Bikes then went from Heathrow to Amsterdam to Panama.

Bikes arrived on date promised. KLM are handled by DHL. Perfectly possible to clear them yourself (NB the first customs office closes 4pm - the second is open much later). DHL guys friendly and helpful. NB you need enough Spanish or take somebody to help you. We took Rafael (mobile 6724 4695 pana...@yahoo.com). We were able to de-crate the bikes at the airport only because Rafael removed the crate from DHL area. (He then dumped it at the exit outside the customs in a big bin!) DHL charges: $26.80 (we think for 1 nt storage). Customs charges:nil. Safe bike parking at the great Mamallena Hostel (mama...@yahoo.com).

Not the cheapest ones but an extraordinary all-inclusive service from drop-off to collection. No surprises, very professional, in particular the staff in BA. You will receive a document guiding you through the bureaucracy, so you do actually not need help from an additional local agent.
No crading/box needed!

Price Breakdown:

The freight bill total with all docs and all money at Indian customs came to: 310GBP or 24,000IRP or $490 (USD) depending how you like your money.

The breakdown on the actual bill wasn’t very specific, but the total price was fair, and he put us on the next weight tariff up, meaning we saved money. We didn’t ask for this, he offered.

Crating charge: 6000IRP / 75GBP / 120USD

(crating was high we think, and we’re fairly sure they scammed us on it together. DHL will bring the crate company themselves, meaning lots of room for them to privately negotiate a scammy price. You could probably say you want to make it yourself and save about 2/3rds of this price, easily. Also the crate they made was fairly rubbish.)

Flights:

2 X Tickets including all taxes = 9000IRP / 115 GBP / 180USD

Thai Customs payments:

Storage fee (one day): 600BAHT / 11GBP / 17USD

Form fee: 30BAHT/ 0.40GBP / 1USD

MORE INFO INCLUDING WHY THEY ONLY SCORE A 3 OUT OF 5 ON OUR BLOG. HTTP://WWW.GLOBEGALLIVANTING.BLOGSPOT.COM