Go Back   Horizons Unlimited - The HUBB > Planning, Trip > Trip Transport
Trip Transport Shipping the vehicle and yourself.
Photo by Daniel Rintz, Himba children, Namibia

The only impossible journey
is the one
you never begin

Photo by Daniel Rintz,
Himba children, Namibia



Like Tree2Likes
  • 1 Post By PanEuropean
  • 1 Post By PanEuropean

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 30 Mar 2012
Gold Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: UK but currently on the road RTW
Posts: 206
Question European Destination Fees

Further to my recent post Shipping a non-EU registered bike to the EU I've been looking at alternative destinations (to Bremmerhaven)in Western Europe.

Rotterdam is the first place that springs to mind and after a little searching I came across THIS article posted my Milton Miller. In it he lists the destination charges he had to pay (in Rotterdam. In 2011?). They include the equivalent of U$488 for 'Unloading the bike from Container' and totalled U$692.
Back in 2009 I shipped my F650 from Lima to Hamburg and paid a total of 200 euros in local fees (in Hamburg).

Milton shipped his bike uncrated whilst I shipped my bike crated.

Is the difference in price crated vs uncrated or are there huge variations in local fees across Europe?

I'm currently trying to ship my bike from New York to Europe and have a quote for U$500 (all inclusive at the US end) and so U$488 just to wheel it out of the crate seems ridiculous.

I would like to hear what others have paid in destination fees at the numerous ports throughout Europe and whether they shipped crated or uncrated.

Cheers

Adam
__________________
ShortWayRound - OTR RTW since 2006

Photo Galleries

ShortWayRound/Facebook
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 31 Mar 2012
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Apr 2007
Location: Helsinki
Posts: 1,731
Not very recent, but in June 2008 I collected my bike from the port in Helsinki, where it had arrived (crated) by sea from Sydney. I picked it up on the first possible day, so no overstay charges, and I payed around 170-180 euros at the port.

Ocean freight, and in fact everything else I payed at the sending end was just a bit under 500 euros total. So I remember thinking that last payment was a bit steep, keeping in mind they didn´t really do that much (compared to transporting the thing half-way around the globe!) But all in all, I think the price was still quite good. By air the quoted sums were almost triple.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 31 Mar 2012
Gold Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 2,123
Quote:
Originally Posted by JediMaster View Post
...I'm currently trying to ship my bike from New York to Europe and have a quote for U$500 (all inclusive at the US end) and so U$488 just to wheel it out of the crate seems ridiculous.
Hi Adam:

You are going to encounter those kind of 'port' charges no matter what you ship or how you ship it. You could be shipping a ham sandwich from America to Europe, get a great deal on the freight (only $2.50 air freight for the ham sandwich), and you will still get nailed for a couple of hundred bucks of port charges at the other end (warehousing the ham sandwich for 3 hours, inspection fees, etc.)

I've shipped my moto (a ST1100) from Canada to Europe several times, mostly by air but once by ship, and there is really no way to avoid those port charges. You need to consider them to be a 'tax' of sorts that is levied by the port of arrival.

You might be able to minimize port charges by shipping through a freight forwarder who has more involvement in the process at each end (rather than dealing with the carrier alone, whose involvement is limited to when the shipment passes over the ship's rail at each end of the journey), but you won't be able to avoid them entirely no matter what you do.

By example: Last time I shipped my moto by air from Canada to Paris, I was a passenger upstairs on the same aircraft. The plane landed at 6:00 AM, I picked the moto up at the freight office at 8:00 AM, and was on the road at 8:30 AM the same day. But I still got hit with port charges of about $250, of which the biggest component was 'warehousing' (storage) for the 30 minutes that the bike was in the freight shed between unloading from the aircraft and the time I picked it up a few minutes later.

