Dear all,

After four months of traveling, yesterday me and my girlfriend arrived in Amsterdam with our motorbike from Kuala Lumpur and would like to share our experience here.

Firstly we were planning on shipping the bike by boat but it was hard to find a good (affordable) agent and we were affraid to get a lot of additional charges ones the bike arrives in Europe.

We contacted MAScargo (cargo department of Malaysia Airlines) just to see what the prices would be for flying our motorbike with us. They calculated around 1200 euro for 350 kg of freight exclusive crating the bike and custom services which would have involved an agent.

We decided to drive to MAScargo ourselves (as it was difficult to get answers to our questions by e-mail) and try to arrange everything directly with them without using an additional agent. The people of MAScargo were extremely helpful and clear about the total procedure. The same day we reserved a place for our motorbike on the same flight as ours (they ask for appr. weight and dimensions).

On the day of our flight we went to MAScargo and followed the following steps which took us around 3 hours:
- Get a day pass to enter the cargo section of the airport. The motorbike needs to be delivered at least 8 hours before the departure of the flight and you need to make sure the gastank is less than one quarter full.
- Weighing the motorbike. The costs of cargo at MAScargo are calculated by weight only. We took away the top box and tank bag. The weight of our motorbike (inclusive luggage) was 236 kg's (pretty good for 2up!).
- Paid MAScargo around 950 Euro for a weight of 250 kg's (as the price per kg is dropping over 250 kg's it turned out to be cheaper).
- Went to customs for custom clearence.
- Went back to MAScargo, attached the topbox to the bike (as we could still add 14 kg to the shipment), disconnected the battery, wrapped plastic around the motorbike (did it myself, plastic was provided by MAScargo).

Picking up the motorbike (which took us around 2,5 hours):
- Arriving in Amsterdam we went to the Cargo section of the airport where the motorbike was waiting for us.
- We went to customs where they completed the last page of the carnet (the motorbike is registered in Lithuania but as it is part of the EU it seems not to matter in which EU country you do this).
- Back to Cargo we paid 75,08 Euro for handling fees, took the wrapping off the motorbike, connected the battery, took on our riding gear and drove out.

We're glad that we took the motorbike with us in the plane, didn't use any agent and didn't crate our motorbike when shipping it from Kuala Lumpur to Amsterdam. It saved us a lot of time and money.

Hope this writing will inspire or help people while making decisions on transporting their motorbike.

Johan & Milda
2up2far.blogspot.com

Dear Johan & Milda

Thanks for sharing your experience and the details of air freighting.
It is interesting that no crate was needed. I suppose they "push the bike up into the plane after you wrapped the bike? If there is no pallet, i guess they cant forklift the bike?
Do you have any photographs of the bike wrapped ready for the plane?

On the arrival side, I suppose after you check out of the airport, you proceed to the cargo terminal to clear out your motorcycle?

I´ve sent a DL650 from Chennai to Bangkok with MASKargo 4 years ago, and I think they used the actual weight for me also (the shipping ended up costing about 600 euros total, BTW). And the bike wasn´t really crated, or maybe you´d call it an open crate: it was placed on a pallet, and all the other stuff, that we had taken off like, front wheel, windscreen, panniers, were fastened on that same pallet, then everything was wrapped in cardboard and foil. I guess it´s hard to measure the exact volumetric weight from that kind of package (but if they´d just multiplied the largest dimensions of width, height and depth, that I thought they would do, then I think it would´ve cost me more). MASKargo generally seems to have good pricing on this kind of shipments. My experience with them was also good, even though sending out of India was a pain, but that´s not their fault....

But definitely they wanted that pallet under the bike – I am surprised, if in fact you were really allowed to send the bike without it being packed in a way, that it can be moved around with a forklift (that´s how they move just about everything in the warehouses).

The ´cooldown period´, or the time, that the bike had to wait at the terminal, before it can be loaded into an airplane, was 24 hours for us, and this was in the IATA regulations book, too (but could have changed by now, of course).

Hi Johan and Milda
Great to hear your trip went well. Many thanks for sharing your shipping experiences with us. Is there any chance you could also update the Shipping Database at Horizons Unlimited Motorcycle Travellers' Website

The whole of HU is having a major upgrade and all these sections will be combined to avoid duplication. Sorry about the extra "work" for you.

We must have another drink when I again pass through Vilnius. Please visit me in sunny Yorkshire if you're ever passing through.

All the Best
Chris

__________________
Brighty's website: TheBrightStuffDotCom

sorry for the laaate reply.
Pecha is right. After the bike was wrapped in plastic (don't have a picture at the moment as i'm at work). The wheels and handlebar where moveable. It's not really necesary to wrap the bike in plastic but it felt more comfortable for me. MAScargo takes care of the rest (they place the bike on a metal crate and wrap it down). The metal crate was huge so no way the bike could touch other cargo.
When we arrived in Amsterdam we went to the information desk. They called the cargo for us and informed us which bus to take to cargo (almost any bus). There they arranged the paperwork. We left to customs (which was very nearby) and again to the cargo to pay handling fees (76 euro) and pick up the bike.

Good advice Chris.. we'll try to post this information in the shipping database.
Would love to have a again

Will try to add pictures of wrapping the bike and picking it up in Amsterdam.

Really interesting post. Thanks. What make/model bike was it? You have certainçy given me an idea.

The bike was a Suzuki V-Strom (DL650) from 2007.

Here a pic of the bike ready to go..

Thanks for that. Pic looks good. Definitely the way back from se Asia in my book and I reckon a decent price.