How To Ship Your Motorcycle to Foreign Destinations

Two forms of shipping are common for motorcycle travel: ocean and air.

 Ocean Shipping

Ocean shipping is done by placing the bike into a freight container. If traveling with a group, the bikes are consolidated at a port location and loaded together into a freight container. If you are traveling alone, the bike is given to a freight consolidator/forwarder, who adds your bike to a freight container headed to  your destination.

Ocean freight is slower and cheaper than air freight, and notably less reliable. It has been my direct experience and the experience of other riders that ocean freight is often at least two weeks late, and sometimes up to four weeks later than the initial promised date. In addition, motorcycle tour operators are likely to choose the lowest cost service possible in order to maximize their profit margins. By choosing the cheapest service they ensure that the freight container with your bike inside is at the bottom of the priority list for the shipping company. If you've ever visited a port and seen tens of thousands of freight containers slowly rusting away waiting for shipment, this is not an encouraging prospect.

If cost is the major factor and it doesn’t matter if it takes two months for your bike to get there and two months for it to get home (our experience on one tour), then ocean shipping may be your best choice.

If you ship by ocean, seek out a shipping company that offers 24/7 online container tracking and guaranteed delivery with late delivery penalties (they do exist, even though motorcycle tour operators apparently haven't discovered that fact yet). Avoid tour operators who ship by ocean and breezily assure you that “the bikes will be there, no problem.”  

Air Freight

Air freight is done by placing your bike into a custom fabricated crate (in the case of bikes shipping from the U.S.) (See the How To Prepare Your Bike section for details on crating.) or placing the bike on a special roll on/roll off pallet (in the case of bikes shipping on Lufthansa outside the U.S.).

Air freight is delivery-date reliable and comparatively much more expensive than ocean shipping.

If you are on a tight schedule and/or want to be assured that your bike will be there when your “trip of a lifetime” tour is scheduled to start, then air freight is the best choice.

Although it is technically possible to contract directly with the airlines for the air freight service, it is much more likely you will have a less daunting experience if you use a freight forwarder / customs broker company that specializes in shipping by air and getting things through the customs process both into your destination country and back into the U.S. After many years of international shipping for business, I would never attempt to ship across borders without retaining a customs broker. In my experience, they are the best money you will ever spend.

Cost

If you are air freighting your bike to Europe, there are great deals available. There is so much motorcycle shipping between American and Europe that volume competition exists, and you can ship your bike from the U.S. to a major European destination for as little as $1,100 (as of Spring 2004).

For more exotic destinations, you’ll be relegated to standard hazardous air cargo rates. For a rough estimate of what it would cost to ship your bike, find out the cost for you to travel on a full fare (no restrictions, Y class) round trip coach ticket to your destination on a major U.S. airline. That cost will usually be in the general range of what air freighting the bike will cost to the same destination.

As an example, the cost to ship our BMW R1150GS Adventure round trip from Los Angeles (LAX) to Istanbul, Turkey (IST) was $5,368.95 USD. A full fare (Y class) coach ticket on United for that round trip ranges from ~$3k to $6k depending on the schedule and the number of flight legs. Note that without the cost of the re-usable crate the airfreight bill would have been about $4,800.

 The price to ship the bike included:

• Air freight

•  Airwaybill

•  Terminal

•  Handling

•  Fuel surcharge

•  Security surcharge

•  DGR Fee (dangerous goods)

•  Registration

•  Customs clearance

•  DGR Storage (dangerous goods)

•  Airline clearance document

•  Customs brokerage

•  Crate storage (during the tour)

•  Reusable crate fabrication ($543)

• Delivery of bike and crate fabricators to air freight company

•  VAT

Costs for air freighting a motorcycle is determined by a combination of the weight and the dimensions, with the total volume of the crate being a large factor in the cost.

 Final configuration, dimensions and weights for our bike and crate were:

 Bike:

2004 BMW R1150GS (for options and configuration see this list )

Crate dimensions:

Crate volume:

Weight:

 Note: We shipped the locked pannier boxes on the bike stuffed with our riding gear and what we usually carry in the bottoms of them, i.e. tubes, tire irons, spare bolts, nuts & washers, etc. I remove the windshield, backrest and rear cargo rack and strap them to the seat. The mirrors are removed and layered in with our riding gear in the pannier boxes.

Shipment Duration

On the way to IST the bike was delayed one day in Frankfurt due to its size and available space on the wide body airfreight aircraft Lufthansa flies on the FRA/IST route.

On the return leg the bike took two days to clear U.S. customs at LAX. 

I delivered the bike to the crate fabricator’s shop in Los Angeles about two weeks before I picked it up in Istanbul. I delivered the bike to the export dock in Istanbul one week before it was available for pickup at LAX. It could have been available in LAX in as few as four days, but we scheduled a delay in IST to allow a direct connection in Frankfurt vs. having to be trucked from Cologne to Frankfurt due to Lufthansa’s flight patterns.

