I can confirm the same prices and the start of the April shipping info posted. I have been talking with them about my plan to bring a bike back home to Canada this spring/Summer. Yeah, $3200 is not cheap, but here is the way I am justifying it.

Shipping via air is easier on the bike, and I get it in hand within a few days. If it goes by boat for me, it has to go across the Atlantic, down the east coast, through the Panama Canal, and back up the west coast to Vancouver, where I must get there a few months after shipping it. To me, that's a fair bit of carbon impact. Yeah, you can argue the math. But HEY! It's my fantasy world!

When I have completed the trip, I will post back here the results.

Hey Beakers......

Read your post on justification. There are options regarding sea freight such as having it land in Orlando where you could do a cross America tour to get it home.

We shipped back by sea in late September in '13 and those bikes came off the boat in Montreal and were shipped by train to Vancouver. Pretty quick actually.

Container shipping to points like LA via Panama Canal are prohibitively expensive so it would be more than air freight at the moment.

Making a good decision, but the factors as you listed them have changed.

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I just received a notification the Amsterdam and Barcelona routes have been cancelled.
Updated routes and rates attached

Attached Thumbnails

 

After learning that Barcelona was on the list and as I only live 3 hours away from the Calgary airport I booked my flight with Westjet assuming that the transport of my motorcycle would be a done deal and on the same flight. It was my intention to head south from there and cross into Africa. I had contacted AMC Air Marine Cargo Inc. prior to do my due diligence, but they now inform me that they don't ship to Barcelona for some administrative reason that made my eyes glaze over....

I contacted Todd at Avisar International as mentioned by vbharley previously and Todd said he can make it happen. He now, however, does not respond to my emails. My flight is June 3rd so I'm getting a bit anxious.

My options, as I see them, are to harass Todd at Avisar in the hopes that he can make good on his claim. The other option is to change my flight to Paris or Rome and make the trip into Africa from a greater distance. I'm leaning towards that option. In any event the planning with Westjet may be in vain as their pilots have recently participated in a strike vote and labour action may be imminent.

On top of all that the person in Nigeria who agreed to write me a "letter of invitation" so I could get a visa is in the process of renewing their passport. Accordingly they don't have a current copy of their passport in their possession. A copy of their passport is apparently required to accompany their invitation letter to satisfy the Nigerian consulate here.

I'm starting to think God does not want me to take this trip.

If you have the time, it's not a bad one. There is a direct(ish) ferry from Genoa to Tangier, it's 2,5 days sailing, but saves a lot of gas/hotel/wear&tear. Currently looks to be about 350 euros for a person, a bike, and a shared cabin berth.

I took that ferry (Genoa to Tanger Med, with a stop in Barcelona) about 5 years ago. It wasn't exactly what I would call a ""delightful time on a cruise ship".

The ship itself is quite old, and the passengers are primarily Moroccans and their large families returning to Morocco. The food was unremarkable and also expensive.

If someone does elect to take that ferry in the future, my recommendation is that you pay the price to get a single cabin, which is what I did. That's not a cheap choice, I think the single cabin premium was about €300 on top of the basic fare, but I'm awfully glad I did that. I was able to sleep away from the considerable noise in the common areas, and also have a private shower and bath.

From an economics point of view, the €350 basic fare + another €100 for food is less than the cost of riding from Genoa to Morocco - your gas, tolls, wear & tear on your tires, and hotel charges will certainly be more than that if you ride the bike on that route. But for the sake of your sanity, and to ensure that you don't develop a strong dislike for mankind in general by the time you get off the ferry, I really recommend that you get a private cabin for that trip.

Michael

Thank you for the suggestion. I'm not pressed for time and I've not seen much of Europe so I've made the decision to fly into Paris and ride south through Spain. I'm actually looking forward to seeing the countryside.

The only real change to my planning is to keep the tires I have on now and haul some fresh one with me which I'll install when these are worn out.

Fly to east coast and ride across?

I have a booking From Paris to YYC on April 17th. I will update on here once it's been completed. Hopefully, the city is not on fire, and the French citizens are not dusting off the guillotines...

The Freight group is open 7 days a week to accept the bike and require it 24hrs before the scheduled flight as a FYI for anyone planning.

Any updates on whether Westjet are going to start flying from Los Angeles to Europe?

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