Shipments done by Travellers

I shipped one-way from Melbourne, however, Dave can also ship from Sydney and Brisbane.

The bike had to be thoroughly clean, battery disconnected and only a couple of litres of fuel in the tank. No need to crate as GetRouted use their own special racks suitable for bikes under 2.3m. The bike was simply held in place with tie-downs.

I had made arrangements myself with Aussie Customs to meet me as I dropped it off in order to stamp the Carnet and record its departure.

Dave took care of the Warrant Of Fitness (WOF) and rego required for New Zealand, and also made all the necessary arrangements with NZ Customs as I was shipping the bike under a Carnet.

The bike took about 6 days to get over, but was only available to pick up when Dave arrived in NZ, which was 13 days after dropping it off.

Upon arrival at Christchurch airport, I walked my Carnet over to the local agents, which was right next to the Customs office, to get it stamped.

I picked the pick up the next morning from the handling agents, who where located near to Lyttelton, Christchurch and was able to ride it away - easy!

Natalio, the English speaking contact here was off sick!! but I had contacted, Roberto Thomson www.thomraids.cl through the HU Comunity who was fantastic.
With no appointment we just turned up at the Lan warehouse.
We made a flight reservation for that night.
The bike, BMW R1150 GS Adventure, was weighed, measured & strapped to a pallet, for 59500 pesos, $120us.
I syphoned some fuel out and disconected the battery leads and taped, whilst being watched by the dangerous goods inspector.
That all went well but then it got confusing,even with Roberto doing the talking! we visited several offices with forms requiring stamps,
it apeared that people did`nt know what was required, we got stamps on the back of a form to be told it was in the wrong place and the form must be done again, nightmare!
Trying to exit the bike through Adunas, customs, they were`nt interested!
With Roberto getting frustrated, we left a pile of paperwork with a Lan official and told it was in order to find it was`nt and having to return.
This went on for over five hours! and the most expensive shipping of our trip.
We left with an air waybill and hoped I`d see the bike in NZ one day!
We did and then doing a temporary import into New Zealand was a long drawn out procedure, 5 days! I`ve got a carnet now!!
A huge thanks to Roberto Thomson, www.thomraids.cl

The office is a little hard to find, although it is close to the Khao San Road area. Catch a Taxi the first time, but make sure he knows the way before you get in. It took about 5 days for Joy to get the Customs paper work through. The Box man came and measured the bike and turned up next day with the crate. He, I and the Sita staff packed it up on the footpath outside their office and i walked away and left it to them. The bike weighed about 265kg, the cubic weight turned out to be 500kg, costing $1,100 and the box cost $180. The bike and I flew on the same Bangladesh Biman flight, $260 for my ticket.

Dhaka was chaos, so I hired a Customs Agent, Mr M.A. Zinnah from ASL Cargo International, phone:01715 175276 or 8951 1200. The process in Dhaka took about two and a half days. I gave up counting after we had been to 28 different offices. Most of the time was taken up with me educating Zinnah about a Carnet and him educating the Bangladehi Customs Service about Carnets. Once this was acheived things went smoothly. Zinnah suggested we hire a small truck to take the crated bike some where quite to uncrate it. Very good advice, gratefully accepted.

Boat Attempts :
Hostel Mamallena could act as agent for a Captain Andres and for USD $290 for me & a further USD $290 for the bike, plus a 40km ride to get a small boat to be ferried to the larger 40ft boat.

I recall reading a HUBB posting about a Captain Andres, and this combined with having to supply my own ropes, ride 20Km along an unsurfaced mud bath of a road, and shift the bike on a dug out put me off; perhaps Im fussy, but I would have thought that anyone who had shipped bikes before would have the necessary ropes ...

I met a guy who went on a 100ft boat through Zulys backpackers hostel for around USD $300 one - although he had an adventure getting to the boat (20km on a really wet, muddy & potholed surface, dumping the bike several times), and on the boat (didnt eat for 3 days due to severe weather & sea sickness)

ATM (a pointer from the HUBB) suggested I fly the bike due to long delays with bike entry in Cartagena (to fly : USD $550, to ship : USD $350). Given that when I insisted on a boat I was given another number to call which was unobtainable, I suspect that the preferred flying method is due to commission, not to any hassle with bike import.

