Shipments done by Travellers

We shipped two WR250's in one steel crate. (we welded two of the boxes together which are used by Yamaha to deliver the bikes to the dealer)

Marc Bodmer from Apextrans did an excellent job of shipping the bikes. He took extra time to make sure everything was in order and to help us trough the paper work. We would definitely use them again!

They have contacts worldwide so they can assist us with shipping the bikes back home again.

Arriving in Anchorage we got all forms stamped by customs (when you pass the custom control at the airport and see the stuffed Icebear turn around and go up the stairs where you will find the customs office). responsible for our crate was Pegasus at Anchorage where we could pick it up in the morning. they are at the old airport road, it's about a 15 minute walk from the terminal. You have to assemble the bikes outside even if it rains so bring a raincoat! Pegasus charges $50 for handling and $100 for disposing of the crate.

 I met Roddy, co owner of moto freight, on a bike show in Utrecht Holland. They are extremely professional but they also have that personal touch. They helped out a lot with the paperwork & gave really good tips and advice. I had a good feeling and was happy to trust my bike to them. Roddy, his partner and all the staff are bikers.

E-mails were answered in full and very promptly. 

Bike arrived in Anchorage in a sturdy crate, everything neatly packed and bubble wrapped. 

A detailed description was supplied about getting the bike out of customs along with their address and a description on how to find the office, also the same for the fed ex building, a step by step guide. Really handy.

Would definitely recommend them and would use them again.

Happy and safe travels..... Vince

Shipping from Vancouver Airport (VYR) Canada, 9-11 June 2017 (EU Passports)

We first found out that it appears impossible to air freight motorcycles to or from the USA, so we decided on Vancouver to ship our motorcycles by air to Seoul, South Korea.

Greg Locher, Managing Director of Locher Evers International was the most responsive and thus our chosen shipper. 

The original quote for 2 BMW F700GS motorcycles based on 540kgs and 5.52m3 (230x100x120cms) was: Can$2779

We were asked to provide the following documents:

– A pro-forma invoice listing:
– Shipper address – my name and home address
– Consignee address – my name with the address of the person we used in Seoul who organised the customs clearance, Wendy Choi (see Seoul arrival)
– Description of goods – ie motorcycle – value (nominate currency £,€,$ etc) and “Personal effects – no commercial value”
– Photocopy of our passports
– Photocopy of the motorcycle registrations – V5 in our case

We provided an indicative collection date range and we confirmed the actual collection date 10 days before collection.

Motorcycle preparation: battery needs to be disconnected and terminals taped. Any alarm/navigation system needs to be disabled. Motorcycles must have less than a quarter tank of fuel. No flammable liquids/cans/glues allowed in the luggage. Crucial in order to obtain the necessary Dangerous Goods Declaration (DGD).

Motorcycle crating: was done by BMW-Ducati Vancouver who use BMW shipping crates. They sent photos to the shipper in Vancouver. The final invoice was done after collection of the crated motorcycles, each weighing (342kgs/crated) and measuring (2.780m3) per motorcycle. The cost for the crating was Can$250 per motorcycle.

It is crucial to request 1 Airway Bill (AWB) per motorcycle, South Korean Customs will only clear motorcycles for entry into South Korea on their own AWB. We had heard that a couple had to leave their motorcycles crated for transfer to the Donghae-Vladivostok ferry in 2015 as their 2 bikes were on 1 AWB.

After collection, measuring and weighing by the shipper, Locher Evers International, we received AWBs, DGDs and Customs documents. All correspondence and contact was done via email.

Total cost: Can$ 1,574 per motorcycle (a little more than quoted without the additional weight of the crating) plus Can$250 for crating. 

Our Contacts:

Justin Foley
Service Manager
High Road Vancouver BMW|Ducati
Just...@highroadcollection.com
highroadvancouver.com

Greg Locher
Managing Director
LOCHER EVERS INTERNATIONAL
Greg.Locher@LEI.ca
www.LEI.ca

Arriving Incheon Airport (ICN) South Korea, 12-13 June 2017 (Australian Passports)

Based on information in various motorcycle travel forums, we decided to self clear the motorcycles, and use Ms Wendy Choi wend...@gmail.com to facilitate the South Korean Customs temporary import insurance and motorcycle insurance for the duration of the vehicles’ stay in South Korea. Wendy Choi will provide copies of the documents to South Korean Customs ahead of your arrival along with the Airway Bill number which we provided to her. Note that each motorcycle needs to be on a separate Airway Bill, we have met a rider who had two motorcycles on one airway bill in 2013. They were not allowed to bring the motorcycles into Korea and had to transport them crated to Donghae for reexport. 

We understand that the customs temporary import insurance removes the requirement for a refundable import bond, which is costed at 200% of the value of the motorcycle. This is refundable on the motorcycles departure from Korea, but can be problematic with foreign bank accounts, hence the preference for the former option by South Korean Customs.

The costs per motorcycle were as follows:

USD 160 – Temporary Import Insurance (based on engine size, ours was 798cc) (instead of charging 200% import duty and getting same back on exit)
USD 78 – Korean driving Insurance, (depends on driving dates, exchange rate) – takes approx 1 week to obtain
USD 100 – Wendy’s handling and documentation fee
KWN 94,000 – for two days’ storage and handling by Korean Air Cargo (KAC)

The first three items are paid directly to Wendy Choi, we used USD cash. The KAC fee is paid at their cashier’s office, but note KAC only accept Korean Won (KRW) cash. 

Alternatively, one can have a broker organise the clearance and delivery off the airport island of the motorcycles, we did not look into this so cannot comment on process and cost. 

