Shipments done by Travellers

I got a quote from Allison to ship a Moto Guzzi Spada (225kg) from L A and the $1569 included all port and clearance charges. Actual sea freight was only $491 so this gives you an indication of how much the add ons are.
I didn't go ahead with the shipping after arriving in L A because of 'title'
problems so I can't comment on how the bike would have travelled.
I've posted the above details as a price guide to anyone contemplating shipping and to say that in my dealings with this company, Allison was very helpful.

it's complicated. they quoted me X amount of $$$ and end up paying Y amount of money.

i do understand that the final bill will be determined by the size (mass weight or volumetric weight, which ever is higher) but there were alot of things that they did not quote me. they used a low amount of quote to lure me to their company (due to my greed for cheap service), where i compared the quote with other company, they had the cheapest because they did not quote me many other stuff. Bad business tactics. dirty and shameful.

after sending the bike to them and packed, i was not happy with the price and wanted to verify. they got fed up, because i was just a SMALL CUSTOMER TO THEM. they said they want to return the bike, refund me the money MINUS THEIR COST!they know that i have no time to play this game as my flight would be in 2 day's time.

i had to apologise to them, swollow everything and agree to the high charges!

they are using my bike as a 'HOSTAGE' and i have to pay a 'ransom'.

i am dissappointed with these business people!

anyway, it's $4.85/kg.

based on mass weight of 284kg, volumetric weight of 509kg.
read my blog for what happened to the packing that cause the volumetric weight to increase that much!

other fees were

a) documention and handling $25.00
b) fuel surcharge $361.39
c) airfreight charge $2056.36
d) Hazard / Restricted Goods Handling $50(NOT IN THE INITIAL QUOTE)
e) screening Fee - HAWB $50.90(NOT IN THE INITIAL QUOTE)
f) DG (dangerous goods) cert $75
g) security surcharge - HAWB $50.9(NOT IN THE INITIAL QUOTE)
h) packing (my grandmother can do better) $200
i) airport transfer $50.90 (NOT IN THE INITIAL QUOTE)

SWINDLE LOGISTICS took 45% of our travel fund for the next 6 months!

#%$#%#$^!@!!

My bike's an 1150GS Adventure. I had used Yusen originally to airfreight from Melbourne to USA (AUD$3377 in total, which included a truck to the airport from Southbank, all of the dangerous goods surcharges and the extra cost for removal/disposal of the crate). On the way home, I opted for sea freight. Again, the bike needed to be crated and I was lucky to be given a used steel crate by BMW San Diego at very short notice. (Thanks guys!)
I rented a U-Haul truck to get the crate and bike to Yusen's depot in Torrance, and then packed it while Sean watched. The whole operation only took a couple of hours, including all the paperwork, which was easy. (I spent a whole weekend cleaning the bike before I took it to Yusen. It still wasn't perfect, but pretty good considering it's year on the road.)
The bike arrived in Melbourne a little over three weeks later. (Melbourne contact is Maria Casey, email m-ca...@yusen.com.au)
Maria handled the quarantine clearance etc., and I unpacked the crate and reassembled the bike in the warehouse which is near Tullamarine airport. Again, an hour or so and I was outta there. Payment was COD before I rode the bike away, but it was all very easy and pain-free at both ends. No extra surprises or add-on costs. No charge to dispose of the crate, or store it for a few days while I decide what to do with it.

...I have just air freighted my NTV650 from LA to Sydney for far less money than any other agent in the US was able to and whats more, the company - ETC International Freight Systems - appeared to know more about freighting bikes than the rest!

The price charged by ETC included crating in the strongest crate I've ever seen and all associated documentation. The dimensions of my bike were 2.4m x 0.8m x 1.2m. The airline they used was Malaysian Airlines and they seem to have a special deal with them as the price which appeared on the Airway Bill was around $3500!

At ETC's premises I was able to prepare the bike for freighting ie. drain oil, fuel, radiator coolant and dismantle/ disconnect various bits and pieces.

Compton is a suburb of LA. The nearest train station is Dell Amo which is an hours walk away!

I recently shipped my bike to Australia and back from London. In both cases the bike went via Singapore so it looks like that is a "normal" route, and I certainly had no problems.