Container room; Seattle to Vladivostok
 

I friend and I are planning on a trip to Siberia/Mongolia this summer. So far, I made plans on getting a 20 container. There should be room for at lease 2 other bikes. Was wondering if anybody was interested in sharing a container with us. So far this is only a tentative plan. In the next couple of days I’ll have an idea about cost.

Mahalo

Joemama
Maui, Hawaii

Hi,

Keep me informed.
I,ll arive in Alaska in jun... want to go to Magadan or Vladivostok...

So.. seatle is one of my options.

Maarten

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- www.maartensworld.com -
- Some photo's -

I and my friend are going from Europe to Mongolia and Siberia. So far it seems that we have to go back about same route.

We have tried to find some cheap way to get to States or Canada. Air cargo seems to be too expensive for our budget. If anyone knows ship companies which can take us and our bikes and carry us over the sea let me know.

Hi Suzi,

From Vladiwostock (east rusia) you can go almost anywhere by boat.

Maarten

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- www.maartensworld.com -
- Some photo's -

Hi,

I am going (trying) to ride from Magadan to Istanbul this summer, but am having much trouble in finding transport into Magadan. I know ships go there often in summer, but so far the only option has been to "purchase" a whole container. Panalpina (in Anchorage) suggested sea freight from Seattle - but so far no news. I have Vladivostok as plan B, which it seems is a little easier to get to. My cut off date is about 15-May. ANy advice on Magadan and how to get a bike there much appreciated.

I am following up with Panalpina becasue they helped 3 guys get their bikes over there in summer 2003 (http://blue-dunes.munro.cc/)

Adrian

Update on our plans.
Attempting to arrange an container proved to be a logistical nightmare. Only shipping company that seems to ship thru the Russian Pacific ports is Fresco (spelling?) Dealing with them proved difficult. They didn’t seem to interested in assisting us with our needs. It appears they tend to be only interested in corporate level of shipping.

We decided to go with our original plan. Ship our bikes thru to Japan, and take the ferry to Vladivostok. Shipping 2 bikes from Honolulu to Tokyo is only $1000.

Please feel free to PM me if you have any questions. I’ve spent untold hours preparing for this trip.

Mahalo and good luck,

Joemama
Maui

Maarten, where did you ship your bike to from vladivostok? Especially interesting would be to know the company or the agent... The only direct shipping (i mean withouth changing the ship) from vladik is to Seattle and San Francisco with Fesco, at least that's what I found out last summer. Maybe I didn't find the right person!

Most people still go over Japan or Korea (no cpd needed) and ship it from there.

Marco
http://www.schnueriger.net

Like Joemama, I've spent a huge amount of time attempting to arrange bike transport to Eastern Russia this summer, and found it surprisingly difficult and somewhat frustrating. Some comments based on this experience:

Ocean freight isn't necessarily cheaper than air freight - if one has to rent a container for only one bike, ocean freight turned out to be considerably more expensive than air for a Seattle to Vladivostok route in my case. And, by all accounts air freight is much more reliable than ocean freight, the cargo often being days or weeks late with ocean.

I received a huge range of prices in quotes for air freight by different companies - the lowest was less than half the highest quote. Don't accept the first quote you get for a route as necessarily being typical for that route - try to get quotes from several companies.

I would suggest anyone planning a US to Vladivostok transport contact the Washington State office of STSlogistics for a quote. The email for my contact there is pillem@stslogistics.net. STS is a Russian company with worldwide offices; their website is www.stslogistics.net. Jim Oliver and two friends used this office of STS for a Seattle to Vlad transport last summer and were very satisfied.

Panalpina was one of the companies I contacted. They informed me they did not provide any service to an individual, but only to companies moving employees.

Adrian, are you attempting to find transport to Russia from Australia or North America? If it's N. America, I would recommend sending an email to the STS office mentioned above. For transport from Anchorage I also received a very good quote from a gentleman named Wayne Williamson (don't recall the name of his company), email address wwilliamson@sscw.com. Sorry I can't make much in the way of suggestions regarding transport to Magadan except to say everyone I've heard of transporting a motorcycle to/from Magadan has used Magadan Air, also called Mavial Air or Mavial Magadan air (don't recall the precise name) to/from Anchorage. Two Americans did ocean transport their bikes from Seattle to Sakhalin Island last summer using a company called Lynden International, cost $2200 per bike. Perhaps this company could also provide service to Magadan. Their contact was JHOLT@laf.lynden.com.

I hope this is of help to someone. It can indeed be a frustrating experience - I've contacted about 25 companies but wasn't even able to get quotes from most.

Mike