Michael
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 31 Mar 2012
Gold Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: UK but currently on the road RTW
Posts: 206
Quote:
Originally Posted by PanEuropean View Post
Hi Adam:

You are going to encounter those kind of 'port' charges no matter what you ship or how you ship it. You could be shipping a ham sandwich from America to Europe, get a great deal on the freight (only $2.50 air freight for the ham sandwich), and you will still get nailed for a couple of hundred bucks of port charges at the other end (warehousing the ham sandwich for 3 hours, inspection fees, etc.)

Michael
A couple of hundred bucks is one thing, U$692 is another - which is entirely the point of the post.
I'm not trying to avoid the unavoidable. I'm trying to learn where's acceptable and where's outrageous.

During my RTW journey I've shipped my bike by sea 5 times and by air 3 times so the shipping process isn't new to me. U$692 in local fees...that's new to me.
__________________
ShortWayRound - OTR RTW since 2006

Photo Galleries

ShortWayRound/Facebook
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 1 Apr 2012
Gold Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 2,123
Adam:

Let me put it this way - the fee issue for ports is similar to the fee issue associated with landing at foreign airports.

In the course of my 'day job', during the past 3 weeks I ferried an aircraft through Canada, Alaska, Russia, Japan, Guam, Micronesia, a host of little dinky island republics along the way, and finally delivered the aircraft to Tahiti.

At the least expensive airport to get in and out of, the total bill (landing fees, overflight fees, ground handling fees, customs fees, agricultural fees (!), etc.) came to $290. That was in Northern Alaska. At the most expensive airport, the total bill came to $7,100. That was in Japan. I didn't use any more or less services at one airport than another, and all the runways I landed on were paved with asphalt - none were paved with gold.

What I am getting at here is that the fees you pay at ports (water ports or air ports) have nothing to do with the quality or the quantity of the services provided. They are set arbitrarily, or perhaps to "what the traffic will bear".

To a very limited extent, you might be able to influence the fees by seeing if there are any services that you can avoid having to pay for (for example, loading or unloading out of a ULD). But, for the most part, if you are given a high quote for one destination, about all you can do is go price shopping for a different destination, or perhaps try purchasing the complete package (shipping plus ancillary charges) in a different manner, for example, through a freight forwarder who will give you an 'all-in' quote, as opposed to first getting a freight-only quote, then discovering what the port authority is going to charge you once the load passes over the ship's rail at the destination.

Michael
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 1 Apr 2012
Gold Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: UK but currently on the road RTW
Posts: 206
Quote:
Originally Posted by PanEuropean View Post

In the course of my 'day job', during the past 3 weeks I ferried an aircraft through Canada, Alaska, Russia, Japan, Guam, Micronesia, a host of little dinky island republics along the way, and finally delivered the aircraft to Tahiti.
Sounds like a nice day job...


Quote:
Originally Posted by PanEuropean View Post

What I am getting at here is that the fees you pay at ports (water ports or air ports) have nothing to do with the quality or the quantity of the services provided. They are set arbitrarily, or perhaps to "what the traffic will bear".

I thought I'd made the purpose of my original post clear but perhaps I didn't.
I thought I was asking what people had paid at various ports in Europe and wheter or not they'd shipped crated or uncrated so that I could choose how and where I'll ship my bike to.
Nowhere have I mentioned avoiding fees, quality or quantity of service.


Quote:
Originally Posted by pecha72 View Post
Not very recent, but in June 2008 I collected my bike from the port in Helsinki, where it had arrived (crated) by sea from Sydney. I picked it up on the first possible day, so no overstay charges, and I payed around 170-180 euros at the port.

