Motorbike shipping from Ulan Bator to South Korea
 

Hi all, forum newbie here.

I just finished a solo roadtrip from Valladolid (Spain) to Ulan Bator (Mongolia) on a Transalp 700, and am looking to ship the bike anywhere to South Korea and fly there myself. Has anyone done this before? (I checked the shipping database, but nothing came up). Can anyone recommend any particular company?.

I'll hit M&M Transport logistics services tomorrow and see what they cost (saw the recommendation in another thread), and I've been quoted 220EUR for the crate at the Oasis guesthouse.

Is it worth looking into air freight only?, or should I also look for companies willing to put it on the transiberian highway to Vladivostok and on a boat to Korea from there?

Before someone suggests riding to Vlad myself, I don't have a tourist/business Russian visa, and timing the ferry with a transit one might be a bit tricky (also, last time I had to get a Russian transit visa, in Astana, it took me 10 days, so I'm not too keen on repeating the experience).

Thanks for any info you can provide.

Hi

Yes, this can definitely be done, in fact I was in your position this time last year. By the time I got to Mongolia from Europe it was October and the day I shipped the bike the day time temperature in UB was -18degrees, so a little too cold to continue on to Vladivostock, my original plan.

I looked into road, train and air options and it turned out shipping by air was the cheapest.

I actually sent my bike to Mumbai but because of flight routes cargo has to go via Seoul. I called a few shipping agents and the cheapest I came up with was an independent guy Teserendug (pronounced like Serenduke). He hadn't shipped a motorbike before and hadn't shipped to India either (but sends other freight to Korea often) so at times there was a little delay on getting the answers I needed and the paperwork completed but he was a good guy and everything worked out fine.

Below is the quote I received and his contact details. His English is pretty good. The quote doesn't include the crate but from memory he got a mate to do it for $100 (I know the other freight companies were asking double this). It did the job and I received the bike in tact in Mumbai (the "fees" in India are another story! You have to pay a few rupee here and there to a number of people to get your bike out smoothly - even then it took about 12 hours.)

Quote:
Your motorcycle actual weight is 235kgs.
Dimension is 231x122x83 cm which is volumetric weight calculates as 390kgs.
Air carriers charge higher of actual or volumetric weight.
I'm still keeping my old offer as over 300kgs - $5.50/kg. Plus AWB fee is USD15.
Other costs are same as before;
Collection and delivery to airport cargo center is USD75.
Customs clearance USD30, Handling charge USD15.


TSERENDUG. L
Tel: +976 99188717 E-mail: air@cargomongolia.com
"Agaarin Achaa" LLC Web site: Home
BGD, 8 khoroo, 14-102
Ulaanbaatar-16067
Mongolia

Let me know how you get on.

All the best
Glenn

If you deal with this chap, make sure you spell out what you want and when you want it.

A group of us used him just recently and we all had paperwork issues, he is stil on a learning curve.

The major complaint from most of us was that we wanted the bike to be available for customs release on a specific day. He sent the bikes on that day so a few of us had to wait in Bangkok for up to a week to get the bikes.

The bikes did arrive OK for the most part, but you need to tell him specifically when you want it out of customs and he will need to find out whether it can be done on those dates and let you know. If you know beforehand, then you are not wasting visa time sitting around.

He was the cheapest, but he is not the best at this stage, but should get better after all our complaints.

Cheers from Chiang Mai, Thailand
TravellingStrom

Hey, thanks for the advice you two.

I did actually contact this chap (Sybille at the Oasis guesthouse gave me his card), and, since the air freight cost to South Korea was about the same as shipping the bike overland back to Spain with pan-europa, I had read the report travellingstrom wrote about him, and after Korea I intend to visit Taiwan, where it's notoriously difficult to get the bike in; I gave up and I am sending the bike back to Spain, so I'll have to do South Korea as a pedestrian.

Here's the cargomongolia quote, in case it's useful to anyone:

"I could offer you as USD8.25 for over 300kgs of DG motorcycle air shipping from Ulaanbaatar to Madrid.
Also USD4.75 for over 300kgs of DG motorcycle air shipping from Ulaanbaatar to Inchon.

Transit time is 2-3 working days since air carrier accepts shipment to scheduled flight.

FYI: Reducing dimension will help reduce volumetric weight.
I suggest you to dismantle handle bar and wheels for crating.
This is what I did when I crating bikes shipping out by air from Mongolia.
I'm able to provide you crating (heat treated wood).
Local charges for DG are;
Documentation for DG by air USD30
Customs Clearance USD35 per day (You have to provide all required documents for Customs)
Handling charge USD30 (DG shipment)
Collection charge USD100 within city limit (include airport delivery)
Crate to build by measurement USD150
Customs Tax, Duties and airport TAX are shipper's or consignee's responsibilities.
Customs Duties are actual cost of time of Customs Clearance.
FYI: How to estimate Duties are below;
Duties to estimate:
Single item is about USD20, if more items then one add up USD5 for each item.
Airport TAX to estimate:
USD0.10/kg for actual weight of shipment."

Cheers,

Jorge.

I notice that he still uses the phrase "heat treated wod", not in most of our cases, the crates were made from wood that had been left out in the sun and was nearly rotten, so sun treated maybe, but not heat treated at the time we were there

I am interested in shipping my motorcycle from Ulan Bator (or somewhere nearby) to Bangkok (or somewhere nearby)
It is always cheaper and easier to do it with more then one bike. Perhaps sharing a 20ft container.
I plan to fly the bike around July 2014
If anyone is interested please let me know.

Ryanhall, I noticed your post was a few years ago so wondering if you managed this over this summer? and how did you get on? We are looking for options to ship two bikes a little later, around early October the same route - UB-Thailand.

Thanks and happy adventures