Trip costs

Sgt Bilco

Sgt Bilco

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I have estimated costs for transportation to the USA.

There are 2 options which will work:

Option 1:
Airfreight from London to San Francisco which includes packing and crating and estimated fuel surcharge: £1400.00
With this option, you ride to LHR with all the gear, leave the bike the airfreight company and they will crate it and deliver to SF. You can even fly on the same plane. On collection from SF airport, customs will be done there you will have to put it all back together again. I can arrange delivery to a local BMW dealer so they can check the bikes if anyone needs that. Will be extra cost of course. You will only be away from your bike for maximum 1 week.
Seafreight from Baltimore to Liverpool. This is on a ro/ro ferry and is a basically the same as crossing the channel: £600.00
The ships are freighters and carry no passengers. This run takes about 8 days and you can collect the bike from Liverpool when it gets back and ride it home.
Total for this is £2000.00. The benefit of this option is you aren`t without your pride and joy for too long :D

Option 2
Seafreight to Los Angeles (there is no service to SF). This is a ro/ro ferry from Southampton so you just turn up at the port in LA and ride away. £800.00
Seafreight Baltimore to Liverpool (see option 1): £600.00
Total for this is £1400.00. Downside of this is the outbound leg takes around 4 weeks but an upside is we will have the opportunity to ride up the Pacific Coast Highway to SF. :D

These prices are obviously best guess estimates and are fairly dependant on fuel prices etc in the coming 18 months. The shippers are fairly sure however that they shouldn`t change too much.

I have one more option which is outbound in a dedicated container but I`m not sure on the reliability. As soon as I have a cost on this I`ll post it.

Let me know your thoughts and questions.

Chris
 
Shipping

I have used the container methed sevral tiomes and this went to New Jersey by sea from Tiolbury and went across the states by truck. No probs, bike away about a month. 2004, we sent bikes to LA via sea, long sel;ays at LA docks so went on to SF, The dept of ag & fisheries decided our bikes were too dirty to enter California and so we didint get them back. Always been
clean no probs when going by truck from NJ. Always ben 100% from NJ, this onot a joke as California can be crazy about pollution ( see La air and you'll see this is the biggest joke ever) I am not trying to be alarmist but this happened to us. Last year we enterd the US from Canada, after traveling up and sdown the Dalton highway in Alaska and throug Canada and they were not exactly sterile, no probs at all. I only post this as a warning and am not trying to undermine Sgts efforts in any way. I'd definatly go for sea trip but will fit in with everone else of course, just want to get going! . Well done Chris for all you hard work any help I can offer pleas eask.
Dave ( I hate christmas ( and dept of ag and fish!!) GS Roll on 2010
 
Would it be an option to look at sea freight to Seattle Chris? It's a very big sea port and as it's in Washington state may be easier to get the bikes into than LA.

There again Dave's suggestion of shipping then in a container to an east coast port and having then trucked or railed across may also be an option worthy of consideration. A 20' box would probably do the job.
 
Thanks Dave

I`ll also look at shipping into the East coast and trucking across.

They are fecking fruitcakes in Califonia:augie
 
Aidan1150 said:
Would it be an option to look at sea freight to Seattle Chris? It's a very big sea port and as it's in Washington state may be easier to get the bikes into than LA.

There again Dave's suggestion of shipping then in a container to an east coast port and having then trucked or railed across may also be an option worthy of consideration. A 20' box would probably do the job.
Click to expand...

There is an option to ship into Tacoma in Oregon which would be OK as we would travel down the superb Highway 1 to SF.

I`ll get onto other options:thumb
 
Containers

We had twenty bikes in one container double stacked, never any damage at all just had to fold down / remove screens. I was abit worried about my previous
post it certainly wasent intended as any sort of critisiam but hat was whatr happend to us in 2004. They appear to have been having a security clamp down as they were held up for a long time which is why they went on to S F,
every container was opend apparently. Every time we went via NJ (three times) no probs. Not having a moan but just point out what happend to us.
Dave ( I hate Christmas) GS.
 