Ocean freight, and in fact everything else I payed at the sending end was just a bit under 500 euros total. So I remember thinking that last payment was a bit steep, keeping in mind they didn´t really do that much (compared to transporting the thing half-way around the globe!) But all in all, I think the price was still quite good. By air the quoted sums were almost triple.
Now that's what I am looking for...thanks pecha72
__________________
ShortWayRound - OTR RTW since 2006

Photo Galleries

ShortWayRound/Facebook
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 2 Apr 2012
Registered Users
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: nw england
Posts: 379
in 2010 i shipped a yamaha xt 600e from suriname to amsterdam by sea. the bike was uncrated . the was 278.94 euro at the suriname end and 180.00 euro plus 8% tax in holland so of the 495.66 euro i paid only 111.86 euro of it was shipping .
the fees in amsterdam were
customs clearance 80.00
handling 30.00
unloading 50.00 ( this goes up depending on size of shipment )
laatvolgen 20.00 ( dont know what this is )
grand total 495.66 euro
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 2 Apr 2012
Gold Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: UK but currently on the road RTW
Posts: 206
Thanks Kito. That sounds much more reasonable.

220euros (U$293) in local fees is much more in-line with the 200euros I paid in Hamburg in 2009 and pecha72 paid in Helsinki in 2008.

That's about what I was expecting/hoping for an EU port.
__________________
ShortWayRound - OTR RTW since 2006

Photo Galleries

ShortWayRound/Facebook
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old 2 Apr 2012
Gold Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Toronto, Canada
Posts: 2,123
Quote:
Originally Posted by JediMaster View Post
I thought I'd made the purpose of my original post clear but perhaps I didn't.
I thought I was asking what people had paid at various ports in Europe and wheter or not they'd shipped crated or uncrated so that I could choose how and where I'll ship my bike to.
Nowhere have I mentioned avoiding fees, quality or quantity of service.
Adam:

Please don't be so critical and condescending of replies that other make to your inquiries.

Often, fellow forum members won't be able to provide exactly the information that someone asks for, but they will be able to provide closely related ancillary information that will assist the person asking a question to "comprehend the big picture" or to approach a problem from a slightly different perspective. Replies that fit these two categories can be extremely useful - I have benefited from these kind of replies in both conversations I have started, and when reading archived conversations.

My only experience with "port fees" has been a result of shipping my moto to/from Europe by air 3 or 4 times, and by sea once. In each case, the fees at the arrival port (early 2000s) were consistent with your original comment - around $250, more or less. But, as I noted earlier, I have tremendous experience dealing with port fees for a similar form of 'arrival for temporary import' (transient aircraft), and in my two replies, I tried to provide ancillary information about alternatives to the conventional 'FOB' shipping (such as using a freight forwarder to avoid direct billing for port charges), and I also tried to give you a broad overview of how and why port charges vary so much.

Obviously, I have no way of knowing how much or how little you know about these things when I write my reply. So, if you are already familiar with the information provided, the best thing to do is to simply say "thanks" and leave it at that.

If you write condescending replies to people who have attempted in good faith to assist you - as you wrote above - you will soon find that fewer and fewer people answer your posts, and that is not good for you or for the forum as a whole.

Michael
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old 2 Apr 2012
Gold Member
Veteran HUBBer
 
Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: UK but currently on the road RTW
Posts: 206
Michael:

I apologise if you found my above post (#6) condescending.

No offense meant but neither of your replies contribute to answering my original post and the suggestion that I was trying to avoid port charges (rather than ascertain fees in different locations) niggled me.

Perhaps there's some misunderstanding here on on both our parts. Easily done online.

Adam
__________________
ShortWayRound - OTR RTW since 2006

Photo Galleries

ShortWayRound/Facebook
Reply With Quote
Reply


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 Registered Users and/or Members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Tatra Ural Kraz East European & Russian Trucks ringgap Heavy Overland Vehicle Tech 22 27 Mar 2015 16:05
London to Cape Town, November 2012 Tfoy97603 Travellers Seeking Travellers 56 4 Sep 2012 16:51
Custom - landing fees in LAX snohobo Trip Transport 1 13 Mar 2012 02:26
Import fees into Egypt overland Toby North Africa 7 6 Dec 2011 15:15
destination timbucto.. bilimanjaro North Africa 5 22 Nov 2011 00:57

 
 

Announcements

Thinking about traveling? Not sure about the whole thing? Watch the HU Achievable Dream Video Trailers and then get ALL the information you need to get inspired and learn how to travel anywhere in the world!

