After remembering a post here a while back, I asked my African Taxidermist to check into shipping by sea (apparently it is much cheaper?).

Here is their response:

quote:

Yes, the exporters we use can send it via sea freight.

I am sorry, but couldn't gvie you the cost of the shipping. They measure the crate and have their rates for each
country. Normally it take about 4 weeks before you receive your shipment via boat.

What would you recommend? SEA OR AIR??

Or, in other words, roughly how much money can I save by shipping Sea Freight vs. Air ?
Thanks!

P.S. I am in no rush to see the trophies and can wait 4 weeks if needed. I already have great photos. 5 animals total, all shoulder mounts- largest Gemsbok size- smallest sprngbok.

For mounted trophies, due to the "volume" of the consignment, it will definetely be cheaper to ship by sea. It has been done before wihtout any problems but it is important to make sure whoever packs your trophies does it carefully ensuring trophies cannot move around inside their crate. 4 weeks seems a bit "ambitious but then as oyu are not in a hurry even if it takes 6 weeks, so what?

I would ask the Taxidermist if he can guarantee that the "salt air" and "humidity" of a 4-6 weeks voyage won't harm the mounts in any way.

Let us know once you get them how it went.

Please see my previous POST

I'd suggest contacting John Meehan of Fauna and Flora [ jjmeehan@faunaandflora.com ] and or Marie Venter at Safari Air Cargo [marie@safaricargo.co.za] for better info on their Ocean Cargo shipping program.

I've done it and it worked well for me. I'm not sure how it would work for other areas of the country or [I assume?] Canada.

Les

I second what LHowell stated, I went the same route. I would call John and get is take, he knows as much about getting trophy stuff in this country as anybody. He will give you the straight skinny.

I spoke with Fauna and Flora.

They told me that they would ship it to Port of New York, then carry it in bond to a trucking company who would drive it to Montreal after clearing customs.

This seems complicated vs. flying it direct to Montreal, Canada.

They claim an average cost savings of 60% which seems high given the opportunity to add on brokerage charges etc. to go from NY to Montreal.

What do you guys think?


Thanks!

It seems like they could skip the Customs/USFW business in NYC if the cargo is going "in bond" to Montreal. Did that come up?

They may still be able to get it done cheaper than air cargo if the freight to Montreal is not too much.

I think Marie at Safari Air Cargo in Johannesburg should be able to give you "door to door" pricing for both Air and Ocean shipping to Montreal. Try email tonight and you'll probably have an answer in the morning.

Les

I'll do that. thanks!

I check on sea vs. air. The difference was about $100 more for air. I wonder if I didn't give up too soon or maybe I should have checked some more.

The cost will be lower by sea. The important issue is how your trophies are packed for transport. According to my taxidermist the high humidity will have an effect on your trophies. You will have to make sure that the cargo company protects your trophies from the humidity. If it is protected from the humidity no salt will enter either.

Lefty,
Chances are the crate and packing will be done by the taxidermist, not by the shipper. At least that was the case for me when Life Form did the taxidermy and Safari Air Cargo did the freight forwarding. In my case it was shipped by air. In the long run the difference in time won't mean a thing to you. I didn't get my trophies until 13 months after the hunt. 13 or 14, what's the difference? Life Form did an excellent job of putting the trophies into a very sturdy and almost hermeticaly sealed (heavy plastic) crate.

CL,

I am finally getting reasy to ship my trophies from SA (Cape Town) to Los Angeles. My Taxidermist gave me the following quotes:

Freighting costs are as follows:
Crating, packing & fumigation: US$320.00
Export documents & Permits: US$90.00

Freighting
Seafreight(Los Angeles) US$983.78
Airfreight (Los Angeles) US$3,069.14

The crate dimensions are as follows: Length=63.4" Width=59.1" height=51.2".

The crate includes 1 Kudu Sholder mount, 1 Kudu pedestal mount, 2 Zebra skins. 2 impala shoulder mounts. 1 Blesbok shoulder mount, 1 Nyala shoulder mount, 2 Bushbuck shoulder mounts.

This is being shipped through Rhode and Liesenfeld of Cape Town South Africa.

We (my hunting partner and I) decided on the Sea freight. We were a little worried about sending all our trophies by sea, but the Taxidermist said she has used this company many times in the past with no problems.

We will see in a couple of months.

Erik

Erick:
Is the final destination of your mounts Anchorage? If so, how are you shipping them from Ca. and what is the cost?
Thanks.

TJ,

The price is to LA only. I'm taking a job down in California when I get back from Iraq, so I'll just get my trophies when I'm down there.

Erik: Boy, I gues things must have really changed since my trophies were shipped in 2002, but air freight from my taxidermist in RSA ( the hides and horns came from Zimbabwe and that cost ws only 200 dollars) to Coppersmith in Atlanta was 1100 dollars. My crate had six heads plus a zebra rug and various other hides. jorge