Looking to find the easiest and cheapest way to get our bike to either the US or Canada from the UK. Any help greatly appreciated.

cheap and easy, just come to Paris
EXACIEL AMC LOGISTIQUE
ZA du Moulin
9 Rue du Noyer
95700 ROISSY EN FRANCE
(near Charles de Gaulle airport)
TEL +33 1 34 38 58 58
FAX +33 1 34 38 58 50
ask for Patrice Deslage
the motorbike goes on a palet (no box)
but only to Montreal via Air Transat
usually the price runs around 1400€
you can fly with your bike
if you need à (free) translator just say so
ride safe
Yves

The cheapest and easiest outbound shipping is by Ro-Ro using a company called Wallenius Wilhelmsen, I've not personally used them but they're highly recommended.

The cheapest and easiest return shipping is another Ro-Ro called Aladdin Freight which operates out of California. Again, not used them but I've only heard good things.

These are the firms I plan to use for my eventual North American Odyssey, unless I find better elsewhere.

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www.AdventureVagabond.com Mongolia & Siberia 2012: Adventure Moto Madness

I can also recommend Exaciel Logistics in Paris - I have dropped my ST1100 off with them several times for shipment to Canada. The folks there are pleasant, and they know what they are doing.

I suggest that you also contact an American company by name of Motorcycle Express, and get a quote from them. They are very experienced in shipping motos trans-Atlantic. When shipping out of Paris, Motorcycle Express uses Exaciel Logistics, so, what you will really be doing is just comparing prices, because the service rendered will be identical.

It is my understanding that it is more expensive to ship a moto out of the UK to North America than it is to ship it out of Paris or Germany. At least, that was the way it was several years ago, when I last investigated prices. It seems that the price difference was caused by additional ground handling charges in the UK.

Michael

Cheapest reliable shipper I've used was Stefan Knopf (http://www.knopftours.com/Web-Site/Welcome.html) in his regular containers. Dates and destinations are limited, but he does a good job with minimal (or no) preparation necessary for about US$1000 all told.

The answers you're getting are all over the map because some prefer roro, some like air freight, some containerized....with each having definite advantages and disadvantages. Also, most find Europe cheaper than UK, as indicated above. Plus: "easiest" and "cheapest" are not often properly located within the same sentence.

Hope that's helpful.

Mark

In 2007-08 I used both shipping methods:-

Outbound: Southampton UK -to- Halifax NS Canada. RoRo with Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics. 8 days to cross the pond + a day at each end. An excellent service. Cost at the time was around GBP 600.

Return: Lester B Pearson Int'l Airport, Toronto ON Canada -to- London Gatwick UK. Air freight with Air Transat. I flew with bike on the same flight. More expensive, as you would expect - approx USD 1,800 for a 700 lb (320 kg) motorcycle - but obviously very quick.

The shipping handlers at YYZ Cargo Zone dropped and damaged the bike: smashed-up mirror and its housing - damaged pannier - scratched-up screen. It took nearly 12 months to get any compensation out of Air Transat.

The bike was a '05 Honda ST1300 Pan-European.

Happy New Year!

.

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Right Way Round ...

Thinking about it? Because shipping with Air Transat involved a straightforward 'open' palette, if I had my time again, especially with so much plastic (ST 1300), I would remove the mirrors/housings and safely stow these away. Also protect vulnerable exposed areas with some sort of wrapping. My bad for not thinking about and taking these basic precautions beforehand, if I'm really fair to Air Transat.
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Right Way Round ...

Hi Keith:

Very sorry to hear that the Air Transat folks damaged your moto.

I've shipped trans-Atlantic by Air Transat quite a few times (both directions), and I have always asked permission from the guys in the freight shed to allow me to load my own moto onto the pallet and strap it down myself. The cargo shed guys at both the Canadian and the European ends have always been very co-operative about letting me secure my moto myself. When I am finished my work, the bike is either tied down on a pallet, ready to go into a container, or (less often) just rolled into the container and tied down within the container, with the side-stand deployed.

I don't think that the workers in the freight shed particularly want to have to maneuver the moto onto a pallet (or into a container, if a pallet is not being used) by themselves. My experience is that they are as concerned as I am about the risk of dropping the bike during the process. The guys are very familiar with handling palletized freight, and very familiar with handling containers (ULDs), but not at familiar with handling large motos.

To facilitate getting permission to load your moto onto the pallet yourself, or load it into the container yourself, it might help to arrive at the freight shed outside of daytime business hours (8-5), after all the bosses have gone home. If the staff bring up security as an issue (i.e. "We can't let you into the freight shed because it is a controlled area, etc."), you might want to offer to load the bike onto the pallet or into the container out in the parking lot. Generally, it won't be a problem for the freight shed guys to find a forklift out in the parking lot that they can use to lift the palletized (or containerized) moto up from the parking lot onto the loading dock. Once they have it on the loading dock, it's no different than any other palletized freight.

I've attached a few pictures below showing various shipments that I have made. In every case, I did the loading and the tie-down.

If you are putting it on a pallet, it might be helpful to pre-print some labels (in the local language) indicating that certain parts of the moto, such as the mirrors and the panniers, should not be used as hand-holds. Then stick the labels onto the appropriate parts of the bike.

Michael

Pallet Shipping










Container Shipping

Interesting thread. I'm thinking of doing the same this summer, so hopefully I can get the transportation done for a reasonable price.

Do keep in mind what Mark wrote above:

Air freight is not the cheapest, but my experience is that it sure is the easiest.

Drop the moto off at the freight shed, tie it up, take a taxi to the passenger terminal, fly on the same plane as your moto, land, take a taxi to the freight shed at the destination, visit the customs guys (they usually don't want to see the moto, but it is essential you bring the ownership and proof of insurance with you), pay the freight shed charges (typically $100 to $200 at the destination, this is in addition to the price you are quoted for transport), unpack the thing, be riding down the road between 2 and 4 hours after you landed.

In theory, you are not supposed to have anything in the panniers or any luggage attached to the bike. In theory. In practice, the freight shed guys are generally pretty permissive, as long as you show them what's inside your stuff (and make darn sure you don't have any Dangerous Goods packed in there), they typically cut you a lot of slack, as you can see in the photos above.

Michael

Try: Chris Merson

Tel: 01494535524
C.Merson@dynamic-intl.com

I just got a quote to ship my Tenere to Montreal from the UK for £1090.

Cheers

Mark

Michael & Julia,

When are you thinking of travelling to the USA/Canada ? I am also looking for quotes and am awaiting one currently from James Cargo...will post this when received. If you are travelling in Maywe MAY be able to get a reduction for two bikes. Does anyone know if that is possbble ??

Dave

Hello,

Please feel free to contact me on jamie@hillshipping.com , we have good rates to ship to the USA. We use a loading depot in Grays , Essex and we can arrange crating to keep the bike nice and secure.

We have agents in the USA who help with customs clearance etc. We also able to offer full cover marine insurance if required.

Please take a look at our blog to see some example shipments :

HILL SHIPPING WWW.HILLSHIPPING.COM

All the best,
Jamie
HILL SHIPPING
JAMIE@HILLSHIPPING.COM

Dave:

I'm not planning to ship my bike this year - I've only been contributing information to this discussion to help others.

Michael

I used 2wglobal.com a few times from Zeebrugge to the USA RORO and back, great service. They also ship from the UK.
I also used jamescargo a few times for airfreight from LHR to the USA, great service, a little more expensive than RORO but faster and less risk for damage

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