Our air freight / customs brokerage company was:

Murat Ayhan

TEKKAR AIRFREIGHT & CLEARING SERVICES Inc.

Istanbul Dünya Ticaret Merkezi, IDTM

A2 Blok  Kat 6  No.227 Yesilköy

34149  Istanbul, Turkey

+90 (212) 465 63 06 voice

+90 (212) 465 63 11 fax

email: muratayhan@tekkar.com

Murat is a motorcyclist and provides outstanding professional service. His company is highly recommended.

Their LAX agent was Norman Krieger, Inc. (bearable, but not highly recommended)

Air Freight Checklist:

If you ship by air freight:

• Get a detailed quote that includes all the line items listed above for both ends of the trip
• Get a schedule that shows which flights the bike is scheduled to fly on
• You will need to provide tie downs for the crate. Use quality tie downs. Protect all painted surfaces and plastic the tie downs contact using layers of cardboard or towels.
• When you tie the bike down, compress the suspension completely and use four quality tie downs. The crate is going to be tossed around by forklifts, the bike needs to be more secure than when you carry  it into your pickup.
• Ensure all items on the bike are securely strapped in place or secured.
• If you strap your windshield to your seat, make sure that it is wrapped in a towel and is clearly labeled “GLASS / FRAGILE,” otherwise someone will sit on it when they are loading or unloading the bike.
• Do not ship any detachable electronics (GPS, iPod, etc.) on the bike.
• Do not ship any easily detachable bags, i.e. tank bags, on the bike.
• Most shippers will require you to disconnect the battery.
• Most shippers will allow you to ship with a small quantity of gas in the tank. If they don’t, you must arrange for gas to be available at the destination if you are unloading the bike from the crate at the receiving dock and riding it away.
• Do not ship the keys in or on the bike.
• Do not set the alarm before you ship if your battery is connected.
• Do not forget your title and Carnet when you deliver the bike for shipment, they are required.
• Do not forget your keys when you pick up the bike.
• Provide a detailed list of the contents of the crate. Don’t forget things packed in the luggage or the tools.
• Take pictures of all sides of the bike strapped to the pallet before the crate sides and top are attached.
• Take pictures of all sides of the crate once it is assembled.
• Remove or cover any old airwaybill stickers or shipment destination stickers.
• Take a picture of the airwaybill sticker on the crate and make sure the number is legible.
• Ensure the crate is well marked with “this side up,” “fragile,” “do not stack,” etc.
• It helps if the crate can be forked both from the side and lengthways. This allows easy insertion into pickup beds, onto trailers, etc. when you pick it up in the U.S.
• Don’t count on being able to take the bike out of the crate at the U.S. point of entry. It may be a very busy airfreight dock and you may need to get the crate onto your truck or trailer quickly to clear the dock for other shipments. You will need to enlist a friendly motorcycle dealer or other business that has a forklift to remove it. You may need a forklift with long forks if you are removing the crate lengthwise.
• Screws are a better fastener for the crate construction than nails.
• A crate with sides and a top fastened with latches and a minimum number of reinforcing screws saves a lot of time on the docks.
• If you are riding the bike away from the receiving dock, make sure you arrange to have a screw gun available at the dock for loading / unloading to remove the reinforcing screws holding the sides and top of the crate on.
• You will need at least three guys to roll the bike on and off the pallet.
• Don’t forget to arrange for secure storage of your crate and tie downs while you ride.
• Ensure that there is a house airwaybill prepared for the shipment (allows the bike to be received by you for customs purposes, this usually requires you to use a freight forwarder/customs broker).
• Get a copy of the airbill number and the house airwaybill number.
• Get a copy of all invoices, waybills, etc. from the shipper on both ends of the transaction, especially on the foreign end.
• Ensure that there is language translation capability available on the foreign end.
• Plan on one full day to pick up the bike at the foreign destination. Most of this time will be spent in clearing customs. If you have a good customs broker, they will save you at least six hours in this process.
• Always purchase shipping insurance, the cost is minimal.
• Ensure your shipper has 24/7 online shipment tracking capability.
• If you need the bike to be there on a guaranteed date, arrange for time-critical delivery. Some shippers ship for free if they don’t meet the delivery commitment, i.e. JAL J-Freight.
• If you are picking up the bike and riding it away, don’t forget to bring riding gear and your helmet to the pickup point.
• Keep a close eye on your tools and gear around the shipping and receiving areas. Keep your tools separate from dockworkers and shipping agents. It’s another good reason to tag all of your tools with colored tape.
• Inspect the receiving area closely before you ride away. In the excitement and hustle/bustle of opening the crate and assembling the bike it’s easy to leave tools, parts, gear, etc. behind.
• Make double sure you have your title and Carnet before you ride away from the foreign destination receiving dock.
• Never ship internationally without using the services of a reputable customs broker, they are worth every penny!

If you have questions or comments please contact Douglas Hackney
 

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