Oz to UK: Freight costs/charges - A comprehensive list?
 

Research to date has indicated quite a few costs involved in the shipping of the bike from Brisbane to London. What are ALL the possible shipping costs to consider?

I am currently arranging quotes for shipping my Honda ST1300 (either air freight or by ship), through:
a. Qantas (personal arrangements where I do it myself)
b. Hellman
c. Schenker
d. Express Logistics
e. GetRouted.

Already I am aware of the following possible charges and costs:

1. Any cost of crate and any packing materials (if used) (cost = maybe a carton of beer, or maybe $200 if I am lazy)
2. Cost of crating the bike, if I am not able or too lazy to do it myself (say $200+)
3. Basic weight or volume charges (e.g. $5.50/kg for weight of bike/crate)
4. Air weigh bill (e.g. $30 for air freight)
5. DG - Dangerous Goods fee (e.g. $60)
6. Security fee (e.g. 0.03c/kg)
7. Agent/Forwarder basic fee (?)
8. Warehousing and moving charges by Agent/Fowarder at depot/port of departure
9. Australian customs clearance fees (?)
10. Cargo insurance cover ($150+ ?)
11. British customs clearance charges, if by me &/or not part of 12 below) (?)
12. Clearance fees by by Agent/Forwarder, may include customs charges? (£200+ ?)
13. Warehousing and moving charges by Agent/Forwarder at destination depot/port (depends on time in storage?)
14. Disposal charges for getting rid of crate if we can't hold on to it (?)
15. Any cost of crate, packing materials and crating for return home (if original could not be retained for duration of tour)
16. Other ????

I have also realised it may be possible to save a few hundred dollars by cancelling my Australian Comprehensive motorcycle insurance to claim a rebate (rather than leaving the bike insured for 4-6 months whilst overseas).

I assume I will see what some of these fees/charges/costs add up to when I get the quotes. Anyone with experience able to estimate what some of the unknowns are, or any other costs I have missed?

Cheers
John

Hey John
I'm doing the same thing at the moment.
Going over in April next year.
I've been told Qantas is best, but haven't made inquiries yet.
Be interested in your feedback.

You going to Tintaldra?

Regards
Mick

2 quotes return
 

I have 2 current quotes to ship an R1100GS from Brisbane to London and back to Brisbane. These are all inclusive costs, drop at depot and pickup at london depot

Homepage - Hellas Europe Australia
$4085 with a 10 week lead time.


Overseas Packers & Shippers Limited
$4400 with only a couple of weeks lead time.

Being return costs, to ship one way would be just under half price as shipping over is less than comming back. I am told if they ship on a carnet, the price comes down a little due to less paperwork.

Not legal, well in part. Your vehicle must remain registered (in your case in Australia) while it travels overseas. To remain registered in Australia you must retain the third party personal insurance .. if that is part of your comprehensive policy (and it usually is as that is cheaper) .. then you cannot cancel it and remain regisetered. Just something else to consider

---------- On costs .. my latest quote for air cargo was $8 per kg.

Thanks guys,

Mick, happy to saher all info. Please Private Message or email me your contact details and I'll give to a call.

Drkevorkian, I'll compare with my quotes when i get them (and let you know). Yours' are for sea cargo?

Frank, my "comprehensive motorvehicle insurance" covers fire, theft, accidents and damage to my vehicle, as well as including 3rd party "property" damage. It does not cover 3rd party "person" insurance (green-card-type-cover) as this can only be covered by the vehicle's registration. I am not proposing cancellation of the rego, only the optional (comprehensive) cover. Thanks for the response though. Being new to the HUBB, I see you are a major contributer.

I'd like to hear from others on more about the breakdown of various costs.
Cheers
John

Free crates
 

Pro Honda Rocklea were good enough to give us crates for a VFR800 and a CBR1100XX. They normally have to pay to dispose of them and are glad to give them away. Ring them and let them know what model bike you need the crate for and they will ring you when a new bike arrives.

We shipped Brisbane to Vancouver last year using these crates. A few things to keep in mind as follows.

Quoted shipping times are guestimates at best
If the bike arrives early you will be charged storage whether it's your fault or not
Nobody will give you a definate quote as there are always numerous charges added on as they see fit
Comprehensive insurance can be cancelled but can not be suspended (Swann). If you cancel it you will have to apply from scratch on return.

