Shipments done by Travellers

Very simple to do. I trailered my bike from Florida to Montreal in August 2016. I bought a roundtrip ticket on Air Canada from Montreal to Brussels $700 US, which allowed me to book the bike in Cargo on the same plane. $700 US each way for the bike. Before driving to Montreal I got a dangerous good certificate for the bike each way. Cost about $150. Delivered the bike over to cargo in Montreal. They strapped the bike in on a pallet. Got on the plane, arrived in Brussels, went to cargo and picked up the bike and rode into the sunset for a month. Same procedure on the way back. Some charges at cargo in each country ... I think about $75 at each end.

That price was for TWO bikes (BMW F650GS and Honda NX250), and our luggage, leathers, helmets, and anything else we could squeeze into the crate. Included crating, loading into the shipping container, all the fees and paperwork on the Australian side.

All we had to do was drop the bikes off at th ecrating warehouse, empty the tanks, disconnect the batteries and walk away. Once the bikes landed in Canada I did the paperwork and legwork to get them released (which wasn't very difficult, and saved us some agency fees).

Marc is sort of a middleman/fixer, with contacts in the shipping business, but both him and the guy he found to do the leg work knew their stuff, talked through all the options with us, and there were no problems when I suggested I'd do some of the steps myself to bring the price down. They were really understanding about the traveller's budget.

Loads of communication; I skyped them a few times to hash out details and change some minor elements, and they were the ones who mentioned when I'd changed something that brought the price down, and adjusted their quote appropriately.

Overall, highly recommended. Feel free to pm me if you want more details or have questions. A

I have flown my bike three times. By far Air Canada offers the best service for shipping motorcycles. Drive up and drop the bike off, show up on the other end to a properly strapped bike with helpful and quick staff.

- Emails were answered very swift by Pan Europa, excellent support.
- A Carnet de Passage (CDP) is now also accepted for the temporary import of a vehicle in Mongolia. In this case no additional costs or fees are generated.
- The indicated price (1280 Euro) includes also the rent for the crate (reusable), but you can also build a crate on your own, which reduces the price.
- I did not have any contact with the Mongolian customs, everything was arranged before I arrived. I simply visited the office of MonEx (The partner of Pan Europa in Ulan Bator) and there I received the stamped CDP and the licence of my bike. This took me 20 minutes.
- MonEx is located in the in the 4th or 5th floor of the Vista-Office Building in Ulan Bator (GPS: N47.910523, E106.91259).
- A staff of MonEx drove me to their container Yard (GPS: N47.906234, E106.880628). I assembled the front wheel in the motorbike and my travel begun ... So, getting the bike in UB was a very easy and short process.
- The pure transport time is approx. 18 days, but you have to deliver the bike to Pan Europa in Thamm approx. 30 days before the expected/required delivery date in Ulan Bator.

Dropping the bike off was all relatively simple and my panniers/helmet/riding gear/camping gear were all included in a separate box. Bike and gear was shipped on time, due to arrive three days before me in Vancouver.

Matzen Cargo used United cargo to ship the bike. The bike went to San Francisco and then trucked to Seattle where it stayed for one week due to the Seattle depot losing my paperwork and then flat-out lying about it. I spent a week in Vancouver ringing everyday, speaking to a new person who had no idea what I was talking about but still having them try to blame, San Fran, Australia, the trucking company, and me!

The bike arrived in Vancouver and I was told I could collect it anytime before 8pm. I arrived and they said customs closed at 4pm (everyday), so I spent the night trying to sleep in the airport. (if you've ever tried to sleep in an airport with a jerry can and a motorcycle battery, then you'll know how many times you get interrogated....and quite rightly so!)

When i finally got the bike, Matzen had crated it but without a solid roof, so some buggerlugs somewhere down the line had stacked something on top of it and snapped my windscreen braces off, which left a gaping hole above the dash and headlight. Cue an enormous amount of gaffa tape to fix it up.

Matzen Cargo themselves are not so much of the problem. United Cargo are ridiculously inept. Christian Matzen chased up United at least twice a day and certainly showed his displeasure at them.
If you're flying out of Sydney, then I'd go Matzen, just insist on a fully solid crate. I definitely blame myself for not considering that, but that's what a learning experience is!

Oh, and in case it's not clear yet, don't let United Cargo anywhere NEAR it!!!!