Adventure Bike Rider

I am planning a trip to South Africa, Namibia, and Botswana next year. Still at early stages but started enquiries with some shipping agents to transport 2 bikes to South Africa:

JamesCargo - flying bikes out, they crate and handle most of it -£1540 per bike each way. Feck!!!! I have asked how to make it cheaper. A LOT cheaper.

RORO boat from Southampton : £1150 per bike one way. Still Feck!!!

Any tips on how to make this cheaper? Is it South Africa? Anyone emigrating that way in May with room for two bikes in their container?




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Might be cheaper driving them down there Austin.



Andy.

Hi Austin.

change the post header to South africa shipping charges..

As there are a few guys on this forum who come from that part of the world and have done past help posts on this very subject with good result..but remember the post.

one guy is called knobbly from London and another has a Yam660 Teneree..

you lucky bugger too and enjoy

Yeah much cheaper way is to : turn out of the drive, head South arrive portsmouth catch ferry to santander out of ferry port turn left head South down to Algerciras / Tarifa quick ferry ride then south by south east again.........sounds simply doesnt it !! If only we were all Austin Vince's eh but honestly i know you want to travel through a specific area of Africa but the money you save from not shipping the bike could fund (with some left over) the additional trip down there, all you need is to find the time ! (again sounds so simply doesnt it).

Hi Have you tried any of these
www.motorcycle.co.uk/shipping.aspx
There was also an article in one mag I think Bike about shipping a bike and ways to do it to save money will have a look to see if I still got it, ie crating bike yourself and removing as much as possible to save weigh and money. you could also try booking cruise ship to Capetown and taking bikes on as "hand Luggage"
Still very jealous have similar trip planned for in a few years time.

Hi Austin
Try ringing up >>>. SAFMARINE UK LTD +44 1394 608292
They are Uk - RSA shipping company office in FELIXSTOWE . One of the main shipping companys in SA .
Martin

I would definitely ride there if I had the time. Unfortunately I have to work to fund a trip like this. Work = money but also = no time. It's a catch 22 isn't it. I am actually having 5 weeks unpaid leave and can add a week or two annual leave as well.

Have tried several agents but only two replies so far. Will be quizzing them at the bike show. It might be a case of grin and bear the costs.


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AustinW wrote:


Once in a lifetime trip Austin, grin and bear it unless you find it cheaper. You have the time off work, have the bikes, and have a wife to go with. Enjoy.

beddowsm wrote:

I try to enjoy my wife often as I can. The rest may well be once in a lifetime.


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James Cargo quoted me £800 to ship my bike to NZ and £500 to New York, which I thought was a bargain.

Hi Austin, I was quoted simliar by James Cargo to ship to SA, although they also quoted apro. £400 per bike if we were to share a container for 6 bikes. I currently have 3 poss 4 bikes at the moment to ship down late October 2012. We then plan to ride tail to top of Africa using the West route. When are you planning to leave? Maybe we could share a container or even ride some of the way together. Drop me a pm with your email address and I could include you in our group email list. I'm meeting up with two possible SA riding partners for the third time at ABR lymington. Let me know if you want to discuss further.

Try this guy. www.sa-cia.com/

He's a mate of mine and I suggested him to someone else but I'm not sure if he helped at all but worth a go. Mention me if you like - we are old riding mates from when he lived here for a while.

ask for a LCL price, LCL is 'less than container load'. It means you will need to get your bike crated up. That way you can ask all sorts of shippers rather than a specialist bike shipper. You will have to factor in a courier getting the crated bike to the container.

Cheaper option is Sea freight but that depends on ship sailing time and arrival time (And Pirates )

You can plan your trip to arrive in SA same time as the ship docks

If you prefer Air Freight,(This is the expensive option), make sure the packing box is small as possible by removing front wheel (To drop height) and Handle bar to reduce the width. After a certain Kg in weights, Airlines charges by Volume, therefore the smaller the box the cheaper the price.
I have shipped a bike out to Africa almost 3/4 yrs ago and did the above(Total Cost was under 1k)
To cut Cost,I used a local packer who did a great job for me and delivered the bike to the airport for me too.
Shop around as much as you can, Try and work out a box diemsions and approx weight. ask Airlines to quote you on that .. I used Davies Turner they were very competitive in price.. Good Luck..

luckily Pirates haven't targetted a large container ship as of now, but time will tell!