Airfreight: Cape Town to Buenos Aires
 

At the end of September I airfreighted my bike from Cape Town to Buenos Aires. All went well so it's about time I shared some useful details.

I used Malaysian Airlines. Their agent for cargo is Aireps who are based at the new cargo centre at Cape Town Airport - 1st floor of the Swisspoort Building. A good contact there is Delon Leo - dleo@aireps.com, telephone 021 934 8800

It was not much cheaper than using South African Airways but Malaysian Airlines were far cheaper for a one way air ticket at R3320. Cargo prices were worked out on the basis of volume: cm3/6000 x whatever the rate happens to be, in my case 13 giving a price of just under R6000 including all the paperwork and dealing with customs.

I used a crate for a GS1150 which BMW dealer Trefco let me have. Trefco are now at 8 Northumberland Avenue, Bellville, Cape Town. Tel: 021 949 3690. Trefco were very helpful but couldn't transport the bike to Aireps warehouse. I used a company called City Transport - Tel: 021 447 3824.

At Buenos Aires the cargo terminal for imported goods is by the airport exit, a short walk from the passenger terminal. Customs Officers and warehouse staff went out of their way to ensure all went well. Warehouse charges were US$67. The process took about 3 hours and this was on a Monday when customs were trying to clear a backlog of cargo that arrived over the weekend.