Hi friends
Well, we are finally calling it a day a year and a half after we set off, our Harley is now in Rio , Brasil, and we are trying to figure out the best way to get our baby to the UK...anybody got any advice, info? Much appreciated, especailly as the shipping links on HU are down at the mo!
Many thanks, happy riding
Dan and Jacquie 2up, 2008 Road Glide-yes, Harleys do it too!!!

Hi
We have just returned from a trip from Alaska to Ushuaia and flew the bike back to the UK from Buenos Aires, we had looked at shipping it back (by air) from Rio but were advised against it because of beaurocratic hassle with Brazilian customs. Not sure how much truth there is in the matter but we had always planned for BA to be our final stop, so we did Brazil and Uruguay and then flew the bike back with Iberia Air freight, from what we can gather it went air freight to Madrid and then trucked back to the UK. We have a BMW GS Adventure and didn't want the hassle of reducing the cost by taking bits off (wheels, screen etc.) so we rode the bike onto a palette and let the guys at the airport shrink wrap and package the bike for its flight back. The cost of the shipping was $1435 US which was cheaper than most (Lufthansa $1800) the only additional costs were a handling fee (£70) and a £60 clearing fee at customs at Heathrow as apparently all customs clearing is done through clearing agents, I have been told. Not sure if you can reduce those costs by doing either yourself but again we were happy with the overall price. The whole process took us a couple of hours from landing at Heathrow to riding off on the bike. The booking with Iberia was organised by Sandra at Dakar Motos in BA, she was incredibly helpful and can work through the whole process with you (at a cost) or just do the booking and leave you to deal with customs when you take the bike to the Airport. The procedure for weighing the bike and then going back into the city to pay to get the waybill is slightly archaic but Sue went to the bank in BA and waited for my call and then paid the money (in cash) to seal the deal. Hope this helps as the last thing you need after an eventful trip is to get ripped off or cock up the final detail.

Graham and Sue

DUE SOUTH

don´t know about brazilian airfreight but I do know brazil is great in inventing bureaucracy, much more even than other latin american countries. I twice left the country by ship with a bike and was adviced to ´smuggle´ the bike on board ( the shipping agent drove it up to the ship saying at the entrance it was his bike...) in order to avoid all the hassle and money. and once I took my car with me on a ship and it took me exactly 1 week to get the necessary permits just to get the car in the portarea so I could drive it on board. (I was lucky the ship´s arrival was delayed too! )In e.g. Bs As that was a minute job.

i'm shipping my bike out to buenos aires in nov. using james cargo, i think they would ship back, worth a call/email

i spoke to Giles, was really helpful

James Cargo Services Ltd.
Tel: +44 (0)1753 687722 ext. 216
Fax: +44 (0)1753 687723
email: giles@jamescargo.com

Motorcycle Shipping, Transport and Freight