Last edited:
howdy!

roughly when in 2010 are you planning the trip? i would likely be very interested, since i was planning a trip similar to this around that time, but going in a group is always better :)

put me down as a "definitely interested" if there's room left? :)
 
Highway one

Now your talking, when are we going!!!!!!!
 
davegs said:
We had twenty bikes in one container double stacked, never any damage at all just had to fold down / remove screens. I was abit worried about my previous
post it certainly wasent intended as any sort of critisiam but hat was whatr happend to us in 2004. They appear to have been having a security clamp down as they were held up for a long time which is why they went on to S F,
every container was opend apparently. Every time we went via NJ (three times) no probs. Not having a moan but just point out what happend to us.
Dave ( I hate Christmas) GS.
Click to expand...

Dave

It`s just the kind of feedback I need:thumb

I`ve never had issue`s in shipping to the East Coast via ro/ro.

Chris
 
Hey chris, any more news on shipping options? It wouldn't be a major problem being without my bike for a while if surface shipping was a good option... I have another bike i keep in my back pocket for just such occasions :augie

When I was looking into my trip I found that shipping to the west coast by air seemed to work out about the same price as surface - that was with James cargo though, and just for a single bike...

I'll defer to everyone else's judgement! Never been on a big trip before :D
 
I`ve got lots of people working on this to come with the most cost effective solution.

Bear with me and keep filling the piggy bank:D
 
OK folks

I`ve spent a huge amount of time on this shipping and to be honest, it`s proving very difficult to tie anyone down to a specific price at the moment. Everyone is waiting for 2009 but I`ve been reliably informed that the shipping is going to be no more than £1750 max all in. In all probablity it will be cheaper but it`s best to err on the expensive side. It`s not cheap but will be worth every penny so hope Santa is bringing everyone piggy banks for Christmas.

One problem I am having is customs fees because there are changes happening in Jan but I`m sute to have everything in place by the end of Jan.

My preferred method in via container into San Francisco and ro/ro ferry home. This will give the best price. Apologies for the delay in this but it`s worth getting it right in advance because US customs insist on everything being 100% right.

The route is almost complete so I will have an estimate for fuel/motels/insurance over the Christmas period.
 
Just out of curiosity where were you thinking of getting the bikes crated in the UK?

When you say container into SF would that be by sea or into SF by road/rail from and Eastern port ?
 
Rushy said:
Just out of curiosity where were you thinking of getting the bikes crated in the UK?

When you say container into SF would that be by sea or into SF by road/rail from and Eastern port ?
Click to expand...

If we go in a container, it doesn`t really matter where they are loaded but they would need crating. Probably at a mates place near me because I can make sure all is OK and he has all the tools/space required. For the container, I would get a load of crates from BuMW which would be more than good enough.

My preferred route is sea to the East Coast and road/rail to SF. Less customs issue on the East Coast and a better price. Biggest issue is with customs and there a few changes in January for temporary imports so that is the main reason for the delay and final decision on route.

I have a friendly BuMW dealer who will let me use his dealership for the delivery address which is a huge plus. Great because he is on hand for any issues when the bikes are uncrated:thumb
 
Alchohol fund.

Well thats that, no booze this christmas!.
Well done Sarge!.
dave ( I hate christmas) GS roll on 2010.
 
I might look into having my bike crated over here Chris and then have it delivered over to the UK. The transport from here to there shouldn't be too much of a problem. :)
 
Hi Chris,

I'm planning to ship my bike to Baltimore on the ro-ro ship from Southampton at the end of April for a trip round the States and Canada. They also quoted me £600 for seafreight to Baltimore. I'm having problems getting a clear breakdown on the customs costs coming back the way (Baltimore to UK). Just wondered if you've had anything on this (had a quick scan of the thread and couldn't see anything).

The handling agent I'm in touch with quoted $750 export charge when the inbound customs/loading charge is $229 - I'm trying to find out why it is so much more to export.

Be interested to know what you are being quoted. If I get anything else on this I'll post it.

Cheers
Andy
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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