Welcome to the South Africa Motorcycle Shipping guide. If you’re planning on shipping a foreign registered motorcycle to South Africa, have a read of this detailed guide first by shipping expert Adrian Schultz…
Contents
How to Ship a Motorcycle to South Africa
By Adrian Schultz
Owner of Econo Trans - a motorcycle shipping company in Cape Town South Africa
South Africa is a popular destination for overlanders and motorcycle travellers looking to ship their vehicles to the African Continent. Based in Cape Town, I operate Econo Trans and have assisted hundreds of international riders over the years. This guide has been compiled to provide practical advice and support for anyone preparing to travel through South Africa.
Why start in South Africa?
South Africa has the best roads in Africa, with as many beautiful bush and dirt roads for off-road touring. Iconic Chapmans Peak in Cape Town is a must ride, as is a trip to Cape Agulhus, Africa’s most Southerly point. We have many nature reserves, and loads of well set up and safe camping areas.
Cape Town is usually the gateway entry for the popular Southern Africa circular route including Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and back into Northern South Africa. Or a good starting point for travellers entering South Africa and riding the Cape to Kenya route.
Equally, many riders travelling through Africa will end their trip here, and then we can assist them by shipping their vehicles home or to their next destination.
Is it easy to ship to South Africa?
For travellers with foreign registered vehicles, the import process is very easy if the vehicle has a Carnet De Passages document. Though there are costs involved to obtain a Carnet, having a Carnet also makes travelling in Africa in general much easier.
Without a Carnet, the process of importing is more complicated, takes longer, and SA customs will want a taxes deposit covering potential duties if the motorcycle or vehicle does not exit SA again.
Paperwork
Carnet vs Temporary Import Permit
A Carnet de Passage is best for foreign vehicles or motorcycles being shipped to South Africa. If you have a Carnet, then that is all we need.
Without a Carnet, for bikes arriving by sea or air you must provide three valuations from where the bike is registered, and customs will demand an import tax deposit of +- 26% based on the higher of the 3 valuations.
We then initiate the refund process when the bike exits South Africa and it can take up to 6 weeks for the deposit to be refunded.
Land borders
The TIP process mentioned above is the case when when shipping into South Africa by air or sea. If you were to cross a land boarder into SA, customs will issue a TIP valid for 6 months without the deposit request, as the bike is already deemed to have entered the Southern African Customs Union.
You can also cross a land border with a Carnet just as you would normally.
Length of stay
A foreign registered motorcycle can stay in South Africa for as long as the Carnet is valid – or if on a TIP, then for six months. Note that a TIP can be renewed if more time is required.
Sending paperwork in advance
We like to have all paperwork sent to us by DHL in advance. We should have this before you send your vehicle and at least 10 days before your motorcycle arrives. And that includes the Carnet if you are entering with a Carnet or the valuations if you are entering with a Temporary Import Permit.
For bikes being air freighted in from a Carnet requirement country, we suggest having the original Carnet attached to the air waybill to arrive at the same time (with copies of front and inside emailed to us ahead).
Note from Mad or Nomad: We shipped our motorcycles from Buenos Aires, Argentina to Cape Town, South Africa. You do not need Carnets for South America so we didn’t have one. Over email, we bought a Carnet from Switzerland and had it posted special delivery to Adrian. Once he received the Carnet and was ready, we arranged and sent our bikes via air shipment to him. He released our bikes from customs using our Carnets and stored them for us for two months until we arrived.
Customs clearance in South Africa
We handle all customs clearance for bikes entering and exiting South Africa so you don’t have to. You would need to contact us before you ship your motorcycle so we can go through everything and arrange your shipment.
What is the customs clearance and inspection process?
We book the customs inspection before your bike arrives. Once it has arrived, we will enter the clearance on the system and collect the bike from the airport or container depot.
Importantly, this can all be done without you being present.
We normally suggest clients plan the bike arrival before their own arrival so that we can clear and have the bike available and ready for when they arrive.
What can’t be shipped in
Do not try and pack guns, drugs, porn – and spare tyres should also be avoided.
Timings
For arrival by air, we must collect and complete the process the day after off-load from the aircraft to avoid storage fees. For arrival by sea shared container, we have three days to collect from the depot to avoid storage. This is why it’s so important for you to arrange everything with us in advance before shipping.
Storage
We can supply motorcycle storage for travellers who do not want to arrive as soon as their bike does. We charge $20USD per week after the first week.
