From Sydney, Australia to Santiago, Chile - October, 2003

In Sidney I used the agent:

BTI logistics.
Unit 9.
2-12 Beauchamp Road.
Botany (Sidney)
02 9316 9500
Bus 309 goes there and back from Central Station

They are not very user-friendly but do have the best KG-price ($5,= australian) I let them mesure and make the crate... which turned out to be too big.

But... if you do this yourself, and get the KG-price and other cost on paper you could get the best deal in town.

In my case the afternoon before I had to fly the price suddenly went sky high... A serious talk with the director brought it down a bit again but still it was more then agreed on the day before (2650 against 2350... they wanted 2900)

Mr J Forder, who was very confortly absent spoke through the phone: Take it or leave it... knowing very well that I could not leave it without loosing my ticket.

In Chili I went to the airport International Carga, Lan Chile customer service where they gave me some papers, told me to pay usd 10 next door, come back for more papers and go to customs across the road. There they looked a bit mystified untill I showed my carnet. That they knew. We walked over to the crate, took a peek at the numbers and then I was given some more papers.

The customs officer took me to the busstop and told the driver where to kick me out. At the central customs office I got some more papers, went back to the cargo-warehouse and payed 4 day,s storage (usd 104) Then I received the crate and enough help to unpack it. They gave me an jerrycan and directed me to the fuelstation (5 min walk).

And... then I was on my way into Santiago...

It was simple and straightforward. The hole procedure took maybe 2 hours

A few tips:

Plan your flight before the weekend (storage costs) Don,t waste time with a Chile agent (customs is simple and helpful... I don't speak Spanish) Don't believe the "no worries" attitude from BTI logistics... Get them to write the quote down on paper and sign it! Tell BYI right away you have a carnet... They seem to think no one uses it duh!

Maarten