Shipments done by Travellers

Well now, did we go through a terrible experience...
In short:
- almost shipped to wrong destination
- agent forgot to send us the most basic papers or forgot about us
- motorcycle was dropped (fortunately only scratches and bruises)
- quote was different than invoice by cca 100-150$
- messed up our CPD (Carnet de passage)
- shipment was late 9 days

Long story:
Me and my girlfriend Irena are on an around the world trip starting from Croatia heading down North America to South America, Australia, Asia and back to Europe, Irena on Moto Guzzi Breva and me on Yamaha FZ6 Fazer. First big thing we had to do is ship our bikes to New York, USA so we got the best quote from Willenius Wilhelmsen and we decided to go with them. After we confirmed that we'll go with WW we only needed to bring our bikes, money and CPD to Bremerhaven, Germany (almost 1000 miles from Zagreb). CPD was requested even though the agent couldn't explain us why does he need it since everybody else told us that we don't need CPD for Germany or USA since we the bikes are registered in Croatia.

When we got to the agent, the sum on German side went up to €1450, but when I asked him over the phone he said it will be around 600€ per each bike, and in the quote it said:
170 € for THC, 460$ freight, BAF 55% per bike and 30$ per B/L -> well this looks great for someone who didn't have any clue what does that mean, so that's why I called to check in the end how much do we have to pay. If I did business like that to my customers, throwing tons of acronyms in different currencies I would be out of business very soon. And of course, they said that they cannot know what are the costs on receiving side even though later I got an invoice from the same company!? What is your phone dead, or don't you know how to tell me that I could made a call to them and asked!? But ok, all this I would think would be quite normal to expect when we try to cross Panama to Columbia, but Germany to USA!?

Ok, we can come across that they simply aren't interested in small fishes like we are, but than why didn't they redirected me to someone else who wants our money?

They don't accept any credit cards, only cash.

They took our CPD and said that they will send it back to us in Zagreb as soon as the motorcycles come on board their ship and they didn't know why they need CPD but they were sure that the German customs will need it. As we were going back to Zagreb for next two weeks and than we should be on a plane to New York to wait our bikes, they said that they will send the CPD by mail and took additional 50€ for express mail. We thought, that will be great because we will still be in Zagreb to receive it. But than, it came too late, it took them more than two weeks to send it and they had some excuses that it was their national holiday one day so they didn't work on that day. Even if we took that excuse as ok, that is one more thing that they, as an agent that we paid, should know. Thanks to my sister, she sent us the CPD to us in New York so we got it before we had to pick up our bikes.

One more thing with CPD, they stamped only our exit from Germany so it looks that we never entered it. I just hope that that isn't a problem when we try to pick up our 4000$ when we get back to Croatia.

When we were leaving our bikes at the terminal we saw that it said Halifax instead of New York on the papers so they had to change that, but luckly for us that we saw that, who knows where would our bikes be right now...

On the receiving side, when we got near the estimated day of arrival, our agent said that we will receive a notice of arrival. But the day came and we didn't receive any info about our shipment. Until then we had only our invoice and not a single piece of information more even though I called and emailed our agent a few times asking is he sure that we'll receive something and the answer was "of course, why wouldn't you". Well, after a few hours on the phone trying to explain USA agents (we had to find the number by our selves, because the German agents didn't want to give it to us) that we don't have our Bill of lading number, they said that we should call our German agents, and after some time we bagged them to check if they did everything, and look... they forgot to send us our Bill of Lading!!! Now they sent it and we called again USA agents, and they sent us our notice of arrival.

One interesting thing that they didn't mention before: the shipment was late, it came on Thursday evening and our motorcycles for some reason had to go through AQI and CET customs check. Again, they come up with some acronyms for which we had to google around to see what they are. AQI isn't a problem, it's an department of agriculture check to see if there is any foreign soil or similar on our bikes and they do it every working day. The CET check is different, US customs in port Newark (actually our bikes weren't shipped to New York - thing that we learnt later) does this check ONLY ON THURSDAYS! So we had to wait a whole week for that, and New York City isn't a cheap place to stay as a tourist, but thanks to CouchSurfing community we had some really excellent people who helpled us.

So the day that we can pick our bikes came. We got all the paperwork ready in customs and headed to the shipping terminal to pick up our bikes. When we got there we finally paid the last invoice to WW. Why they didn't know what will the amount be, just doesn't make any sense, it's the same company... When I got to the bike, I saw the scratches, but Irena's bike was fine. As it wasn't that bad, I just wanted to get away from there, but I really doubt that they would pay me anything for the damage.

PS If anyone is interested how we went through US customs, PM me because I don't want to talk about that publicly.

