I left the crate at the warehouse. It was a wood/cardboard crate, which I got from BMW in Melbourne at the time.

Grimaldi Freightercruises
 

Does anyone know about the fees in the port Buenos Aires if an arriving with motorcycle aboard? What I should pay in this case?
Thanks
Alex

Import Costs
 

Hi Alex,
If you read all of this thread you should find answers to your question!! doh
We shipped in from Cape Town S.A.
Check my final costing post in this thread here ;-

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...049#post263104

These costs shouldn't be to far out, only 12 months old.
When are you arriving BA?? We are flying back in on 6th Oct. to carry on Northbound.

Kev & Lorraine

When...it`s not so fastly:oops2: I`m just making a plans. But thanks for your answering I was in hurry and didnt read carefully.
Alex

Alex,
Good luck then with the planning, definitely don't miss out on South America, it's a great place.
Kev & Lorraine

I read carefully. But the difference is I`m planning to arrive with a motorcycle aboard. It looks like a ferryboat. The container shipping is another case. Am I right? Which of these payments I should pay?
1.Entrega de Mercandarias LCL = 740
2.S.I.M = 95
3.Recupero Gastos de Puerto LCL = 190
4.Recupero Ivetra Importacion LCL = 20
5.Resolution 13331/02 LCL = 75
6.IVA = 235
Total = 1,355
sorry if I`m looking stupid...doh

UK to BA
 

Just got 3 quotes for flying a bike (KTM 950 Adv) from UK to Buenos Aires:

£1,150 (+ £250 to crate it up - not mandatory, but quite strict on the quality of the crate- oil has to be drained, NO fuel).

£2,500 (yes, £2,500!) I didnt even bother to ask if this included crating costs

£1,450 with James Cargo. Includes crating up. Oil left in bike, wheels still on, but deflated slightly, about 3 litres of petrol in tanks.

I went with JC. They were nice to deal with and I have confidence in them. They even offered to open up the warehouse on a saturday for me to drop the bike off at a convenient time for me.

These costs were a bit of a shock to say the least. In early planning a year ago I had seen posts that suggested the cost would be ~£1,000 max. The Icelandic volcanp pushed prices up and they havent come down since. Fuel tax is blamed for keeping the prices up.

Had I known this I would have looked into shipping more seriously. My research told me that flying is a trade off between higher costs compared to shipping, but you get greater confidence that the bike arrives on time. And apparently (according to posts here) there is a lot of hassle at the customs in ports (hidden charges, delays etc). £1,450 is a lot of money though!

Hope this helps someone.
2 weeks to go and very excited .... the bike is no longer in bits on the garage floor and is ready to go :D

Just an update on the charges in BA:

£70 to United Airlines (the air freighter) for documentation. What a rip off and this was never mentioned to me by anyone.

£270 release and handling fee in Ezeira airport Customs.

And that's it. Not too bad really.

I had serious fun and games getting the bike released. It took 8 hours, but we got there in the end. Unfortunately, when I got to my bike and fired it up, one of the fuel petcocks flew out the left side tank and about 3 liters of gas proceeded to spill out on the cargo warehouse floor. I had the left half of the bike dismantled right there in the warehouse to remove an after market fuel filter that had melted and clogged up. Not an ideal start!

The guys in the warehouse are brilliant, especially the foreman (Eduardo, speaks good english, wears a blue basebal hat - he runs the show. He is a serious dude and I owe him a lot of thanks for helping me out that day).

