Lima - Vancouver

INFORMATION

  • Start: Lima, Peru
  • Destination: Vancouver, Canada
  • Date of shipment: 18/07/16
  • Costs at start: US$8556 for both bikes
  • Costs at destination: US$45 per bike
  • Carnet required: No

CONTACTS 

Firstly, I wouldn’t recommend shipping out of (or into) Peru. It’s expensive compared to other options around South America. We had little choice because of an accident and our Import permits were expiring.  That said, if you must then I recommend Cesar Gamero of Global Network Logistics.

I also must explain that we don’t speak much Spanish (certainly not good enough to handle this sort of exercise), and Cesar doesn’t speak English, but he was very patient and understanding with us.  Cesar organised a carpenter to build us Crates, a Mr Jorge Munoz

Jorge, the crate builder, was a nice guy and pleasant to deal with, however two things to be aware of

  1. He built the crates far too big, costing us a significant amount more in freight. He pre-built the crates, so there wasn’t a lot we could do without delaying the shipment.
  2. The crates are flimsy, I thought the bike was going to fall through the bottom it. They did put heaps of cardboard and wrapping around them. On arrival in Canada, both bikes had fallen over in the Crates and the crates had broken, but the bikes were undamaged thanks to all the wrapping.

The cost breakdown was as follows

  • Freight 2 motorcycles. US$6476.00
  • Crate building US$1,100.00
  • Customs costs 2. motorcycles US$380.00
  • Shipper Declaration US$350.00
  • Transport of Motorcycles  (to the airport after packing) US$250.00

Total cost of US$8556.00

Note: Everyone wants to be paid in cash - yes even for the freight!

Beware: You may not be able to ship any luggage or belongings with the bike. It depends on what is written on your TIP (Temporary Import Permit). If it states anywhere on the TIP that it is a motorcycle with accessories, spare parts and luggage (or something to that effect) then you’re good, otherwise beware, customs may block your shipment. Essentially, what was imported must be exported, so you can’t put luggage in with the bikes if there was no record of any luggage being with the bikes when they were brought into the country.

I wouldn’t recommend leaving Peru until you know for sure the bikes have passed customs inspection.

Process in Lima…

  1. Mr Gamero wanted a letter of authority to act on our behalf for the customs clearance (so we wouldn’t need to be present). So first we went with him by taxi to a notary to get it authorised. The woman there wouldn’t do it (because we don’t speak Spanish and the letter was in Spanish), Mr Gamero got impatient and stalked out saying something about not needing her approval. We then went to customs and Mr Garmero basically bullied them into stamping the documents. After that it was no problem to proceed without us being present.
  2. We went back to our apartment and later that day Mr Gamero emailed us and said that customs didn’t come to do the inspection. He suggested an additional “incentive fee” of $US60 to encourage them to do it tomorrow. We approved this. Lo and behold customs cleared the bikes the following morning. They did a very thorough inspection (as evidenced by our bags all being open when they arrived in Canada), but our gear was all there. Note, Jorge’s fee to build the crates included a cost for him to go to the airport and assist by opening and closing the crate for them.
  3. We received the AWB from Mr. Gamero shortly afterwards.

The bikes flew with Air Canada

Note: Your bike should be clean when importing to Canada, no soil, insects, etc at all. Customs will inspect this and reject it if they’re not happy with it. I didn’t see any cleaning area there, but I heard from a reliable source that there is one. No guarantee that customs will let you do this however. 

Process in Vancouver….

  1. Received a call from Air Canada that our bikes are available for pickup
  2. Went to the Air Canada warehouse (it’s outside of the airport), presented out AWB’s and paid US$45 per bike in fees.
  3. Air Canada gave us some paperwork to give to customs, the customs building is a 2 minute walk away.
  4. At customs, handed over our papers and the friendly officer said we could go next door to Tim Hortons for a coffee and to return in half an hour while they do the inspection.
  5. Back at customs half an hour later (a little nervous because our bikes weren’t as clean as they could have been). All stamped and cleared.
  6. Back to Air Canada and the friendly forklift driver brought out our crates and put them in a shady area for us to unpack. They provided us a crowbar and hammer.
  7. Reassembled the bikes, the forklift driver told us he would dispose of the Crate for us.
  8. There’s a petrol station nearby ( 5 minute walk) if your bike is totally empty, they sell petrol cans.