This very detailed post was forwarded to me by a trans-Af mate off some travellers' FB page.
Don't know the traveller below, but assume it's fairly recent info.

Ethiopia- getting in and out with a foreign vehicle.
I rode in from Kenya at Moyale. I flew out of Addis to Rome. Some people have entered from Djibouti, but I have no information on that process.
I finished up a 9.5 month ride in Africa last year, riding through 35 countries, finishing in Ethiopia. It was worth the extra effort and cost to get into, as it is an incredibly diverse and interesting country.
In a nutshell, they used to accept the carnet, then they used the C32 east africa import permit, now they require you to be sponsored by a tour company (basically a useless guarantee) to import a foreign vehicle. To sum it up you-
-sign a contract with a tour company
-tour operator gets a permission letter for you to entry with your vehicle from the Minister of tourism
-you take that letter to the Ethiopian Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya
-Nairobi embassy gives you another permission letter that you email to the tour operator
-Tour operator applies for a TIP with Addis Ababa customs
-Addis customs grants permission with a letter for you, but also sends confirmation to Moyale customs
-you show up with copies of everything at Moyale and they inspect the vehicle and grant the TIP

Ashenafi Kassa +251944363356
Celebrity Tours 9.042413, 38.758899
The office is kind of hard to find, best to call or message him first. He was very helpful, gave me a lot of good advice. I would trust him.
I negotiated the price of $700 with Ashenafi for him to sponsor me. Customs at Moyale charged nothing for the TIP. I was the only person he did the permit for at the time. If he does more vehicles at once, it is cheaper as it breaks down to like $300 per vehicle and $400 for his service fee. I couldnt find anyone else going so i had to pay $700.
It took 17 days to get the TIP from the date I contracted with Ashenafi to sponsor me. Some of that was Ethiopia holidays, some was Kenya holidays as they close customs and the embassies on holidays. There was some errors on one letter we had to get corrected before completing at the Nairobi embassy, other than that it was just waiting for paperwork.
Nairobi Ethiopia Embassy- -1.28641, 36.80914
I went here about 6 times, first to inquire about a visa and tip, then like 5 more times to finish up the TIP paperwork.
I only met with Minister Dabang Ruot Gach (+254797241655) for dealing with the TIP paperwork. Originally he said I needed to contract with tour operator in Ethiopia, get them to write a letter to Minister of Tourism, who would also write a letter to the Minister of Customs, who would send a permission letter to the tour operator, who would forward it to me, then I could give it to Dabang, who would give me another permission letter to send back to the tour operator, who would send it to the Minister of Customs, who would send permission to Customs at Moyale to let my bike in.
In the end I needed The letter from the Minister of Tourism, a letter from me, requesting permission and detailing my travel plans in Ethiopia, passport, vehicle papers, and the tour company contract to get the permission letter from the Nairobi Embassy. Eventually i got everything he wanted and the Embassy gave me the letter. I then went to Moyale and waited to get in as they still needed to finish the TIP in ethiopia. It is also important to specify which borders you will enter and exit from, as its stated on your TIP and if you try to exit a different border, it will cause a lot of problems. Ethiopia take excess bureaucracy to a new high.
I had put Bole airport in Addis ababa as my exit point as I planned to fly to Istanbul, but ended up flying it to Rome. I contacted Panafric as my friends used them in 2023 to fly their bikes out of Addis Ababa. Initially they responded to my messages, and we ended up having a meeting in Addis Ababa, but they didn't get me any shipping quotes from airlines worth using. If I did it again I would contract Panafric to do the Dangerous Goods(DG) document and the palletization and delivery of the bike to the airport, no more. I would go to the airport and talk to Emirates, or Turkish airlines, etc cargo sales people in person to arrange the shipment. Basically there is two ways to do ship a bike on a plane:
1- contract with the airline directly,
2- hire a freight forwarder (like Panafric) to contract with the airlines for you.
I tried to do it this way, but Panafric got me quotes eventually, but Ethiopian airlines wanted $7000 and Turkish wanted $3000 to fly Addis to Istanbul.
Eventually I went directly to the Emirates cargo office at Bole airport in Addis Ababa and immediately got a quote from them.
So I dealt directly with Emirates for the shipping, then I contracted with Panafric for the dangerous good document, palletization of the bike, and delivery of the bike to the cargo terminal at Bole. There are other logistics agents in the same building as Panafric on the 3rd floor. I never got any quotes from them, but wouldn't hurt to check it out as everything didn't go smoothly with Panafric.

Panafric- big office building 9.012514, 38.768942
Bete Berhan Building | Kazanchis| Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Telephone: +251 0115517092 | Mobile: +251-902483175
Saron +251912193217
Dagwamit +251924407481
Sarong@panafricglobal.com
Sales@panafricglobal.com
Panafrica warehouse is in the south end of Addis. here-
8.913795, 38.761916

Panafric final bill was 37564 birr

For actual shipping I went to the cargo terminal of the airport and talked directly with-
Eyuel Emirates cargosalesman +251911505402
skycargoadd@emirates.com
Emirates cargo office at Bole. It says Emirates SkyCargo on the side- 8.980055, 38.782955
Main customs office is in the same building. I had to drop off my bike documents here first.
Final shipping bill was 78855.65 birr from Emirates. The bank rate was 58birr/$1 then. The bank rate is 127birr/$1 now.

It took me all day to get my bike through Bole airport ready to fly as I had to go through customs, then wait for the bike to be delivered, then have it inspected twice, have security and customs look at it, get AWB and sticker from Emirates, and wait to have it X rayed.
It went something like this-
Customs office with import documents
Call for bike
Check in with Emirates
Go to Panafric office for invoice receipt
Get AWB sticker for bike
Unload bike
Go upstairs for customs office
Pallet jack bike in bay 21
ET customs inspection. They look at everything
Have DG document and Shipping instructions ready
Fill out shipper/consignee form for Emirates
ET checks DG documents
Panafric adds DG and shipping info papers to bike
ET measures and weight bikes
Fill out civil aviation security form
Security needs copy of everything. Then around 6pm I was finally done, other than paying Emirates. Lots and lots of waiting, and paperwork and more waiting.

I landed in FCO in Rome, Italy 4 days later. The bike went through Dubai on the way there. I went to Cairo for a few days while I waited. It took less than 2 hours to do customs work. It took me longer to put the bike back together. I had to pay 25 euros and 18 euros for paperwork to Emirates to release my bike. Italian customs didnt charge me anything. They just needed my title, Registration, insurance, passport, and I think the air wayward bill. Pretty straightforward.

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Morocco Overland 4 (2025) • Trans Morocco Trail