Opinions on this shipping quote

[NTX]

To make a long story short (and leave out parties involved), I have a shipment from last year that is finally ready to go. I went through and ordeal with this one, and the only reason it is now ready to ship is that I made a second trip this year and my PH helped me make some in person visits to solve the problem (not shipping company related). I do have some concerns with the way the capes were treated, and the fact that they are a year old now. I just received an email that the permits are in place and shipping from Windhoek to D/FW is $2,861.04. The detailed dimensions for the crate were listed in an attachment, but no breakdown of shipping cost was provided. I’ve attached the crate dimensions below. Is this a fair rate as of now? Thoughts? I’m taking a little risk on the capes already, so opinions are welcome.

 

[Hookboy88]

From what I paid in 2021 that seems high to me. But maybe the prices have continued to raise since then?

I shipped several more animals for decent amount less

 

[Wathe208]

I just got my invoice from SA to San Fran and it has two crates. Total was just about $2k if that helps.

 

[375Fox]

If I was going to question that invoice it would be the dimensions of box for 5 trophies. 34” wide and 31” tall seems unnecessary to me. My last shipment from Africa (Zimbabwe) contained 11 animals including Cape buffalo, kudu, eland, sable and was 148x86x58 charged as 123 kgs. Using that as a reference the box should be able to be considerably smaller and less to ship.

 

[CM McKenzie]

That is almost exactly what I paid from Windhoek 6 months ago.

 

[ALbowhunter]

I just paid $3,500 last Friday for a shipment from Namibia for trophies from May 2021. They were held up in quarantine for almost a year due to ‘hoof and mouth’ outbreak. The rest of the delay was from a misunderstanding about whether to hold shipment waiting on USFWS permits for one animal. Hopefully your capes will turn out well. Only once have we had an issue with improper treatment of the capes. Luckily we were able to source the replacements needed.

 

[wvfred]

I had a shipment sent from Lusaka to Houston in 2021 and it contained a cape buffalo skull and cape a hyena skull and cape also a zebra full skin.It was just under $2000.

 

[Anon]

I don’t have the invoice with dimensions currently available. However, I paid about $1,300 CAD shipping to get euro mounts and tanned hides for the following animals: kudu, oryx, springbok, zebra, and jackal. It was from Windhoek to Toronto. I think the airline was Turkish. Though it may have been Air Ethiopia as I know they routinely fly into Toronto.

 

[NTX]

I don’t have the invoice with dimensions currently available. However, I paid about $1,300 CAD shipping to get euro mounts and tanned hides for the following animals: kudu, oryx, springbok, zebra, and jackal. It was from Windhoek to Toronto. I think the airline was Turkish. Though it may have been Air Ethiopia as I know they routinely fly into Toronto.

I would love to know your crate dimensions if you come across that info

 

[NTX]

That is almost exactly what I paid from Windhoek 6 months ago.

What did you ship?

 

[Anon]

I would love to know your crate dimensions if you come across that info

I just checked my records. It was 1 carton 21KG actual weight and 33.5KG volumetric.

Pronto charged me $810 USD.

@Yellow Shark Logistics quoted $710 USD.

African Shipping Service quoted $1,120 USD.

All the above included export docs, vet check, etc.

I went with Pronto because unbeknownst to me they had an arrangement to pick up my trophies at the outfitters. If I didn’t use them for shipping, I’d be forced to pay a fee for the pickup. I was under the impression transport of the trophies to the taxidermist was covered under the hunt costs and done by the outfitter or taxidermist. It wasn’t worth using Yellow Shark over a $100 savings when I’d incur an unknown fee with Pronto/piss them off while they’re in possession of the trophies.

Yellow Shark provided most professional communications in addition to best quote. For those reasons, I’d probably use them over Pronto in the future. After I’d hired Pronto, I received several DMs with horror stories about them. However, I have to admit my process went pretty well.

The quotes and shipping all occurred in early March 2023.

It should be noted, I think flights from Windhoek to Toronto are cheaper than most other places in NA as there are regular direct flights from Ethiopia.

I was happy with the shipping costs. But if you see my other thread, I’m being squeezed for a $1,600 storage fee after it arrived in Toronto.

The trophies still aren’t in my possession. But I should get them in a week or two.

 

[NTX]

Well my crate is finally ready for pickup in Dallas and I’m glad this process is done. The initial outrageous quote was from Pronto Global, who I’ve debated on naming as the individual who I communicated with made none of these decisions. I contacted Pronto and told them I would not pay, and instructed them to send me an invoice for costs to release the crate to Titus at Yellow Shark (he has been a huge help and will have my business for my current trophies but more on that later) who quoted me $1,000 cheaper using the same dimensions provided by Pronto. I got no response from Pronto, and neither did Titus.

3 days later I got an email from the outfitter I hunted with (I never contacted them) explaining that Pronto would match the price quoted by Yellow Shark. A short time later I got an email from Pronto saying that the cost to hand the crate to Yellow Shark was $700. I begrudgingly agreed to pay the newly quoted shipping costs as the handoff fee was not reasonable. Pronto ended up charging me $1,980 for shipping, but I paid it as I was ready to move on and the agreement to match the Yellow Shark quote came from the outfitter.

Coppersmith handled the customs clearance and communication with aplomb, but the line item charges added up to a staggering number for a crate with 5 plains game animals. I guess it’s the nature of the beast. This isn’t meant to be a rant, just information sharing for others trying to plan. Yellowshark will definitely get my next shipment (and maybe my last ). I’d highly recommend calling Titus to handle your shipment, and I would not tolerate an outfitter who won’t let you chose your shipping agent.

