From Sydney, Australia to Buenos Aries, Argentina - August, 2010

After consultation with multiple freight forwarders i decided to try and do the whole thing myself.

I did get a carnet ($900 AUD) and it was used to have bike signed out of Australia. This may have caused me issues since i would prefer to not travel on a carnet since it ties me to bring the bike home to AUS but will try and sort that out later.

Things to be aware of
- DGM at 32 Rickettey St, Mascot (02 9669 4811) arranged my Dangerous Good Certification, v easy, $100 AUD. You must have <25% fuel in your tank and have the battery disconnected.
- Most importantly, you must book! I turned up without a booking since on the phone Qantas freight people on the phone said i don't need one. This is incorrect and you must book through reservations.
- You will also need a customs examination before the bike can fly. I was lucky, i walked across from Qantas Freight to Customs House at Sydney Intl Airport and was able to find someone at 4:30pm on Friday afternoon to come and sign my carnet after an examination of the bike. Along with all the gear in my panniers i was putting into the shipment as well. You may not be so lucky, you must book with Qantas (you need an airway number) and Customs (an appointment for examination).
- Don't trust what anyone on the phone says to you, unless they personally have shipped a bike themselves assume they know nothing. They will al say you a dangerous good cert., but this only half of what you need. Trust only what the people actually handling the shipment at Qantas Freight tell you (they are good people and very experienced, the phone people are idiots), the forklift drivers are especially good blokes and masters of their art.
-Also most people at Customs know nothing, only the more experienced staff know what a carnet is, make sure that they supervise anyone handling your paperwork.

Having said all this, doing the whole thing myself saved me $2.5K AUD, which is a serious amount of cash. Worth doing, just visit Qantas Freight (Link Rd, Mascot) a week before you want your bike to fly to make sure you documentation is in order.

Also air freight on this type of leg is far superior to sea freight, i was quoted up to 70 days via sea, for about the same amount of money.

Send me a PM if you need help air freighting a bike from Sydney to Buenos Aries or Santiago, happy to help.

Adrian