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Hi everyone,



I am interested in sending 1 motorcycle (Swiss Number Plate) to Irkutsk or Barnaul from Zurich (Switzerland). (Maybe NEXT YEAR) I am collecting information to see if it is possible or not.


Do you know any Transport-Company to could do this Shipping??


Thank you.

E-mail: adolfo35@gmail.com

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LULO

Gruetzi Adolfo:

What you are seeking to do is very conventional, very normal, and can be accomplished by truck transport. It is not necessary to use air freight and it would probably be prohibitively expensive to use air freight.

I suggest that you contact a motor freight carrier in the Zurich area who specializes in road shipments of freight to Russia. They will be able to tell you how long it will take, what it will cost, and how you need to prepare the shipment. Also ask them about insuring your motorcycle against theft or damage while it is in transit - your existing Swiss policy most likely will not cover theft or damage while the motorcycle is being shipped somewhere.

It is likely that the carrier will want you to crate the motorcycle. Even if the carrier doesn't require it to be fully crated (in other words, if they would accept it strapped on a pallet), you probably want to crate it to prevent theft or damage while it is enroute and at warehouses at the Russian end of the shipment.

There is a Russian consulate in Zurich, on Oberdorfstrasse. Visit the consulate and determine what the import requirements and/or restrictions are. I have never temporarily imported a motorcycle into the Russian Federation, but I have temporarily imported a Swiss-registered aircraft, and there was quite a bit of paperwork involved in that process.

At the same time, inquire with the Consulate what the process is for you to obtain a tourist visa. It takes quite a long time (4 to 6 weeks) to get visas for Russia, don't leave that until the last minute.

Be aware that the paperwork and import restrictions for an unaccompanied tourist vehicle might be different than the paperwork and import restrictions that you would encounter if you rode up to the Russian border on the same motorcycle (meaning, if you entered the country at the same time as the vehicle). So make sure, when you talk to the staff at the consulate, that you make it clear that you are planning to ship the bike ahead of time, not ride it into the country.

Lastly, you should do some investigation into what is required to insure your Swiss-registered motorcycle for operation in Russia. The perfect solution would be for your existing Swiss insurer to add coverage for Russia to your policy, and send you a green card that shows this coverage is in effect. But it is possible (in fact, probable) that your Swiss insurer can't write coverage for Russia, and you likely won't be able to walk up to an insurance company in Irkutsk or Barnaul and buy coverage for a foreign-registered vehicle.

Michael