Thanks to all those that have contributed to answering my question.
We will shipping probably around June some time at this stage.
We were also interested to hear which might be the easiest country to enter, Canada or America? And which of these two might be cheaper?

My guess is that Canada would be the easier country to enter, simply because the Canadians are not as frightened as the Americans are.

Having said that, just make sure your motorcycles are really clean if you ship them into Canada - the Americans are worried about terrorists and dirty bombs, the Canadians are more worried about potato bugs and other agricultural pests.

Michael

I would also say Canada, I have no experience of shipping into the US but the Canadians were certainly friendly and helpful, that went for the officials as well as the people.

The people, generally speaking, are no different in either country in my honest opinion. Overwhelmingly good, kind, decent and generous folk .. and I really do mean that.

It’s just that the US has ‘a bit’ more reason to be concerned about protecting its borders compared to Canada. You understand my point, I’m sure.
.

I concur with Keith's comments above about people being pretty much the same in both countries.

I have, however, noticed that there are small but significant differences in the behaviour of customs officials in the two countries:

1) The American customs and immigration officials can sometimes be quite belligerent - it's almost as if they have this "I've got a gun, and that makes me all-powerful, and my job is to protect my fellow citizens against aliens like you."

2) The Canadian customs and immigration officials, on the other hand, tend to be a lot less high and mighty, but can sometimes be a little bit dumb. I recall importing my (Canadian purchased, Canadian registered, Canadian plated) moto back into Canada by air once, and having enormous difficulty convincing the customs person that it was "Canadian goods returning", and therefore no different than a Canadian vehicle returning into Canada at a land border crossing.

After finally overcoming that conceptual hurdle, the same customs official stated that the Agricultural inspection folks would need to inspect it for possible presence of bugs or other insects on any dirt that might be on the tires. I told the woman that there was no dirt on the bike - I had very carefully cleaned it before shipping it - and she told me that she was not qualified to assess agricultural hazards. I then had a heck of a time convincing her that I was not asking her to assess the presence of agricultural hazards, I was only asking her to assess the presence or absence of dirt on the bike - something she finally agreed that she might, just perhaps, have the skill and competence to do...

So, I guess the bottom line is that it's a bit of a crap-shoot no matter which country you go to, the only thing that differs is the rationale behind the potential headaches that the customs officials might create for you.

Be sure that you are in a very calm and relaxed frame of mind when you go to clear the bike out of customs, no matter which country you go to. :)

Michael

Does Air Transat ask you drain the fuel from the tank completely? Siphon then let idle untill it dies?

Hi jfman,

We didn't use Air Transat to get our bike from Southampton to Halifax, we ended up using Wallenius Wilhelmsen, they were very helpful and it only took around a week to get across. Customs in Halifax were extremely helpful also. For this way of shipping we dropped off the bike as it was and picked it up again at the other end. Easy.