Have YOU ever wondered who has ridden around the world? We did too - and now here's the list of Circumnavigators!
Check it out now
, and add your information if we didn't find you.

Next HU Eventscalendar

HU Event and other updates on the HUBB Forum "Traveller's Advisories" thread.
ALL Dates subject to change.

2024:

Add yourself to the Updates List for each event!

Questions about an event? Ask here

HUBBUK: info

See all event details

 
World's most listened to Adventure Motorbike Show!
Check the RAW segments; Grant, your HU host is on every month!
Episodes below to listen to while you, err, pretend to do something or other...

2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.

2020 Edition of Chris Scott's Adventure Motorcycling Handbook.

"Ultimate global guide for red-blooded bikers planning overseas exploration. Covers choice & preparation of best bike, shipping overseas, baggage design, riding techniques, travel health, visas, documentation, safety and useful addresses." Recommended. (Grant)



Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance.

Ripcord Rescue Travel Insurance™ combines into a single integrated program the best evacuation and rescue with the premier travel insurance coverages designed for adventurers.

Led by special operations veterans, Stanford Medicine affiliated physicians, paramedics and other travel experts, Ripcord is perfect for adventure seekers, climbers, skiers, sports enthusiasts, hunters, international travelers, humanitarian efforts, expeditions and more.

Ripcord travel protection is now available for ALL nationalities, and travel is covered on motorcycles of all sizes!


 

What others say about HU...

"This site is the BIBLE for international bike travelers." Greg, Australia

"Thank you! The web site, The travels, The insight, The inspiration, Everything, just thanks." Colin, UK

"My friend and I are planning a trip from Singapore to England... We found (the HU) site invaluable as an aid to planning and have based a lot of our purchases (bikes, riding gear, etc.) on what we have learned from this site." Phil, Australia

"I for one always had an adventurous spirit, but you and Susan lit the fire for my trip and I'll be forever grateful for what you two do to inspire others to just do it." Brent, USA

"Your website is a mecca of valuable information and the (video) series is informative, entertaining, and inspiring!" Jennifer, Canada

"Your worldwide organisation and events are the Go To places to for all serious touring and aspiring touring bikers." Trevor, South Africa

"This is the answer to all my questions." Haydn, Australia

"Keep going the excellent work you are doing for Horizons Unlimited - I love it!" Thomas, Germany

Lots more comments here!



Five books by Graham Field!

Diaries of a compulsive traveller
by Graham Field
Book, eBook, Audiobook

"A compelling, honest, inspiring and entertaining writing style with a built-in feel-good factor" Get them NOW from the authors' website and Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk.



Back Road Map Books and Backroad GPS Maps for all of Canada - a must have!

New to Horizons Unlimited?

New to motorcycle travelling? New to the HU site? Confused? Too many options? It's really very simple - just 4 easy steps!

Horizons Unlimited was founded in 1997 by Grant and Susan Johnson following their journey around the world on a BMW R80G/S.

Susan and Grant Johnson Read more about Grant & Susan's story

Membership - help keep us going!

Horizons Unlimited is not a big multi-national company, just two people who love motorcycle travel and have grown what started as a hobby in 1997 into a full time job (usually 8-10 hours per day and 7 days a week) and a labour of love. To keep it going and a roof over our heads, we run events all over the world with the help of volunteers; we sell inspirational and informative DVDs; we have a few selected advertisers; and we make a small amount from memberships.

You don't have to be a Member to come to an HU meeting, access the website, or ask questions on the HUBB. What you get for your membership contribution is our sincere gratitude, good karma and knowing that you're helping to keep the motorcycle travel dream alive. Contributing Members and Gold Members do get additional features on the HUBB. Here's a list of all the Member benefits on the HUBB.




All times are GMT +1. The time now is 08:03.