Transport to Chile

The coming days will be a challenge – my bike will leave Denmark with direction Poland where the small company Motobirds will pack and ship my bike and others to San Antonio, Chile.

Departure is planned from Europe/Hamburg on the 26th October and arrivel in San Antonio on the 29th November. And after unpacking, assembly and customs I will join the bike again on 6th December – and then the adventure will commence. The transport is done on the container vessel CMA CGM OHIO – a 9.900TEU size container vessel registrered in Malta.

The old game of Tetris has been trained on the last days – I needed to pack everything into the two panniers and a big duffel, and that really required Tetris skills. What do I need to have with me on the plane and the first days in Chile, and what could go with the bike.

The bike also needed to be drained of fuel, main and spare canisters – only appr 3 litres was allowed in my 30 litre tank. So, emptying the tank with a simple siphon pump, and then adding the 3 litres. The bike was not happy signing EMPTY 2km remaining – but I should be safe to find the first gas station in San Antonio.

Before the pick-up a thorough cleaning was requested, so a good wash down and some polishing was done – it was a beauty to look at, all ready for the solo journey.

Before sending it on the ship towards Chile, I did reset the trip counter and made it ready to count the many kilometers planned in South America. This year saving vacation days for the big trip, I only did just over 13.000km – lowest distance in many years, normally covering between 20 and 25.000 km per year. Well, I guess I will make up for this when I start in Chile in December.

Motobirds beside the cleaning also requested to have all luggage dismounted and wrapped for protection during the transport. Wrapping was ”fun” handling both full panniers and the duffel alone – but I managed and all was in a good state before the van pick-up at my home.

Being a bit freaked about having someone pick up my bike at transport it to Poland, I installed an Apple Airtag to track the shipment. I had no experience with the Airtag, but must admit being a bit surpriced of the outcome – was able to track the bike and luggage all the way to the storage facility north of Warsaw. When the bike gets packed in the ship container I guess no tracking will be possible – lets see … When Motobirds unpack the bike in Chile, the ”ping” will most likely be active again.

Finally ticket for me was also ordered – not a strait flight, but rather save 5.000DKK to spend compared to the extra traveltime – only adding 8-10hours mostly as waiting time which is definitely doable.

Shipment is on the way. Tracking both the luggage, container and vessel.

The vessel departed Hamburg and visited Rotterdam, Columbia, Panama, Equador and has the destination San Antonio very close to inland Santiago in Chile – vessel name was CMA CGM OHIO.