Shipping Toronto to Buenos Aires
 

Hi, does anyone have any advice on shipping a V-Strom 650 to Argentina? I would like to leave January 2017. Air Canada pricing is ridiculous at $4000+. I prefer air vs ship.

Thanks,
Al

Hello, and welcome to the HUBB community.

Air Canada's proposed $4,000 charge to ship your bike Toronto - Argentina is not unreasonable, but understanding why the cost is so high (compared to the cost of air freighting a moto Canada to Europe) requires a bit of an understanding of the air freight marketplace.

A motorcycle is very lightweight relative to the space it occupies in an aircraft. If an air carrier is operating on a relatively short route such as Canada to Europe, and they are not filling the belly with freight - as is the case during the summer on the TransAtlantic routes - then they have an underweight aircraft with empty cubic space available, and any money they can get for filling that space is a windfall. This is why you see offers to ship motos TransAtlantic for about $1,000 in the summer.

On the other hand, if an aircraft is operating on very long, thin routes such as Canada to South America, it is likely departing at close to maximum takeoff weight, and it is probably filled to capacity (either cubic, weight, or both) with airfreight. A 600 pound motorcycle in a standard ULD (uniform load device, otherwise known as a 'can' or air freight container) takes up the same amount of space as 6,000 pounds of packages and boxes that could be put in that same container.

Hence, the air carrier will only be interested in carrying the motorcycle if it can get the same revenue from the moto as it can get from smaller, individual air freight packages that would take up the same cubic space as the motorcycle does.

You might be able to find a better price by calling various air freight forwarders in the Toronto area (you can start your search for them here: Canadian Air Freight Forwarders) and asking them to quote you a price. These forwarders often buy bulk space from air carriers, and if they can't fill that space, they might offer a good price to you just to cut their losses.

When you call, let them the exact weight of your moto (from your owner manual, don't forget to add the weight of anything in the saddlebags), and when you would like to ship it.

All that notwithstanding, I doubt if you will be able to get a price less than (at the very lowest) $2,500.

Michael

Wow, that is an awesome explanation!

Thank you very much and I will start contacting freight forwarders as you suggested.

just as an idea:

i think air canada is flying to buenos aires with an stop in santiago de chile.

maybe try other cities for a cheaper price where air canada have direct flight to.

perhaps santiago, lima or rio (brazil is not recommended shipping the bike, maybe by aircraft it is better, i dont know).


good luck

Yes, I thought about that. However, my early stages of research is showing that Buenos Aires is more popular. Also, I would assume that their airport staff is very experienced and knowledgeable in processing M/C transportation etc.

I'm interested in shipping my bike to bogota, Colombia. By sea is cheaper and would take 3 weeks. My question is has anybody used a reputable freight forwarder in Toronto?

I just used Air Canada to ship my Vstrom to Colombia from Canada. I put the costs into the database here. Much cheaper to ship there than anywhere else in South America.

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/get...type=continent

I paid AC 1700$ for bogota and I remember Getting a price for Santiago for 2800$ So 4k for Buenos Aires sounds about right.

They dont fly direct to BA. I bet handling heavy Cargo in foreing airports is a great cost to them.

Hope you sort it out and hope to run into you in Patagonia as I am making my way down there right now.

I've also been searching for a way down for 2 DR 650s. Seems Toronto to Bogota is cheapest. Easier for me to take bikes from Pittsburgh to Toronto than down to Miami.