Home Shipments done by Travellers

Shipments done by Travellers

The HU Shipping Database!

From THIS page, you can find details of shipments ALREADY MADE by travellers, both air and sea, so you can plan your own shipment.

For each shipment, the details include Shipping Date, Cost, Shipper Contact details and a Description of the experience, often including very detailed and extremely useful information about the requirements for crating or the paperwork involved at the destination location.

If you are aware of any more up-to-date information, or you know of any shipping details for locations which aren't listed below:

Please let us know here for minor details, or
Submit information on a shipment YOU HAVE ALREADY MADE here.

Thanks to all who have contributed this information, keep it coming!

NOTE: This is not our normal view, but Google's API has somehow broken the view with a map and everything nicely laid out. We will fix it as soon as possible, but it's a very big job for us. Any Google API experts feel free to contact us! For now this will have to do, sorry.

Usage: Enter one or more of the fields, as you wish. Blank field means "all". Be sure to use correct country names, e.g. "United Kingdom" not UK or England. Unfortunately "united states" (united states of america doesn't work) gets United Kingdom as well, just work down to the bottom or last page. Not case-sensitive. Results sorted by newest first.


Shipment: From Sydney, Australia to Amman, Jordan - August, 2013

Air
Choose a Rating
Yes
Clarke Global Logistics
http://www.clarkeglobal.com.au

Clarke Global Logistics

Phone: +61 3 9854 300

Martin Moyano
martin@clarkeglobal.com.au

I searched for a while in Australia to find a shipper that was even interested in shiping my bike to the middle east, particularly as I wanted to send it by air.

I finally came across Clarke Global, who turned out to be great  Importnatly, as I was transporting by air, they use airlines that designate bikes as Non-DG or 'non-dangerous goods', which pretty much halved the price from the other quotes I got.

Shipping by air didn't cost that much more - well, perhaps about double sending by sea.  But the advantages are it only takes a couple of days as compared to two months - and there are fewer risks of damage to the bike.

I'd also heard some real horror stories about getting clearance at the port in Aqaba, like taking several months to get cleared - and because I wanted it sooner.

There was a minor issue in KL when the bike was switched from Malaysian Air to Royal Jordanian.  Once they heard about it, they got on to both companies and sorted in a day.

Once the bike hit Jordan, it was more complicated than I thought it might be - for example, I'd heard you don't need a Passage d'Carnet in Jordan.  If you ship it in by air, you do need one.  But it can be easily sorted here...if you (or your clearance company) know the right people.

I was stoked with Clarke Global performace and professionalism - I'd definatly use them again.

2500
500

Shipment: From Veracruz, Mexico to Hamburg, Germany - August, 2013

Sea
Choose a Rating
Yes
Enrique Reyes Hidalgo y Asociados S.C.

Enrique Reyes Hidalgo y Asociados S.C.
Calle Emparan No. 74

Emilio
I just shipped my BMW R 80 GS from Veracruz, Mexico, to Hamburg, Germany, for about 1000.- Euros, including the costs in Germany and the construction and disposal of the wooden box.
 
I had it packed at Madeiras Rivera (in Calle Echeven, Veracruz) for  3480.- Pesos, where “Enrique Reyes Hidalgo y Asociados S.C.” (Calle Emparan No. 74) picked it up by truck and did all the mexican customs formalities plus the boarding, for wich they charged 8082.- Pesos.
 
I cared for the german customs myself and had to pay an additional 300 Euros for deposit, harbour fees and the disposal of the box.
 
Both mexican companies provided absolutely reliable, stress - free and friendly service, so I can definitely recommend them.
950
400

Shipment: From Delhi, India to Antwerp, Belgium - August, 2013

Sea
Choose a Rating
Yes
Lalli Singh

Bikes crated and cleared in Delhi, transported to Mumbai and shipped by sea (all included in Lalli's price).  Took 5 weeks to reach Antwerp, another two weeks to get it cleared.  See my post on the HUBB.

600
620

Shipment: From Perth, Australia to Dili, East timor - August, 2013

Sea
3/5 - Average
Yes
Toll

Shipping bike Darwin to East Timor.

 
Here are a few notes from my recent experience. I tried to air freight my bike (Suzuki DRZ400) from either Perth or Darwin to Dili. Rang Air North freight who have a message directing you to call Qantas, after being on hold for over 20 mins twice finally got thru on third attempt and they told me to talk direct to Air North, the usual bulldust runaround.
After pleading with receptionist at Air North who told me to ring Qantas she put me thru to a helpful guy who actually loads the aircraft. He advised that they could do it no worries from Darwin but the aircraft door was one meter by one meter so if crated had to be max that size, length was not so important. Otherwise take bike apart and send it in bits smaller than that.
I obtained a shipping crate from Suzuki dealer which was slightly larger but if you compress the rear suspension with a strap and cut shipping crate down slightly it would work, all good to go.
Rang back Air North to book and helpful guy was away, spoke to his boss and she said it could NOT be done and I should not be dealing with them but to talk to Qantas who are their agent.  After explaining that I was actually trying to give them business and spend my money she asked me to hold while she called local agent on other line, I could hear the conversation which went something like " Nah its too hard you have to put the bike on a pallet which won't fit thru door, tell him to ship it" she came back to me and said it won't be possible.
I explained that I did not need a pallet and could crate it to fit but she just said "no we are not interested in putting motorcycles on our planes, goodbye"
End of airfreight idea. 
 
