ive just got word my africa twin has left london bound for perth WA and have been told from the shipping agent out here in oz that it will cost me a further AU$1200 to collect it from the port in fremantle!!is that expensive or what??ive never shipped a bike before so not clued up on weather i need an agent to sort it for me or not so would like any info from bikers who have shipped over here in the past....
cheers cam

Hi Camnz,

That's rubbish. Get yourself a Customs Agent - give him your Carnet and get him to do the Clearance and organise the AQIS inspection.

Anyone charging $1200 is a rip off merchant. I export and re-import bikes from Aust to NZ, the UK and USA and would only pay that much for a container full of 20 bikes.

Hope you cleaned your bike properly as the Quarantine people can be very thorough.

Email me on dave@getrouted.com.au and I'll get my Melbourne Customs Agent to recommend someone in Perth.

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Kind regards
Dave Milligan

You can do the Customs/AQIS/Port clearance yourself, its a bit time consuming and can involve some running around - allow a day. Customs are usually very helpful and are not obstructive, one of the few Govt. Departments that actually seem to want to make things happen.

Customs and AQIS processes are usually handled in the same offices and you just hand over the carnet for stamping and the fees. Customs/AQIS will then tell you a time for inspections (Customs may inspect, AQIS WILL inspect), you have to be present for the inspections.

The costs - Customs - sorry dont have a clue. AQIS about $180 per inspection depending on where the inspection is done.

Other port costs that most people dont understand - the shipping company (the ship) charges a fee which pays for part of their costs for using the port. The Stevedores (the blokes who unload the ship) charge a fee. The transport company that moves your bike to a Customs warehouse charges a fee. The warehouse charges a fee to unpack the container. With a shared shipping container you pay a % of the fees usually based on the cubic measure of your bike or crate.

The costs can escalate very badly if AQIS inspect the bike and it fails. Most transport/warehouse companies do not have AQIS approved vehicle cleaning facilities and the bike/crate (sometimes the shipping container as well) has to go back to the (usually) port's vehicle cleaning facilities.

Goto the AQIS website and download their cleaning standards so that you know what they expect.

I was talking with a New Zealander last week and he paid over $2500 to clear his Nissan Patrol in Brisbane about 2 weeks ago. He broke about every AQIS rule going (full water tank, visible dirt, plus others) and got well and truly stitched up because of it. He was forced to pay for the removal of carpets, door trims, etc. for vacuuming and washing. I think AQIS enforced the "clean as new" rule on him. The AQIS costs were only a few hundred dollars, the other charges were horrendous.

Hey Bud,
I imported a bike into Sydney 2 years ago and got totally screwed even though the bike was registered in Australia, the custom officials here have a god like complex for sure. They made life as difficult as they could until I eventually had to get an agent. They then told me they had to send the bike for cleaning. I had steam cleaned the whole thing spotless myself before creating but they still charged me around 150$ to clean it as well as 200$ transport it to and from the wash area. I don't believe they washed the bike at all because there was other gear in the create and it was bone dry when I received it later that day but they charged me for it all the same. I shipped the bike from Europe for 600 Euro and was charged close to 1500$ to Import it.
In my opinion the Australian government seems to want to punish it's people for leaving this place, after all we have it all here.

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Ride on
Kev

Now I am scared! My bike arrives this week from Chile into Brisbane! Shipping fee was US$350 but I wonder how much it will be to get it out of the port. The above doesn't sound too promising.

Will let you know.

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www.yamarider.com

don't worry to much, i imported my old honda 3 months ago from dilli to darwin .it was not to bad . the custom guys just stamp t the carnet whitout any cost . the quarantine clearing was 92$ for the first half hour if it takes longer then it is 50$ extra (for every half hour ) mine was ready in the first half hour .watch out for the dead fly`s in the radiator .

Import Conditions Database - ICON - AQIS

Importing Motor Vehicles - DAFF

Gives the standards that AQIS are allowed to enforce.

It's not the AQIS costs that hurt, but all the additional transport and cleaning costs if your vehicle needs to be cleaned.

To ensure that you dont get stitched up make sure that you are present for AQIS and Customs inspections - that way you'll know if AQIS have ordered a re-clean or its just the brokers getting another $300 out you for doing nothing.

Do you really need a broker or would authorities allow clearance by yourself?

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www.yamarider.com

You can easily self clear, Customs and AQIS are easy to deal with, very helpful BUT dont break the rules they have to work with.

In June 2007 I got my bike shipped from Switzerland to Adelaide with Schenker Logistics. They did all the paperwork, customs and AQIS. Didn't have to do anything myself and picked the bike up at their Office in Adelaide. Paid 550 AU$ for the Aussie end.
Did the same again in Dec 2008 with another bike and paid 600 AU$.

I can give u an email address of a friend in Perth who brought his bikes over from South Africa sometime last year. He should know the price.

Greets

Claudio

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Just got the bill for my 270kg 2.12m3 crate:

International Freight Zero Rated 406.99
CMR Fee 10%=3.50 35.00
Security Surcharge 10%=3.50 35.00
Agency Fee 10%=5.50 55.00
Cargo Automation Fee 10%=3.50 35.00
Port service charge 10%=21.20 212.00
Docs and handling 10%=8.50 85.00
Terminal Handling Charges 10%=18.50 185.00

Comes to 1,113.19 including GST, however god knows what else I have to pay for customs and quarantine clearance.

Interesting is though that the shipping from South America to Australia is only 407 bucks and the Brisbane port charges are almost double that!

Now I wonder if I should have left the bike in Chile...

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www.yamarider.com

Ended up using a custom broker to help with the clearance process. This really hurts, since I was riding through all of South America and did all the border crossings without professional assistance.

Anyway, they charge AU$150 and do all the running and dealing with Customs, AQIS and the port. Ideally, if the bike passes inspection it should be ready for pick-up in 3-4 working days.

Here is the link to the agent.

S E A W A Y -Agencies

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www.yamarider.com

Mine just cleared in Perth $558 total!

cheers for all the info guys and gals not sounding as bad as i was expecting now.
just wondering dingo did your bike pass quarentine and did you clean it REALLY well??i forgot the radiators just hoping it was to cold in the uk for flys.....i dont remember seeing any?

I also shipped 2 bikes from Chile into Sydney, and it proved very expensive. AQIS werent happy with how clean the bikes were, even though Id spent the best part of a whole day cleaning them including steam cleaning! AQIS + steam cleaing + delivery to get steam cleaned totalled $570 per bike. Probably would have been cheaper to offload the bikes in Chile, although it is great to have it with me for the memories.

Also make sure you have all your paperwork sorted before the bikes arrive - I was waiting on special approval from DOTAR, as the first application was rejected, and ended up paying $15 per m3 a day storage waiting for the form in the mail - ended up taking 21 days and just over $1000 in storage alone for each bike. Disaster...