I am shipping my motorcycle to Lima next Jan
does anyone know of a shipping company that i could use to ship from Houston to Lima then from Caracas back to Houston. I would like to use the same shipping company to and from if possible. I would also like to use a company with offices at both ends. If anyone has any leads, please let me know. thanks

as a first stop, visit
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tri...t/shipping.php

I am in caracas now , organising despatch of my pony .

I will make a full post soon with all the information that I have discovered , but what I can tell you now is that you will only get to Houston by air . If you want sea , you will almost certainly have to go to Miami .

But hey , at least it is in the same country !

Cheers,
Chris

Does it have to be Lima (Callao) ?? I would rather ship it to Chile (eg.iquique)and drive up to Perú
Perú is very bureaucratic and expensive in order to get the bike out of the port. And you MUST use an official agent for the paperwork . In Chile headaches & costs = 0 .
Marcel

Hi Scarbro

First, check out this page on the Air vs. Sea shipping question:
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tri...t/shippers.php

We generally don't recommend sea shipment due to the uncertainty about when the bike will arrive. Also, although the quoted costs are less, the total cost may not be much of a saving over air, as port charges can be quite high.

However, if you decide to ship by sea, suggest you use an international shipping company such as Wallenius Wilhelmsen http://www.2wglobal.com/Applications/Addresses/GlobalAddresses.jsp
or Panalpina http://www.panalpina.com, who have received good reviews from travellers.

Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

El Penguino, don't forget to fill in the Shipping Form on your Caracas shipment, so we can update the Shipping page.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tri...p#shippinginfo

Thanks
Susan

'One world, two wheels'
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com



[This message has been edited by Susan (edited 24 November 2002).]

Hi Susan,
I would have filled in the page but due to strange circumstances it worked out financially better to abandon my bike in customs at Caracas airport . I was able to leave the country despite the full page stamp in my passport so it worked out OK in the end .

But I feel I should write a little post telling of my experiences for the next traveller .

Yes, please tell us about it! It sounds very interesting!

Susan

well Susan , it was certainly interesting , amongst other things . As I mentioned , my bike is still there , abandoned at the airport and here's why .

One thing that took me by surprise was how bleedin' expensive shipping would have been ( had I gone through with it ) . Lufthansa airfreight dangerous goods price to Europe is $3.73 . This compares to $1.50 to Europe from Buenos Aires . Also customs clearance was quoted at $400 .

Also , sea freight has a lack of consolidated shipments apart to Spanish speaking places like Spain and Miami . Sea shipments are further complicated because of anti-drugs inspections for which the sender must be present at the port a few days (5) before the container is sent . Several freight companies also don't offer consolidated shipments , or don't deal with personal effects , or don't deal with vehicles that are not commercial exports/imports .

One other thing to be considered is the price of air tickets from Latin America , which incur hefty taxes . The cheapest one way to London via Bogota and Miami would have been $900 .

Faced with spiralling costs for airfreight and inability to hang around for seafreight I told the freight company to keep the bike . The price spiralled because they estimated the price at the non-dangerous goods rate , then again at the correct rate , then the crate was built too large taking volume up to 3.5 mtrs/3 . There was no way I was going to pay $2600 to send a bike worth $1200 home .

Here's some freight companies I lifted from a freight magazine , some with notes on routes . My experiences with Venezuelan shipping companies was not inspiring , but better luck to future travellers .

Chris

Freight companies :
Gimax
Agencies in Brasil , USA , Europe Lejano Oriente .
212-576-64-93 , 577-78-89
gimax@telcel.net.ve

Agencia SeaFreight
Miami-Jamaica-Aruba-Trinidad-Guyana-Surinam
212-332-70-22

Transworld 2000
Miami-Mexico-Panama-Hamburg-Brasil-Argentina-Uruguay
212-564-33-41
transworld-logistics@transworld.com.ve

Arrow Air
Panama-CostaRica-RepDominicana-OtheCAm-Miami
212-3551594
fineairccs@cantv.net

Panalpina
212-202-6111
panalpina.venezuela@ccs.panmail.com panalpina.com

Well, I guess the obvious conclusion from all this is that Venezuela is NOT the best country in South America to be leaving from!

Thanks for the info, Chris, hopefully it will save others some grief in the future.

Susan

Hi Susan,
well, I was a bit shocked at how red-tapish the whole thing was and I'm sure other people could do it better remembering the pitfalls and requirements .

Nice place though , apart from that . Even Caracas was nicer than I thought and heard .And you have to love a place with petrol at 3p a litre !