East Coast U.S.A. to Europe
 

The U.S. gove has advised all travelers to avoid Mexico for the forseeable future. Univerisities have cancelled plans for spring breaks and Military personnel are forbidden to visit. With this in mind, we are thinking about riding to the east coast and shipping to anywhere in Europe, preferrably by ro-ro, but if not then container shipping on a freighter. The search engine seems to be down here, so anyone who has done it or knows how, where, how much, etc. your advice is eagerly awaited. We would like to ship to France or Spain, but England, Belgium, Nederlands will serve nearly as well.

Thanks,

Joe

hey ;)
any progress on your search? I'm planning to ship a bike to London from NYC, but still not sure about the best way to go...
Looks like people are recommending air vs sea, I checked motorcycleexpress.com and they quote the above at $1400, but I didn't call them yet so I'm not sure about additional fees, etc..

Is this a current quote ($1400 by air, New York to Europe)? I'd heard that prices had skyrocketed recently and that people were shipping from Canada instead. If current, it's approximately what I paid a couple of years ago. Not bad.

Shipping by container you run into several problems. For one, the date of arrival is variable and unpredictable, which implies storage issues on the other end and difficulty planning your own tickets and arrival with any certainty. This is fine on the return journey, since you'll be at home and can live without your bike for an extra few weeks or a month if necessary (I assume). But you don't want to fly to Europe and have to wait a month for a bike to show up when you'd planned to be touring the Dolomites. Plus there are issues associated with draining fluids, disasembly, crating and so on.

I shipped Lufthansa using the justly famous Warren (Warren Motorcycles On-Line). No disconnecting batteries, no draining fluids, no nothing: I left all my baggage attached, handed them the keys and caught my flight. At the other end, they gave me my keys back and I drove off (after an hour or so of formalities). If you want to do it yourselves, the actual charge from Lufthansa was about $300 cheaper than what I paid Warren. On the other hand, he gave me a lot of service and flexibility.

On the other hand, your pretext for going to Europe--swine flu, travel advisories, etc.--strikes me as more than a bit alarmist. I'm headed for Latin America, and swine flu is approximately the least of my concerns.

Hope that helps.

Mark

Have a look at the Walinious Wilhelmson (or however you spell it) web site, still the best way to ship from the USA or Canada east coast to the UK and Europe. Ride safe.

hi,
end of july ,we come from Anvers (Belgium) and we are going to Hallifax (Canada) .
Our moto arrived to Hallifax(into a box ) with a boat .

It's 1000 euros for the transport of my moto from my house (Belgium) to Hallifax with boat.

If you want, this box is free,
you may make use of it... for your moto.

The box is usable at end of july in the harbour of Hallifax.

by,
evilune:cool4:

Suggestion for Airfreight to/from US and Europe
 

Planning for a trip to Europe em 2011 (!) I came in contact with a German guy that provides air shipments to/from Orlando, FL - Frankfurt/Germany. He takes care of everything (customs clearing in the USA and Germany, airfreight through Lufthansa and also the mandatory "Green Card" from ADAC (the German "AAA")). He charges - all inclusive - U$1,400.00 from the US to Europe and about U$1,080.00 back. The only problem is that he does this only twice a year (November from Europe and April to Europe). And these prices apply only because he has a "consolidated" freight rate from Lufthansa (he ships 6 to 10 bikes at a time). As I am planning to go in September and returning on November, the cost for this roundtrip freight skyrockets. Anyway you could try a contact with this guy to see what can de done (www.knopftours.com and his name is Stefan).
Regarding my trip, I am looking for bikers willing to tour Europe at the same time I am planning in order to form a group of 6 to 10 bikes so we can also benefit from a reasonable "consolidated" airfreight rate. Anyone interested please post a message here so we can start forming a group.