So then call to Toll International in Darwin, boy what an outfit.
" Can you give me shipping schedule for August please ?" this was in June.
 "No we can't it changes all the time" 
" when will you know?" 
"A few days before sailing"  
" well I need to send my bike by truck from Perth can you be a bit clearer?" 
" No not at this time try to call at end of July"
 " that won't work I need to have some idea so I can arrange trucking, oh and can I send it to your yard to hold till shipping?"
  " No we cannot accept it until Carnet is stamped by Customs, in Darwin"
"So I see, I have to get my bike to Darwin have it inspected by Customs, Carnet stamped, then sent to your yard at an as yet unknown date for shipping and arrange my airfares from Perth to Darwin and on to Dili but  you can't tell me when the boat is leaving so I can do all this in time"
" that is correct--- good luck"
 
After several calls the young woman finally agreed that I could send to her email an unstamped copy of the Carnet together with a copy of my passport and then bring stamped Carnet when I got to Darwin. Customs in  Darwin said that they did not actually have to see the bike to check engine and Vin numbers it was up to their personal discretion and If they wanted to check they would go to Toll.
 
So put bike in Suzuki steel crate which is mainly thin angle iron, but it is made to fit! Wrapped it in heat shrink plastic and for good measure tech screwed thin ply to outside of crate with two small inspection holes for customs to see numbers, these were not required. This allowed me to also pack inside crate tool box, spray chain lube and air filter oil and small life jacket with CO2 cylinder for the eight dodgy Indo ferry rides I would be taking. These would have been difficult to take on plane. Bike put on truck to Darwin to Toll International shipping yard, then when finally given sailing date booked flights, which of course were by now the most expensive.
 
Sailing date changed three times between trucking bike and me getting to Darwin so I had a few extra days available in Darwin to sort things. Turned out to be simple, went to Customs they stamped Carnet, drove down to Toll paid freight got copy of draft way bill and all done.
Boat leaving on Sunday will be there Monday morning. Flew to Dili Friday morning found Toll office got info re paperwork required for Dili Customs was told boat on schedule come in Monday morning to get way bill, boat docking Monday you should have bike either Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning, all good.
Hired small bike from Tiger Fuel to get around and fronted up Monday morning. ." Sorry Sir ship is still in harbor will not be docking until tomorrow, enjoy your rest in Dili" A useful phrase that I heard every day for the next week! Boat finally docks Thursday night and I get message to say bike will be ready Friday 2 PM. So back to Toll ,which is quite a way  out of town, collect way bill and head to Customs back in town at the port, and they are on  lunch from 12-2.
WAIT.-----WAIT some more! Finally get Carnet stamped then back to Toll. then walk across yard to another Customs man who wants copies of Everything before stamping a release. Then of course my crate is in the very back of the  container but the guys are great and get a fork lift and move stuff to get it out.
I start unscrewing ply and crate and two guys come over to help,they stayed until we had the bike out of crate and reassembled. They helped put front wheel and handlebars and controls back together, a great assistance. I tipped them really well as it was bloody hot work in the Dili sun.
So finally got it done and started the ride to Borneo. I had done this route once before  in 2009 with my Toyota Landcruiser, the shipping company then was Perkins and it went much smoother and simpler. Seems like there are many sections to Toll and they don't always talk to each other, all their staff were actually very helpful, but god  who would want to work in such a system?  
As for Air North, if they keep turning away paying customers some better operator will one day take them over, well I live in hope!
146
200

Shipment: From London, England to Anchorage, Alaska, USA - August, 2013

Air
5/5 - Excellent
Yes
James Cargo
http://jamescargo.com
Giles Ernsting
In the UK we took the bikes to the James Cargo warehouse near Heathrow about 2 weeks before we flew.  All paperwork was done by email prior to this.  We only had to ensure very little fuel was left in the bikes.  We shipped our panniers together with camping gear and some bike spares etc. We also shipped our helmets.  JC helpfully packed them in a cardboard box to easily show if they had been damaged in transit.
 
The bikes arrived a couple of days after us in Anchorage (JC emailed the airway bill just prior to our departure, we obtained EPA exemption from US govt well before departure).  Import paperwork was sorted at the customs office on the first floor of the arrivals terminal. (No fees) The customs guys were very friendly and helpful.  Once the agricultural officer had inspected the cleanliness of the tyres, we were able to collect the bikes from Fedex's huge depot, about a 15 min walk from the terminal.  
 
We paid a nominal $15 at Fedex and went out to the quiet end of the carpark where the bikes got delivered by forklift for us to uncrate. The bikes were strapped to a timber base pallet but the sides and top were enclosed in a mixture of timber and cardboard, so tools were required to unpack the bikes.  We were told to leave the packing material in a neat pile for Fedex to dispose of.  The bikes had not been dismantled at all so could be literally ridden off the pallet.
$2400
$15

 

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