Information
- Start: Sydney, Australia
- Destination: Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Date of shipment: January 12th 2016
- Costs at start: US$1970 per bike
- Costs at destination: $295 per bike plus $250 each for Dakar motos services
- Carnet required: To leave Australia, Yes. Entering Argentina, No.
Contacts
- Shipper in Australia: Bikes Abroad, Brent Thomas. http://www.bikesabroad.com.au/
- Help with clearance in Argentina: Sandra and Javier, Dakar Motos. http://www.dakarmotos.com/
- Recommended: Yes
This was our first ever time shipping motorcycles, so we had a lot of questions. Brent at bikesabroad always provided answers to our questions, although sometimes it took a few days. Overall, the shipment went very smoothly and I would be happy to work with Brent again
Bikes abroad quoted $US1970 per bike (we shipped two bikes), each had to travel in a seperate crate with their own AWB, in the bike owners’ name (according to what is written on the registration documents) - more on this below.....
Bikes abroad collaborates with bike shops to do the crating and prepare them for shipping. In Sydney this is Procycles in Hornsby.
This arrangement works well, we just rode the bikes to the shop already loaded with all our gear, stripped off our riding clothes, helmets and boots and left them. Procycles took care of draining the fuel, disconnecting the battery and removing the front wheels. I was worried what I would find when opening the crate in Argentina (whether all the bolts and parts would be there), but Procycles had done a nice job and placed all the corresponding parts near their fixing locations with zip lock bags and cable ties.
The bikes Flew with Lufthansa.
At Buenos Aires, we used the services of Sandra and Javier at Dakar motos (http://www.dakarmotos.com/), they charged us $250 per bike for the customs brokerage.
Buenos Aires cargo airport is a confusing and daunting place, especially if it is your first time, I highly recommend using them.
Costs at destination AU$820 (USD$590) $US295 / bike
Steps in Buenos Aires...
1. Meet Sandra at the airport petrol station
2. Go to cargo area security, get security pass made (no cost)
3. Go to airline with AWB, pay airline fees (storage and handling at B.A.)
4. Go to customs office, get temporary import permit and insurance (insurance covers Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador)
5. Go to warehouse and wait for forklift driver to bring your crate out, there are plenty of people willing to help get crate apart and lift bike etc
6. Customs agent will come and check bike VIN against registration documents
7. Wheel the bike out of customs area showing the paperwork the customs agent gave you.
If you have no fuel, there is a petrol station a 5 minute walk away, they sell “Bidones” (fuel cans).
Note: According to our shipping agent and the customs brokers, it was absolutely necessary to ship the bikes in seperate crates each under a different AWB and the details on the AWB must match the owner of the motorcycle exactly.
We have done other shipments where we shipped with bikes in one crate (saves a lot on space and cost), but this one bike / one AWB seems to be a particular requirement in some countries.
At the airport, we met three Italian fellows with Honda Dominators, all in one crate, who had been trying to extract their bikes from customs for a week. We gather that the problem was three bikes, one AWB, so customs stubbornly refused to recognise that the three bikes were to different owners, therefore couldn’t issue the TIP and insurance.
Recommend checking this before you ship, our shipping agents have so far always told us whether we need two crates or not.