Shipping motorcycle airfreight from Philadelphia to Nairobi Kenya
 

Does anyone have any opinions on the most affordable option to use? I thought UPS Airfreight would be the best option but the lady I spoke to on the phone told me they no longer move freight for personal items.

Thanks.

You need to talk with an aircargo broker specialist at the PHL airport.

The connection PHL-NBO (Nairobi) is very unusual, particularly for airfreighting a motorcycle.

For TSA security reasons, motorcycles airfreighted from the US to outside the US must ship on a dedicated aircargo plane, not as "lower-deck"/ belly cargo on a widebody passenger plane (even if the bike fits).

In general, Lufthansa aircargo, Lufthansa Cargo: Home, has the most experience airfreighting bikes, but their cargo service PHL-NBO includes a passenger plane on the first leg from PHL-Frankfurt; so a bike would probably not likely be allowed to fly on that particular segment.

An aircargo broker at PHL can tell you if there are any carriers flying dedicated airfreighters out of PHL to Europe, to connect to NBO.

It may turn out to be cheaper in the long run to either ride or have the bike trucked to JFK, which has many more service options than PHL, including Lufthansa dedicated freighters connecting from JFK thru Europe to NBO.

Be sure you understand all the US Customs export requirements for bikes, as well as Kenya import requirements for vehicles, before you commit to any airfreight.

"Affordable" is another issue; that's a relative term. I'm guess-timating it will cost you a minimum of US$2000 +/- to airfreight one-way PHL or JFK-NBO, once you find the right connection(s)

Great comments from Court - especially note the "relative term". I'd be willing to bet it would be even more. North America to Europe is currently about US$1200-1400 by air.

Check out the "Getting There - shipping the bike" shipping information on the left menu to get started.

Court Thanks a lot.

I can easily get to JFK; that wouldn't be a big deal. I am a Kenyan citizen so dealing with customs at NBO will be easier for me than getting the bike out of the USA.

I had tried calling a few brokers at JFK who were looking at sending the motorcycle in the belly of passenger fleets of airlines such as Emirates and they were all talking of $2600+. My buddy that works for UPS had quoted me around $1600 (which is affordable :) ) but they now no longer move freight for personal items. I agree affordable is relative, but if it costs more than $2000 then I am probably going to bow out.

I will take a look at Lufthansa cargo though and see if they can help me out.

Grant, I actually started at the 'Getting the bike there' and it is indeed useful but I thought by posting I could find someone with some recent experience in following the path I'm trying to pursue.

I'll let you guys know what I decide to do...

I'll be very surprised if you can find a carrier to airfreight a bike JFK-NBO for $2000 +/-, but it's certainly worth trying.

One airfreight broker based at JFK who has long experience with bikes is
BERKLAY.COM, also doing business as Motorcycle Shipping, and SHIPMYBIKE.COM

There's another question. You say a UPS rep has told you they "no longer move freight for personal items." It may be worth a separate discussion with UPS about what they mean, precisely, by "personal" items.

It's possible that this UPS response may have been in the context of you asking if you could book your personally-owned bike as freight directly with UPS. If that is how the question was framed/ discussed, UPS may have answered "no"--not because you own the bike personally--but because you were asking if you could book the freight directly--"personally."

Under US TransSafetyAdmin aircargo security rules in effect since 9/11, nobody can book export aircargo "personally" (meaning directly) with a carrier; all export aircargo must be booked through an aircargo broker-agent who is security-certified by TSA.

In other words, it's possible that UPS might accept a freight booking of your "personally-owned" motorcycle if the booking is made through a TSA security-certified broker (such as, e.g. Berklay).

On the other hand, UPS may have its own corporate aircargo rules, such that when UPS says they no longer accept "personal" items as airfreight, "personal" really does refer to the ownership status of the item, not who or how the booking is made.

BTW--these TSA security rules apply to all aircargo carriers, not just UPS. Regardless of which aircargo carrier might ever fly your bike ex-USA, you would still have to arrange the aircargo booking through an aircargo broker who is TSA-certified (most are).

These USA security requirements may sound arcane/ byzantine, but "them's the rules"

good luck!

Interesting Court, I'll follow up with my friend Ryan at UPS and see if i can ship the motorcycle through a broker.

Thanks again for all the information.