I shipped my 1500 Goldwing to Hungary in 2008 at a cost of $600.00 plus $200 entrance and set up fees with this carrier. I have already paid the $920 which was quoted at the new higher rate and I today recieved the following e-mail from Nora.
"I received all invoices from the customs broker, container terminal and from the warehouse.
The total you have to pay is $840. This amount is higher than expected but there is nothing I can do to lower it, the container terminal fees were really high we even had to pay for them to scan the container. I divided the charges among the customers.
As I sent you earlier In a previous email $100 is the storage fee until January 30th,2012".
Is there some kind of governing body that oversees these folks?
Tom Udulutch

On the Seattle, USA side, I used the customs broker services of:
Lisa Brooks
RADIANT GLOBAL LOGISTICS
405 114TH AVE SE, THIRD FLOOR
BELLEVUE, WA 98004
USA
Ph: +1-425-943-4549
Direct: +1 425-943-4511

Shipping by sea turned out to be much, much more expensive than I expected. Here's what I've learned: as a rough rule of thumb, it's less expensive to air freight if you're under 250 kg. Shipping by sea begins to make sense when: you can split the cost of a container with a lot of people, you have time, and you have a very large, heavy shipment (such as a car). When you ship by sea privately, you pay for an entire container, not for space or weight in a container.

A container out of Vladivostok to Seattle cost ~$5,000 USD. I split a container with another group shipping a car to Seattle. I paid Yuri $2,940 via a bank wire. He prefers USD if you pay in cash. My bill for port fees, inspections, and customs handling in Seattle was $590.

It took about three weeks for the container to cross the Pacific via South Korea. It took over a month to finally pick up the bike in the Seattle area.

The requirements for the motorcycle were: fuel had to be in the reserve range of the tank and the bike had to be very clean for US Customs - mud on the bike creates a potential biological threat from bacteria or insects. Customs takes this seriously, I've heard. I did not have to disconnect the battery. The motorcycle was shipped "loose" in the container, i.e. uncrated, but strapped in. I did not have to provide straps and a shipping agent strapped the bike down.

In Russia, I needed to provide scans of my: passport and visa, vehicle title, vehicle registration, customs declaration, and immigration card. Yuri handled the paperwork in Vladivostok. He took me in to the customs office to sign a few documents and that was it. In the US, I needed to provide scans of my: passport, vehicle title, vehicle registration. I signed forms for US customs power of attorney and customs declaration so Lisa could process the bike. Lisa provided the forms. Don't worry about the paperwork - your agent will tell you what you need and provide the rest.

I contacted Yuri based on recommendations from the HUB. He was easy to work with, speaks excellent English, and knows how to get things shipped. I think his prices are a little higher than others, but his service is very good. I would do business with Yuri again. He also knew where the Mix Mix Hostel was, which saved me considerable money. Hotels in Vladivostok are not cheap. Lonley Planet does not list any hostels in Vladivostok. Check out www.mixmix-hostels.com or vlad...@mm-hostels.com

The group shipping their car was using Radiant Global Logistics, so I used them as well. I had no problems.

Your alternative to shipping directly into or out of Vladivostok is to go through South Korea via ferry. The Dong Chun Ferry from Vladivostok to Sokcho no longer operates. The only ferry is DBS Cruise Ferry going from Vladivostok to Donghae. As of the fall of 2011, the price for a passenger with a motorcycle is ~$1,000. In Seoul, I contacted Hyosil Lee of Borg Air Sea Transport, Inc. (+82-2-757-9181). Although I did not use her services to air freight my bike, she would be the one I would call again. She was responsive and provided helpful information.

Great service, professional, helpful. Absolutely recommend these guys. The price was good and it even turned out to be slightly cheaper than quoted.

I got an alu/cardboard crate for free from a bike shop in Melbourne and for around 45 AUD Hermes picked it up for me and brought it back to their wahrehouse. I then put the bike in the crate in the warehouse. All very smooth.

They arranged for me to drop by at the customs house at the airport without the need for customs to see the bike. Got my carnet stamped and I was out of the country. Everything was so much easier than the previous shipments I had done from Mongolia to Thailand and from Jakarta to Perth.

I would def recommend this agent Hermes to anyone contemplating a similar shipment.

The bike arrived according to schedule. 1 month sailing time. There were additional charges in Rotterdam, payable to the agent who took the bike in (Cleve). Handled the customs myself and picked up the bike at the warehouse but it was still around 300 euro. That is expensive compared to the costs on the Australian side which included the shipping. But unavoidable I guess.

Very fast quote and accurate , the shipper always was clear with fact about the shipping and timming, getting the bike in Bogota was a bit more work but he did help with that too. For the shipping back he recommanded a great shipper Lyncargo Veronica Mosquera vero...@lyncargo.com she was very professional and help with everything, very easy and pleasant experience.

By the way Gaston is also a motorcycle rider so he does know a lot about bike and travel in SA