Air :
So I looked in the yellow pages & made a list.
Top of the list was Copa Carga, Panama City International Airport, Tocumen : 304-26-60
which turned out to be exactly what I wanted, so I went no further. Originally I telephoned to try to book a shipment from Panama to Cartagena but was told that I could just turn up at 8am when the office opened & it would fly out on the 11am flight.

When I turned up the next day at 8am there was no Panama -> Cartagena flight, although my limited Spanish detected that it might be possible if you book (I presume in person)

Panama City, Panama -> Medellin, Colombia
shipping : USD $350
dangerous goods : USD $100
airway bill : USD $28

I left the panniers on the rack, windscreen in place and forgot to turn in the wing mirrors the 2nd time, didnt disconnect the battery - Snr Chong said it didnt matter.
I got myself booked onto a flight (via Snr Chong), then completed a form in Spanish which was typed into an invoice which I then paid - by credit card :)

The bike was weighed in at 258Kg (only difference this makes is that the basic insurance will only pay out USD $20 per Kg), they looked at the fuel guage & in the tank (it was flashing on empty but probably about 0.5 gallon).

I was told that the price would be the same from Panama City, Panama to Cali or Bogota or Medellin.
Panama : All staff were helpful. Senor Renifer Chong was very helpful and he spoke reasonable English.

NOTE : Get your passport bike stamp cleared in Panama City before you take the bike for flying.
Upon leaving I realised that I hadnt cleared Customs - thats what lack of sleep & beer do to you :( & I had a hectic 2hrs trying to persuade the customs virtually at the terminal to cancel the bike form my passport. They wouldnt as I needed a PTJ form, and the only place for this was in Panama City at the PTJ (the immediately local police cant do this). Luckily on the way out I caught a customs guy at the roundabout at the outskirts of the cargo terminal, near the bus terminal - and he was a star. He reviewed the docs & the bike & as all was in order he cancelled my stamp. So back to Copa the bike went. The bike was flying early out the next, and I didnt see anyone packing it up.

Recommendations :
Visit Copa Carga before you plan to ship the bike
So, although the guy at the further away customs will review your docs & cancel your stamp, this may not always work & I would recommend going to the PTJ office in advance.
Get your bike booked in first, then get your own airline tickets. Aside from the usual Copa & Avianca, have a look at :
www.aires.com.co
www.ada-aero.com - this gives very good passenger prices but I couldnt work out how to buy a ticket ! try it & youll see, you have to register & be contacted.

Medellin :
I spent a long weekend in Cartagena & fly into Medellin. At Cartagena exit they took both copies of my customs form.
At Medellin the cargo terminal is 10 mins walk from the passenger terminal & 15 mins after arrival & 76k Colombian Pesos lighter Im ready for customs. I didnt need a tramite, and although lack of a customs form caused some consternation, customs was done in 80 minutes. All very friendly & helpful.
Bike was not damaged & looked like it had arrived by magic - but then I was so glad to see it.

No problems. In and out of the Airport at Darwin in 2 hours. The BMW was weighed (265kg) Dangerous goods came and inspected it,(about 10 litres of fuel left). Graeme Lee was away on leave, but his replacement, Sacha Couzens was really helpful. Her e-mail address is scou...@hellmann.com.au Nothing was a problem to her. We needed an address in Singapore so I made one up,and rang Hellmann in Singapore when I had found a place to stay. We used Hellmann in Singapore to clear the bikes for us. The contact is Ms Yatie Salleh. E-mail address is nsal...@sg.hellmann.net They charged about $AUD80.00 to clear our two bikes . That is the way to go. We were out of Singapore Airport in under two hours. The cost to truck my bike out of Singas was going to be $130.00(Singapore)Go to the Automobile Association, 336 River Valley Road, Singapore, phone 6333 8811. They are very helpful and we were out of there in an hour or so. They sold us one months Motor vehicle insurance, for Malaysia and Singapore and an International Circulation Permit, for $143.00 (Singapore) Both these are compulsory in Singas. If you are riding directly from the Airport to Malaysia (recomended) you will not need to pay any road tolls.