You do not need to be present in South Africa for when your bike arrives, provided you have supplied us with all the correct paperwork in advance.
Air vs sea freight
Air is naturally quicker and generally easier to clear in most countries, but generally most costly.
Sea freight is less costly but transit times are longer and delays often occur.
We usually recommend air freight, especially if a client has a limited touring time with pre-booked accommodation along the way. If an import arrives later than expected by sea, it has obvious consequences.
But if a client is under no time pressure and caters for the bike to arrive by sea a week or two before their own arrival, then sea can still be a good option. Southern African ports are unfortunately not the most efficient.
Shipping costs
Typically we charge 300 to 350 USD for air (+ for air arrivals a small airline handling / release fee of +-40 USD depending on the airline) or sea imports, which includes customs clearance, inspection, collection from the airport or container depots.
But, for sea freight part container bike arrivals shipped in as LCL (less than container load), there is always the unknown depot de-consolidation / unload / release fees and charges that we don’t know until close to arrival time because they all charge differently.
This could typically add another 400 to 500 USD on top depending on who the de-consolidation agent / depot is.
Preparing a motorcycle for shipping
Here’s what you need to know about preparing your motorcycle to ship into and out of South Africa.
Fuel and batteries
Fuel must be at max 25% capacity or less if possible, and we disconnect batteries (and insulate / tape terminals). For outbound air freight, we have bikes “purged” of all flammable liquids and batteries disconnected and provide a certificate to that effect – which allows us to ship by air as non-hazardous / general cargo.
Restricted goods
Flammable liquids like camping gas, as well as foodstuff and alcohol should not be shipped with a bike. If clients ship items with a bike, we request a list (like boots, jackets, tool kit, etc.) and declare those to avoid customs issues during inspections.
Crating
There are no crating and packaging guidelines for inbound crates. For outbound, we custom make crates in our warehouse, with ISPM 15 approved timber, and stamp the crates accordingly.
South Africa shipping tips
+ We suggest planning arrival after your bike arrives, in case of delays. Typically we can then have your bike cleared / collected so riders can just come direct from the airport to collect their bike if they wish.
+ Airport and depot storage is expensive if we don’t have your paperwork with enough time before your bike arrives. We like to have all paperwork (Carnets by DHL or valuations for temp imports), at least 10 days before a bike arrives. For bikes being air freighted in from a Carnet requirement country, we suggest having the original Carnet attached to the air waybill to arrive at the same time (with copies of front and inside emailed to us ahead).
+ To minimise a bike crate size, we remove panniers, mirrors and screens. Some clients remove a front wheel too, though the saving is often negligible.
Shipping with Econo Trans
Motorcycle shipping is one of our specialities, and we are based in Cape Town – the gateway to South Africa and the best place to start or end a bike tour.
We are the preferred agents for well known bike tour agents who bring riders into SA and handle the entire import process and re-export process after the tour.
We will always make the import or export of a client’s motorcycle an easy and hassle-free process, because we know that they have many things to plan around the arrival of their bike, and we want to be a part of their travel stories.
Contact details
- Location: Paarden Eiland, Cape Town
- Exports: Lyndon Francis – lyndon@econotrans.co.za
- Imports: Adrian Schultz and Wayne Sheward – adrian@econotrans.co.za / wayne@econotrans.co.za
- Web: exportandimport.co.za
Note from Mad or Nomad
If you’re looking to ship your motorcycle to or from South Africa, then we recommend getting in touch with Adrian – the author of this article. We shipped our motorcycles from Argentina to South Africa in 2025 and stored them with Adrian for two months. We couldn’t have been happier with the service we received from Econo Trans.
Read more on motorcycle shipping and travel in Africa
Thanks for checking out the How to Ship a Motorcycle to South Africa guide. We hope you enjoyed it! Here’s a few more articles on motorcycle shipping, paperwork and travel in Africa that we recommend you read next.
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Are you planning on shipping your motorcycle to South Africa? Do you have any questions, tips or suggestions? Let us know in the comments below.
Hello,iam George from Greece and iam interested to transfer my motorcycle from Greece to South Africa. Pick Up from Cape town and Drop off Mombasa Kenya. Is it posible that? Thanks in Avance.
Hi Georgios, thanks for your comment. Please contact Econo Trans directly, their email address is listed in this article, I’m sure they’ll be able to help you.
When you say drop off in Kenya, do you mean you want to ship home from Kenya? If so, please visit the Shipping Companies page and click on Kenya and contact the company listed there.
Cheers and best of luck,
Andy