Buenos Aires or Santiago?
 

Hi,

I'm currently in Australia and in the process of arranging shipping to S-America. Options are either Santiago or Buenos Aires.

I spoke to a cargo agent in Melbourne. Apparently, Santiago takes longer to ship than Buenos Aires.
But I heard Buenos Aires can be a headache to get the bike out of the harbour.

I've got a valid Carnet de Passage if this helps.

What are your experiences with shipping to Buenos Aires & getting the bike out? (Time involved/costs/...)

Bjorn

My advice is ship into Buenos Aires and contact Javier & Sandra at Dakar Motos !!

He is the hubb for motorcycle travellers in Buenos Aires where you will meet loads of bikers from around the world on similar trips..

Sandy does customs clearance... She got my bike out of the box, all paperwork done, customs cleared and on the road in under 4 hours ! yes, FOUR HOURS ! It can take a week if you do it yourself..

She charges about $150 USD and its worth every cent !!

PM me if you want the details... Ted


P.S. Carnet is not required or even recognised in South America.

Hi Tedmagnum,

Thanks for your response. I've heard of Sandra & been in touch with them regarding servicing the bike.
Somewhere on the HUBB I've come across a thread, where it was recommended NOT to go through Buenos Aires... hence my question. But it might have been a few years back. (I couldn't find the thread anymore, but remember it was a car/4wd at the time).

I'll get in touch again with Dakar Motos to see what they say.

PS: I know the Carnet isn't necessary, but it is actually recognised in Argentina (back of the carnet). And my shipping agent here in Australia asked for it as well...

Bjorn

Wierd with the carnet................

As for Buenos Aires, I shipped into there in November 2007 and apart from expensive port fees, it was pretty well organised .. Especially with Sandra !

I think flying in is MUCH simpler and prob works out the same ionce you consider port fees etc.

How much were zour port fees?

From memory only !!!

I think I paid about £200-£250 for everything at Bsas.

hi bjorn,

we flew our bike to santiago from sydney last year on our same flight and it was all pretty easy. (cost about AUD$2200 abit pricey but you pay for the convinience of getting the bike there quick)

we just dropped the crated bike at the freight forwarders (Freightnet International) in Sydney and collected the bike at the airport in santiago (at the Fastair cargo terminal) . we had to go to the local customs (aduana) at the airport first them pay storage fees ect at the terminal. it took a couple of hours but no problems.

Jason Vuong at ACE International in Sydney is also good, he got my bike back into Oz. tel. 02 96696637, jason@aceintl.com.au

Hi Matteo,

I looked into flying but it seems too expensive. I'm in Buenos Aires for 4 weeks anyway, learning Spanish. So I don't mind waiting for the bike.

I'm still looking into both options of sea freight: Santiago / Buenos Aires.
As for shipping companies in Australia: I've been in touch with Hellmann and Schenker so far.
Anyone got another good company/experience?

(I'll post a breakdown of costs & company here on the HUBB once I've received the bike in S-America).

Bjorn

Just had a good quote from a company called Tradelanes (dot) com (dot) au. Melbourne or Sydney to Buenos Aires is AU$700 for 2.4 cubic metres.
To Santiago it's AU$800.

Best price so far, and they seem to have quite a bit of experience with shipping motorcycles. Very helpful as well, and I can crate the bike on their premises. They even happened to have a crate which I can use.

A friend of mine shipped Sydney to London with them & was happy with them.

I shipped from London to BA 10 months ago and got the bike out of the port myself in 10 minutes (after a 3 hour wait in the queue). Seemed to me if you've got all the bits of paper you need from the shippers, it's a piece of cake. I wish I could remember how much I paid at BA, but the fact that I can't suggests it wasn't that much. Probably.