I have an Excel doc with quoted and actual charges that we paid. Although not the route you are doing it may be of some help.
Let me know if you want it emailed. .
Glen[/LIST]

Thanks Glen,
That Excel spreadsheet would be excellent (I have already started my own in anticipation!) - use john_meara AT msn.com as email address with the @ inserted instead of the AT. Coincidently, I was out at Pro Honda this morning having spoken to Steve yesteday (I purchased my ST there and have had it seviced there). His cost was a carton of grog for the crate, so the cost has rissen! The new ST was still in the crate, so I took a couple of pics (attached). Have you any idea what their steel crates weigh (approx)?

I have also been around to 4 freight forwarders and to DGM (Dangerous Goods Management) today, starting the quote process. Its been a long day, but seems like a worthwhile exercise to suss out the various service providers and options. I will post all I find out when its all at hand.
Cheers
John

Crates & Stuff
 

I hear that Brisbane Motorcycles are charging a cold carton as well, they must have spoken to each other. I will forward the Excel spreadsheet to you ASAP. I don't have the gross weight of just the crate but the crated gross for each bike we shipped is as follows
VFR800 280kg
CBR1100XX 290kg
The figures on the spreadsheet are for both bikes.
Hope it helps
Glen

John, Qantas should be very competitive for air shipping. Very easy to do yourself and no crate required. But you will waste your time dealing with them on the phone, go down to the Brisbane Airport and see the folks in Qantas Cargo direct. I shipped my bike from Sydney to LA via Qantas, a bit different from your route but a good comparison. I got conflicting information on the phone, got to the cargo terminal and got cheaper rates then I got over the phone. See our report in the shipping pages for more info. Freight forwarders from Australia charge skyhigh rates for air shipping, using Qantas direct was half of what they wanted. Good luck.

I agree about the face to face thing. You'll get more info .. and find out where to go. If you are air shipping then a crate is a waste. Go see them and speek to them - they will know if the freight is avaliable readilly or if it will have to wait for a space. And you could book the space to save teh space problem .. maybe.

I was able to book an exact flight for shipping the bike with Qantas when I spoke to the cargo guys face to face. Air shipping via Qantas was almost too easy. Even though I shipped from Sydney, another traveller at the time shipped his bike from Brisbane and had the same experience as me.

shipping melbourne - tilbury (london) in about four weeks. some of the prices you mob have got have blown me out, as i was quoted $A140 / m3, with a $A95 doc charge and about (his words) GBP90 to have them customs clear it at the other end.
34 days here to there plus 4 days this end, 4-8 that end.
will update as more info comes to light.
andy.

that's for r11gs, about 2m3 i belive. in a steel (honda) crate. get a steel one b/c wood has to be fumigated at cost of about $A80

shipping from brisbane
 

We shipped from brisbane to singapore using a company out at the airport. we used the following company and found them very helpful and we felt reasonable. we shipped 2 F650 GS bikes and the cost was equivalent to about 1 single airfare. (about 800 Aus dollars). this included everything, all paperwork etc.
The company was
Dangerous Goods Management (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
Old Weather Station
Lomandra Drive
Qld 4009 Brisbane Airport
Australia

( +61 7 3260 2366
7 +61 7 3260 2381

Wow,
A$4000 seems incredibly high to freight a bike. One thing I can see from the photos posted is the crates used are adding to the costs. Airlines charge either actual weight or volumetric weight whichever is the highest. Volumetric weight is calculated by the dimensions of the bike(crate) x a multiplier (can´t remember exactly). The idea is to get the bike into the smallest possible package. I see you´ve taken off the front wheel, but the airline will measure the dimension of the crate. For my bike, I´m able to get the actual weight higher than the volumetric by removing the front wheel dropping, sliding the forks up a bit, dropping the rear suspension out and removing the handlebars. Don´t usually use a crate. Go to the source and speak to the freight warehouse boys. Save yourself some cash.

Hi,

I have just received a couple of quotes from airfreight companies and the best I have been quoted is AU$ 2098-00 PLUS customs and clearance charges which will probably be Squillons of dollars(That's from Brisbane to London Port). So I guess I'll be going with Get Routed. Not only don't I have to worry about stripping my bike (including front wheel removal) and crating it, but their price is only AU$2150 all up. All I have to do is be at Felixstowe when the bike is wheeled out of the container.
The best part is that the price also includes Shipping Insurance!

These prices are one way only. The plan is to ride back to Brisbane.

The timing of the Get Routed mob suits me perfectly(6th May) as the weather should just about be ready to get a bit warmer. Us warm blooded animals in Brisbane don't like the cold too much!