 

[375Fox]

Your coppersmith invoice is normal from what I’ve seen. I’ve used two other customs brokers for my shipments and the invoice look nearly the same. A $1000 difference in shipping with a second quote and a $700 handoff charge would really make me angry though.

 

[375Fox]

My worst trophy shipping experience makes me think it’s all something of a scam you just have to put up with to an extent. What started as a mistake by the outfitter was ignored by the shipper from what I can tell. I paid for all my trophies to be shipped and were listed on shipper’s invoice and insured. Several trophies were not put into the shipment and all communication ceased from shipper after initial response they would find answers to what happened. You can’t collect on insurance (if there ever was any) or come to another agreement if they simply refuse to communicate after the items aren’t shipped. Through the outfitter I was informed the trophies were located in shippers warehouse, but I’ll assume by time I ever return to that country they will be long lost especially since no email trail from shipper claiming they were there. The hunting is definitely the easy part. The rest can be frustrating especially if it goes wrong.

 

[Trophyhunter01]

In the process now can tell you the following:
-animals taken in May 2023 Limpopo
-shipping from Joberg.
-dip and crate for 7 animals hides and horns $1040.00
-air freight and SA broker to USA $1470.00
-broker in Houston to clear the trophies state side, not exact as don’t know yet depends on storage fees by US Customs but estimate is $900-1300

 

[CoElkHunter]

On my one and only African PG hunt, I used Rex Freight out of Port Elizabeth as the exporter and Coppersmith as the importer at DFW. They communicated between each other and myself and were fantastic! I doubt if I will ever bring any trophies home again due to the shipping costs, but I'll definitely hunt Africa again.

 

[Hyde Hunter]

To make a long story short (and leave out parties involved), I have a shipment from last year that is finally ready to go. I went through and ordeal with this one, and the only reason it is now ready to ship is that I made a second trip this year and my PH helped me make some in person visits to solve the problem (not shipping company related). I do have some concerns with the way the capes were treated, and the fact that they are a year old now. I just received an email that the permits are in place and shipping from Windhoek to D/FW is $2,861.04. The detailed dimensions for the crate were listed in an attachment, but no breakdown of shipping cost was provided. I’ve attached the crate dimensions below. Is this a fair rate as of now? Thoughts? I’m taking a little risk on the capes already, so opinions are welcome. View attachment 540785

I think the price is to high, this past April my crate was 32h28w and 48 L weight was 63kg.cost 1100.00 Joburg to Chicago Badger Cargo handles to shipping and Coppersmith handled the paperwork. I used Delta for the carrier and they were 100.00 higher than Turkish but after reading what Turkish has been doing on shipping stayed away from them

 

[Anon]

Well my crate is finally ready for pickup in Dallas and I’m glad this process is done. The initial outrageous quote was from Pronto Global, who I’ve debated on naming as the individual who I communicated with made none of these decisions. I contacted Pronto and told them I would not pay, and instructed them to send me an invoice for costs to release the crate to Titus at Yellow Shark (he has been a huge help and will have my business for my current trophies but more on that later) who quoted me $1,000 cheaper using the same dimensions provided by Pronto. I got no response from Pronto, and neither did Titus.

3 days later I got an email from the outfitter I hunted with (I never contacted them) explaining that Pronto would match the price quoted by Yellow Shark. A short time later I got an email from Pronto saying that the cost to hand the crate to Yellow Shark was $700. I begrudgingly agreed to pay the newly quoted shipping costs as the handoff fee was not reasonable. Pronto ended up charging me $1,980 for shipping, but I paid it as I was ready to move on and the agreement to match the Yellow Shark quote came from the outfitter.

Coppersmith handled the customs clearance and communication with aplomb, but the line item charges added up to a staggering number for a crate with 5 plains game animals. I guess it’s the nature of the beast. This isn’t meant to be a rant, just information sharing for others trying to plan. Yellowshark will definitely get my next shipment (and maybe my last ). I’d highly recommend calling Titus to handle your shipment, and I would not tolerate an outfitter who won’t let you chose your shipping agent.

View attachment 552897

I didn’t use Yellow Shark but they quoted slightly lower than Pronto. Like you, I discovered that if I wanted to use another shipping agent I’d have to pay Pronto the fee for collecting my trophies at the outfitter and delivering to the taxidermist. The cost of delivering my trophies to the taxidermist was included in my hunting package. It wasn’t until I asked to have it shipped by someone else that I learned it was Pronto that actually brought the stuff to the taxidermist. I also just sent my stuff with Pronto because the prices were very close.

I had a very good experience communicating with Titus and I’d use Yellow Shark next time. Titus monitors this forum and is responsive and helpful towards hunters.

 

[Ontario Hunter]

That seems way out of line. My trophies from last year finally arrived two days ago ... the day I also arrived home from my fourth safari. My crate included two capes (black wildebeest and nyala), two springbuck skins, and eleven skulls & horns (3 springbuck, impala, blesbuck, gemsbuck, nyala, black wildebeest, Barbary sheep, red lechwe, kudu). All horns were removed from skulls. Freight from Port Elizabeth to Toronto was just over $700 US. I recall weight was 72 kg. Dimensions were larger than I expected but still small enough I think it was shipped by weight.

Yes, it is a crap shoot getting capes done over there. I don't think either of these are usable. Ears are too badly damaged. Who's responsible? Skinner, taxidermist, tannery?