Motorbike Shipping

A motorbike is not shipped like a car

Roll-on/roll-off works because a car stands on four wheels and can be lashed to the deck. A motorbike does not: it will not stay upright unaided, and a vessel at sea moves. So bikes are crated and loaded into a container instead — either sharing one with other cargo, or filling one of their own. That is the practical difference between this and our RoRo service, and it is why the quote asks different questions: engine size and whether the machine is already crated, rather than kerb weight and whether it drives.

Crated, or in a shared container

One bike normally travels crated as groupage — it takes a slice of a shared container and you pay for the space it occupies. Two or three can often share a crate or a pallet, which is cheaper per machine than crating each one. From roughly five upward a container of its own usually costs less than the equivalent groupage space, and it removes the handling that shared cargo goes through at the consolidation warehouse.

• Road motorcycles, from commuters to touring bikes
• Scooters and mopeds
• Off-road, motocross and enduro bikes
• Quad bikes and ATVs
• Race machines and team equipment together
• Dealer consignments, a full container at a time

Preparing the bike

Fuel is the one that catches people out. A motorbike must be shipped with the tank as close to empty as it will run, and on some services the battery has to be disconnected — both are dangerous-goods rules rather than preferences, and a bike that arrives at the warehouse with a full tank gets turned away. Beyond that: wash it, because destination biosecurity inspects for soil and organic residue; take off loose luggage, mirrors and screens that would snap in transit; and photograph it from every angle before it is crated, which is what settles any question about a mark on arrival.

Paperwork and destination rules

A bike carries an identity, so it needs more than a packing list. Expect to provide the V5C or equivalent registration document, proof of purchase, and the frame and engine numbers, and to complete an export declaration. The destination side is where the real variation is: several countries apply age limits or emissions standards to imported motorcycles, and a few require the machine to be registered to you for a minimum period before it can enter duty-free as a personal effect. Those rules belong to the importing country and are worth checking before you buy rather than after the crate is built — tell us the destination and we will say what applies.