Shipping bike to Oz and back - shipping agents etc

[paturoa]

I'm part of a group at work, and another KBer, who are planning a trip to Oz next year.

There are 2 main options that we are looking at - renters and shipping our own bikes.

There is pleanty of good threads about renting and info on other websites etc.

I've also looked at KB threads for shipping bikes there and back, and contacted one who was highly recommended in threads. His email response to me was ...

NZ has no one who specialises in just shipping bikes as we do it.

You could take a risk and use a general freight forwarder, but make sure your bike is in a good strong crate (preferably steel, because timber crates can't be used going into Aust & NZ) and that it's well insured, because the freight forwarding industry does not have a good record when it comes to shipping bikes internationally. That is one of the reasons I started this business.

The, probable, reason no one has done similar in NZ is that there's not enough international bike shipping business to sustain one person let alone a business.
....

Kind regards
xxx

So has anyone had a good recent experience with a freigh forwarder?

Recommendations please.

[tri boy]

Contact/pm Bass, Ducati, Clint640, Rosie.

[DEATH_INC.]

You could try Whitetrash too.

[Alpha Solo]

I'd be keen to know the results and costs too please!

[hutchy52]

I've recently shipped my bike from aus to nz, I had it in a steel crate made for it but I'm pretty sure that if you use a crate with treated timber that is ok.

Cost me about $800 all up including insurance etc. but I did get quotes prior to that at about $1500, so it can vary a lot.

[paturoa]

I've recently shipped my bike from aus to nz, I had it in a steel crate made for it but I'm pretty sure that if you use a crate with treated timber that is ok.

Cost me about $800 all up including insurance etc. but I did get quotes prior to that at about $1500, so it can vary a lot.

Who was that with?

[The Duck 01]

Contact/pm Bass, Ducati, Clint640, Rosie.

Yeah they had Real good SHIPPERS

Nothing but Trouble..........

I could say more but i think better as my shipping went quite well.....

[clint640]

The freight forwarding company we used were actually pretty good. We did have a bit of a delay & extra cost caused by Qantas losing our documentation, but Go Logistics really put in the extra effort to get that sorted. The only thing I'd do differently if going over again would be to demand that the Carnet docs go by tracked courier or take them myself.

If you're in or near Christchurch using Dave Milligan & Get Routed is a good option, but the way we did it worked out much more convenient & cheaper too.

Costs were:

Crate: $0 from local bike shop (Thanks Patterson O'Connor!) It was 2.5 m3 & 335kg when packed with the 2 bikes.

Carnets: $350/bike from the NZ AA (+10% of bikes value as deposit)

Airfreight Crate Auckland - Sydney, as dangerous goods, all customs etc etc fees, transfer to depot, insurance, etc, Go Logistics: $1620

Crate storage Sydney: $65 Being able to uncrate & recrate at Go Logistics's Sydney agents, All Cargo, was super convenient.

Insurance with Swann: $100/bike (ish)

Seafreight Sydney - Auckland, including customs, MAF, etc, etc, Go Logistics: $1133

Local transport, Rotorua to/from Auckland: $230

So the bottom line was just under NZ$2000 per bike, which worked out much cheaper than hiring something for 5 weeks, plus it was nice to be on our own bikes.

Have a look on Advrider for the full report: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=460829

Cheers
Clint

[Bass]

Right, firstly crates.
Plywood is OK. The glue used for plywood pretty much deals to any bugs and so it's not a concern either side of the Tasman.
Treated timber is OK but it needs to still have the treatment stamps visible and tanalith treated is preferred. Lastly, because the aussies are pretty fussy, most forwarders will get a wooden crate fumigated before it goes regardless of whether it's plywood and tanalised frame. Consequently you can wind up covered both ways.
If it is fumigated, make sure the fumigation certificate is forwarded to the receiving depot as it just makes all the wood hassles go away and the fumigation cost me $60.
They didn't even ask about it on the way back in as the MAF man who inspected my bike recognised treated timber when he saw it and as I said, plywood is OK. You can't rely on educated inspectors though.

Get a Carnet and take it with you!!!
Don't rely on anyone else to forward your carnet - take it with you.
Don't argue, just do it.
Everyone knows how carnets work but bugger all understand temporary import permits.

It cost me about NZ$900 each way for shipping. I think most forwarders would perform OK and they all use the same ships anyway. Be aware though, that you will be able to find out NOTHING until the boat has docked and the container is unloaded. That is the event that sets the whole process in motion. So if your boat is late (and it often happens) tough shit - nobody will be able to tell you anything until it arrives.

Listen to the man who told you to build a sturdy crate and despite what has been said, when it comes to STURDY, wood beats steel. Motorcycle packing crates are OK but they really ain't that strong. One good nudge in a corner and the uprights fold - ask Ducatijim.

Airfreighting is much less hassle and a bit less than twice the price. Your call.

