Kyrgyz customs clearance help needed at Bishkek Airport
 

Hello there folks,

I will have a bike flown (Turkish Airlines) to Bishkek Airport on June 2 and was wondering if anyone has any experience with customs process or if you could recommend someone helping me out (my Russian knowledge is very limited and so is my reading skills).

I have contacted a couple of shipping agencies in Bishkek but no replies whatsoever, at least not yet (been waiting for 4 days..).

Thanks in advance and hope to see you on the road!

Lorry

Is there any customs clearance to do? When bringing bikes into The Kyrgyz Republic overland there is no customers paperwork.

That'd be sweet if I didn't have to but my bike and I will arrive separately (by air). As far as I know this means some paper work has to be sorted out before I hit the road.

Hi Lorry,
we did that last year. You have a few papers to fill out but after all it's pretty easy. I have a contact there speaking english and russian.
He helped us for a pretty fair rate.
Be carefull how long your bike stays in the clearance area. They charge you a fortune!
The guy's name is Tom and you can contact him here
trolltar <<AATT>> yandex <[DDOOTT]> ru
Say greetings from Claus and Jo from Germany :thumbup1:

Bishkek
 

What does the airlines say you will need from where you are shipping the bike? There will have to be some documents done. It will be good to have someone there that can help you. I just had some tires come in and they were trying to play games and tried to make me pay customs. We played along and in the end we did not have to pay anything. Just took us all day.
If you cannot find someone to help send me a message and I will do what I can to help you. I live in Sukuluk, not far from the airport.

Mac

Hey there,

Thanks for writing, appreciate it! You gotta love HU :) MY bike will arrive on Sunday so I guess they will charge for that day and the next but it's almost inevitable. Hopefully your fella, Tom can speed things up.
Cheers again and will definitely write about how things go with customs.
Lorry

Apparently I can't get away without charges like you did with the tires..So far I've got one quote from an agent in Bishkek but they're no cheap! Some 400 bucks for sorting out docs (that includes airport charges, too).
If nothing works out I will drop a line.

Cheers,
Lorry

Biskek
 

$400.00 sounds high to me. I will make some calls and see wbat I can find out. From where is your bike coming from? How long will it be in country?
Mac

We needed 2,5 hours last year for that and we had no problem at all.
We know him since 3 years now and he is a fine guy. Because he's on his own and no agency he won't charge you a fortune. I can't remember how much we paid to him.
If you need more to know about KG (contacts in osh, places to stay...) let me know.
:thumbup1:

Hey there Lorry, I just wonder how did you manage with the Turkish Airlines?
We have spoken with them several times but they werent really helpfull about carrying our bikes....

Cheers...

Looks like I've found someone to help me out in exchange of $100 plus airport fees (apparently not too significant). Really appreciate you're trying to help me though!

Yes, I contacted Tom and he told he would try to help. Thanks for putting me in touch with him.
You contacts in Osh? Please share. I'm pretty sure we can make use of it.

Cheers,
Lorry

Yeah...tell me about contacting airlines directly...Your best bet is to contact a whole bunch of cargo agents. I'm sending my bike from Hungary and a local agency hooked me up with one of their sweet deals. You need cargo air crafts because there is no volume restriction meanwhile passenger air crafts are extremely limited, some 150kgs max. weight and 80cm height limit as far as I know.

They quoted me $1500US for a 350kg package but no need for crate with them just a simple pallet and heavy duty wrapping foil. I will not even reach 300kgs with my DL 650, therefore they will charge under $1500.

Hope this helps!

Lorry

Thanks a lot for the info, it sounds like a really good price comparing to Istanbul. We had been offered enormous amounts from agents...

Hi Lorry. We are down in Osh. How can we help? CHeers. Patrik