Anyways, since I didnt use a broker, I have some usefulk advice that I found out the hard way:

• Cargo terminal is located 500m to the right of international arivals
• You need your passport to enter the cargo terminal as a visitor
• You need your airway bill to start the ball rolling and it all starts at the 'Particulares' office, which is located in building number B2 (just ask at the security /reception barrier and they will guide you there)
• You will go from Oficina (office) 2, to 3, to 1, to 3, to 1, to 2 . etc etc in no no particular order for several hours ntil all paper works have been stamped and copied. Some people speak a little English, some Spanish would help, but either way, the process is fairly straightforward and it will be made clear to you where you must go next.
• Although it is kind of efficient, in a random kind of way, even the Argentines picking up thir cargo dont know excactly what is going on. This means that there is a lot of cue jumping and 'who you know' type meetings. Dont take any crap and just butt in where you can. It sort of works on a first come first serve basis, but obviously be polite and respectful.
• You absolutely must have ARGENTINE INSURANCE FOR YOUR BIKE. First thing they asked for.
• You need to be able to show them where the chassis and engine number are on the bike, and obviously these must match the paperwork.
• If you plan to include luggage with the bike crate, I would advise getting your agent to include this as an item on the airway bill manifest. This was a sticking point with m and it took a lot of spanglish sweet talking to get my luggage cleared (the aduana chief had to come down and clear it)
• You will need fuel upon exit - tell the guys at the exit gate and they will guide you through an emergency exit so that you can get to the YPF fuel station (the airport roads are one way and the customs exit leads you straight to the toll (peaje) road). If you do this, you will hit the first toll barrier without a ticket (normally, you pick up a ticket on entry to the airport road system). Explain to them that you have come from the aduana and went to get petrol and they will let you through. In my case they actually radioed the customs guys to verify that I was telling the truth.
• You will need about 8-10 pesos in small bills/change to get you to BA through the toll systems. Head towards the booths signed 'Manual'.
• BA traffic and driving is bonkers: Good luck

Wow, what a long post. Hope it helps someone.
Suerte
Gar

According to Dakar motor Buenos Aires the cost of unclear the bike at the port is from 700 to 1000 US$ (PLUS COST OF THEIR SERVICES) in case of shipping by seafreight

No more fees than for your computer or your camera. You dont pay taxes for your "luggage".:welcome:

The ever increasing taxes port fees are indeed making the transatlantic cruise a more and more viable option for those who arent on a tight schedule... and immune to sea sickness ;o)

Another 30% inflation year in Argentina, competing for world record with Venezuela. Since the change with the dollar is kept on par (like in the 90s), travelling the country on a motorcycle is not for the shoe stringers any more.

Arrived yesterday in BsAs and bike being flown 2 days ago.

Dakar Motos helped with the clearance and cost was as follows:

Dakar motos USD200
Aerolineas fee USD80
Another airport charge USD187

Insurance at 60 pesos/month

so roughly USD470 plus insuance.

Took nearly a day at the airport to clear.

Can recommended Dakar Motos, Sandra is a great help

Just waiting for my luggage as the airline lost in somewhere

Cheers
Kim

What was the total cost including air shipping?

Just for comparison, dakar motos quoted us US $1850 to airship a 1200 GS BA to LA, CA. I think that was the whole package. Dave

thanks !!!
 

This has been a very usefull and informative thread. Big Thanks to all the contributors. :clap:

I'm planning to follow the Dakar2013 rally as a spectator and for this, i am planning to ship my bike by sea from Dubai (air freight is very expensive - almost 4-5000USD for freight alone !!) to Lima, Peru as the Dakar 2013 starts from there instead of BA as it happened duing the last few years.

thanks again
Vicks

Vicks

The quote you have for airfreight sounds very expensive. i brought mine over from the Uk (via Dubai) on Qatar airways in January for a lot less than that. I also used Sandra at Dakar - really good and helpful person.

For cargo quote you could try these guys. They did a good job for me. You may know this , but I was told that when shipping you may have a window of a month for when the bike arrives as opposed to a few days by air.

Giles Ernsting
Motorcycle Shipping Manager
James Cargo Services Ltd.
Tel: +44 (0)1753 687722 ext. 216
Fax: +44 (0)1753 687723
email: giles@jamescargo.com
web: www.jamescargobikes.com

good luck
delbert