In the finish, the Aussie customs service worked for us. We just didn't understand that nothing started until the container was unloaded. In the event devanning the container to us having the bikes unpacked was 2 working days - that's not bad, but our boat was late and we at twiddling our thumbs for a week wondering what the hell was happening.

Hope this helps

Oh and by the way, have a ball. There is absolutely no reason not to.

[paturoa]

MEGA BLING
to you for your responses and to trashy, hutchy and ducjim for the PMs too. You do all the hard work & I benefit

This thing is comming together now.

[White trash]

Right, firstly crates.
Plywood is OK. The glue used for plywood pretty much deals to any bugs and so it's not a concern either side of the Tasman.
Treated timber is OK but it needs to still have the treatment stamps visible and tanalith treated is preferred. Lastly, because the aussies are pretty fussy, most forwarders will get a wooden crate fumigated before it goes regardless of whether it's plywood and tanalised frame. Consequently you can wind up covered both ways.
If it is fumigated, make sure the fumigation certificate is forwarded to the receiving depot as it just makes all the wood hassles go away and the fumigation cost me $60.
They didn't even ask about it on the way back in as the MAF man who inspected my bike recognised treated timber when he saw it and as I said, plywood is OK. You can't rely on educated inspectors though.

Get a Carnet and take it with you!!!
Don't rely on anyone else to forward your carnet - take it with you.
Don't argue, just do it.
Everyone knows how carnets work but bugger all understand temporary import permits.

It cost me about NZ$900 each way for shipping. I think most forwarders would perform OK and they all use the same ships anyway. Be aware though, that you will be able to find out NOTHING until the boat has docked and the container is unloaded. That is the event that sets the whole process in motion. So if your boat is late (and it often happens) tough shit - nobody will be able to tell you anything until it arrives.

Listen to the man who told you to build a sturdy crate and despite what has been said, when it comes to STURDY, wood beats steel. Motorcycle packing crates are OK but they really ain't that strong. One good nudge in a corner and the uprights fold - ask Ducatijim.

Airfreighting is much less hassle and a bit less than twice the price. Your call.

In the finish, the Aussie customs service worked for us. We just didn't understand that nothing started until the container was unloaded. In the event devanning the container to us having the bikes unpacked was 2 working days - that's not bad, but our boat was late and we at twiddling our thumbs for a week wondering what the hell was happening.

Hope this helps

Oh and by the way, have a ball. There is absolutely no reason not to.

If your boat, from New Zealand to Australia, was late by a week. Then your bikes didn't ship on the intended vessel. Simple as that.

Best things to remember.

1) Get a carnet. It makes my job a hell of a lot easier.
2) Get a steel crate. No need for fucken heat treatment certificates and the like.
3) Your bike WILL be AQUIS inspected in Australia, make sure it's clean and I mean EAT OFF IT CLEAN.
4) Ask all the questions you need answers to a fortnight before the vessel sails and if you get the feeling the forwarder you're dealing with isn't confident in their response, go somewhere else.

Really, if your carnet's in order, and your bike's properly crated, it's a piece of piss.

[Bass]

If your boat, from New Zealand to Australia, was late by a week. Then your bikes didn't ship on the intended vessel. Simple as that.

I didn't word it very well.
My information is that the run Auckland to Brisbane is fortnightly, (or at least all the advertised sailings were about 2 weeks apart), so our shipment had to make the intended boat which was supposed to dock on Saturday but didn't actually dock until the following Wednesday. Then a weekend got in the way and so it was about a week after we expected to have the bikes inspected before it was actually done.

We disagree over wood vs steel - at least partly. My warning related specifically to the use of manufacturer's shipping boxes which are basically a very light steel frame inside a cardbord box. Even with plywood reinforcement, these crates can be relatively easily distorted by the least little bit of weight on top, especially if there is any frame twisting. I used a wooden box, had little trouble and it stood up to all the (obvious) knocks.
If one was to make a decent steel crate from scratch however, that's an entirely different matter.

The rest of what you said pretty much tallies with my experience once we had figured out what the hell was going on at the other end (which all stemmed from the boat being late.)

[clint640]

If your boat, from New Zealand to Australia, was late by a week. Then your bikes didn't ship on the intended vessel. Simple as that.

Best things to remember.

1) Get a carnet. It makes my job a hell of a lot easier.
.

Our bikes were a couple of weeks late getting back by ship, not so much of a problem that way, huge PITA if it happens going over. If you are going seafreight I would plan on having the bikes land 2 weeks before you want to start the ride. That's why we spent the extra $240/bike to airfreight over.

Despite what some websites still say, the only way to temporarily import a vehicle into Oz is on a Carnet. They do not issue temporary import permits any more.

Cheers
Clint

[ratast]

I can help you out with crates to ship bikes. Metal based with 4 metal uprights supporting your choice of outer covering. I use thick prefolded corrugated cardboard . Stack crates 3 high so certainly strong. From my experience any damage to crate is caused by stupity displayed by would be daredevil forklift operators.
Ratast