Assuming that you arrive at Incheon Airport (ICN) Passenger Terminal, and your motorcycle has already arrived, you can undertake the first step on arrival with South Korean Customs. The relevant South Korean Customs office is located in the Passenger terminal, level 2 (Arrivals Level), room 7. This is open from 9am-6pm (09:00-18:00). We were told that if the motorbike arrives in the afternoon, we should go the following morning first thing, however, because our motorbikes arrived a day earlier than scheduled, we wanted to minimise the extra warehouse costs so we did the customs clearance at 4pm (16:00).

All you need for this stage is your Airway Bill number. The temporary import insurance and motorcycle insurance having already been provided. If you don’t speak Korean and no Customs officer there at the time speaks English, they will call an interpreter for you. A number of phone calls ensued and it took about two hours for the process to be completed. No charges were incurred.

At the end you will be given:

– a large yellow circular ‘sticker’ – you have to keep it with you while riding and hand it back upon leaving South Korea to make sure you don’t incur a fine.
– a completed and stamped temporary import/export declaration form.
This competes all paperwork and interaction with South Korean Customs at the Passenger Terminal. You will now need to go to the Cargo area to collect your motorcycle. There is a free shuttle bus to the cargo area, ask Customs where to catch it. We went by taxi from our hotel the next day. Note the Cargo area is quite extensive and you will need the actual location of your handling agent as well. Some walking may be involved if you use public transport.

Korean Air Services (KAS) were the handling agent used by our Vancouver shipper and are located in Building C. The actual office is located down the passageway, second door on the right after the stairwell. Here we learned that we needed to obtain the original Airway Bill (AWB) while we understood our motorcycles were flown here on Air Canada, in this case Korean Air Lines (KAL) had the original AWB and its about a 30 minute walk each way to the KAL cargo office. Luckily a KAS employee took us there and back in his car.

Be aware that the South Korean Customs officer located in the KAS cargo office who needs to process the AWB and temporary import/export declaration form now only work out of the KAS cargo office in the mornings until noon. On our return with the original AWB he then processed the AWB and temporary Import/export declaration form.

We now went to pay for KAS terminal handling and warehouse fees. The KAS cashiers office is located in building D, the next set of offices to building C separated by a warehouse storage area. The KAS cashiers will only accept South Korean Won (KWN) cash. There is an ATM outside, but it would not accept my VISA card, which worked at other locations. Luckily we had just enough KWN cash to pay. 

Cost of storage and handling was KWN 90,000 per motorcycle, double the expected cost as the motorcycles had arrived a day early. The advantage of having a broker do the work is that the motorcycles would have been cleared within 24 hours not 48. The KAS cashier will stamp the AWB and temporary Import/export declaration form, you will need to sign within the stamp, they then take the payment and stamp the forms again and return them to you. As this point get a copy made of the temporary Import/export declaration form. You will need the copy to get your motorcycle out of storage. 

MAKE SURE YOU RETAIN THE ORIGINAL TEMPORARY IMPORT/EXPORT DECLARATION FORM !!! You will need it when leaving the country.

Staff in the warehouse will take the copy of the temporary Import/export declaration form and get your motorcycle. It will be brought, crated in our case to the front of the warehouse on a forklift. If you are planning to uncrate at the airport, have the driver take the crate to the large rubbish containers normally located at the end cargo terminal buildings. Here all the waste packaging material is dumped and sorted. There was a person working there who disposed of our packaging and may have tools to help open a wooden case. Ours was BMW cardboard.

Once finished ride your motorbike out of the port, remembering that you cannot use either expressway to take the motorcycle off the Airport island. Take the Yeongjong Ferry located 37°29′32.77″N 126°34′52.1″E. to get to the Korean Mainland

See Visas and Borders section at 2slowspeeds for maps of Seoul collection points. Shipping costs from Vancouver include US$200 for crating the motorcycle. Arrival costs include all Customs amd Shipping paperwork costs. 

Arranging shipping was fairly organized, communication was a bit of a challenge but not too difficult over email. Dropped off the bike at their offices in Phnom Penh, they crated it and transported it to Sihanoukville where it was shipped a few weeks later.

My motorbike had been in Cambodia "too long", but at the time that could be taken care of, for an extra fee.

Sea voyage took about a month, probably stopped a few places along the way.

On the receiving side I used Yuri Melnikov of Links Ltd, I highly recommend him (Whatsapp +7 902 524-34-47). He wasn't so impressed with the shipper's organization, he found their paperwork to be poorly organized, but it was the first time they had worked together. My motorbike ended up at the wrong "fish" port instead of the commercial one, so that cost me some more time and money then normal to get out, but after a few days it was all taken care of and I was off through Russia and Mongolia!

Alzira at Bollore is great to deal with however can be a bit forgetfull when replying to email, a quick follow up and she's straight back to you.

I shipped my Africa Twin and another guy shipped his postie bike, our bikes were loaded into a container with some building supplies. Bikes were uncrated and strapped down to the container tie off points.

Ship was one day late leaving Darwin so therefore arrived Dili one day late (Same day we flew in). Went in the following morning to SVD Logistics who handled things Dili side, they required the Carnet be stamped by customs (Even though Timor Leste is not a Carnet country), 10min walk to port where we were in and out in 5min with stamped carnet, back to SVD who upon checking and copying carnet charged me $90US to release the bike (Guy with postie was $70US).

From there we had to walk back down to the port with our release form and go to the SVD office, we arrived at 11:30am and they were off to lunch which than goes through till 14:00hrs!! So off for a coffee and hurry up and wait, returned at 14:00hrs and was told the guy who has the keys was not there so had to wait another 1/2hr. Once he arrived we had to wait for a customs guy who didnt really do much, just wanted to check carnet and that was it.

Bikes were unloaded from container, batteries connected and we rode out. All in all pretty easy, just be patient.