Obscene Trophy Shipping Costs

[TTundra]

Would

You save in excess of $750? As I understand it they will charge him $250 a month for storage from here on out?
I guess only time will tell, that’s a bit of a risk i.m.o
My best always!

The $250/month only starts after 3 months. So, the client has 90 days of free storage. 90 days likely will see some meaningful freight rate decreases.

 

[JimP]

The weight is not 813.5 lbs. That is the volumetric weight. I bet the OP's crate might weigh around 250 lbs, 300 tops.

Ok, I used a converter for metric weight to Lbs.

So using the formula above L x W x H / 138.4 = Volumetric Weight in Lbs

So 63" x 41" x 41" / 138.4 = 765 Lbs Volumetric Weight

 

[Vanguard2279]

Would

You save in excess of $750? As I understand it they will charge him $250 a month for storage from here on out?
I guess only time will tell, that’s a bit of a risk i.m.o
My best always!

It's $250 a month after the first three months. I'm going to talk to them on Monday.
They advise that it will take 14-21 days to be shipped. It will go to LAX and Hahn International will clear it for me.
I'm leaving for South Africa on 05/10 and I'll be back 05/22. It either needs to be in my driveway before or after that obviously.

 

[Mekaniks]

‘I’ve Never Seen Anything Like This’: Chaos Strikes Global Shipping (Published 2021)

The pandemic has disrupted international trade, driving up the cost of shipping goods and adding a fresh challenge to the global economic recovery.

www.nytimes.com

 

[Vanguard2279]

a great point is made above: If primates or pigs are included in the shipment, it MUST go to a USDA-certified taxidermist (you can pick up IF a letter is written by the taxidermist or tannery that you are functioning as their courier.) They were sometimes touchy about buffalo from certain areas, too.

As there will be a Warthog in the crate from Zambia, it will go to the tannery who is USDA-certified as Taxidermy America isn't. Chris recently had a couple of his craftsmen leave the business so he is in the process of downsizing to a smaller shop. I talked to him on Friday. He's willing to take my next two shipments, but the wait time for completion could be longer than usual. I'm fine with that for his quality of work.

 

[Tally-Ho HUNTING SAFARIS]

from an outfitter point of view i also find it horrendous what clients get charged for shipping
i also recommend dip and ship purely from the point that if there is something not right on trophies you can exactly ship it back very easily for repairs

investigate shipping by sea it does take longer but its way cheaper!!! i have clients around europe and probably half of trophies from me go by sea to europe

fyi- a couple years ago it cost me more to have my trophies sent from namibia to south africa then my german friend paid for his trophies to get back to germany. so yes they are shafting us where they can!!!

regards

 

[Sika98k]

I see Namibian black grapes appearing in the supermarkets here in Ireland again. If fruit is being shipped again, presumably by air, costs must be dropping.

 

[festuscat]

i have a couple of mounts in Bulawayo at TCI that I plan on shipping back when completed. I have left stuff in Africa, but these have sentimental value so I’m biting the bullet.
Who does everyone use for shipping? And what are the current costs for clearing in the US?
The last time I used a broker was 2001. I have cleared my other shipments myself, (DFW)and it’s not that difficult. The hardest part is finding the Customs office

 

[Vanguard2279]

i have a couple of mounts in Bulawayo at TCI that I plan on shipping back when completed. I have left stuff in Africa, but these have sentimental value so I’m biting the bullet.
Who does everyone use for shipping? And what are the current costs for clearing in the US?
The last time I used a broker was 2001. I have cleared my other shipments myself, (DFW)and it’s not that difficult. The hardest part is finding the Customs office

Most taxidermists have a shipping company that they work with. Those shipping companies have a preferred American clearing agent. I used the clearing agent that my taxidermist in the US recommended for my hides & horns from Namibia in 2018. I've used Coppersmith once previously. I used Hahn International for my first safari and will be using him again. I'm using Cindi Rulon in Houston (who I used in 2018) for the hides & horns from Zambia.

 

[Vanguard2279]

I emailed Oxi Logistics yesterday and received a reply when I woke up this morning. I'm safe for storage fees until June. I asked for new shipping quotes 04/01 and 05/01.

 

[Dudders]

@Philip Glass here’s the list of airlines that ban trophy transport and what types. Source is Humane Society who sadly has been actively working to ban them everywhere.

https://www.hsi.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Airlines-prohibiting-hunting-trophies-Jan-2020.pdf

I am not to sure the list is acurate. My last two shipments of trophy's 2020 and 2021 have used turkish airlines and they are on the list.

 

[JimP]

Most of the trophy shipping bans are for the big 5, but they are working on all of them

 

[rookhawk]

i have a couple of mounts in Bulawayo at TCI that I plan on shipping back when completed. I have left stuff in Africa, but these have sentimental value so I’m biting the bullet.
Who does everyone use for shipping? And what are the current costs for clearing in the US?
The last time I used a broker was 2001. I have cleared my other shipments myself, (DFW)and it’s not that difficult. The hardest part is finding the Customs office

TCI in Bulawayo is going to use Maple Freight. That's pretty much the default way to get them from Zim to Jo'Burg and then on to the USA. There are several good importers on the US side, I've had good luck with Coppersmith's but there are others that get high praise on this forum as well.

 

[rookhawk]

I am not to sure the list is acurate. My last two shipments of trophy's 2020 and 2021 have used turkish airlines and they are on the list.

A cursory look on "the google" shows countless articles and statements dating back as far as 2015 stating Turkish airlines has banned transport of hunting trophies.

Is Turkish Airlines "looking the other way" and still doing it? Or are the regional shipping leaders within that global airline "doing their own thing in contravention to policies from their PR department"? I don't know. What I do know is that the number of airlines that permit trophies as freight is under assault and there is a public statement from about every airline saying they don't allow it, even if they in practice still do so.

The easiest way to do this I would think is to get the animals dipped, packed, and then tanned in Africa. Then carry them back over on return from a subsequent safari as personal property. The airline usually doesn't get involved in that and you'll just deal with customs on the receiving end in the USA. I'm not sure of the legalities of this, but a few trips ago I saw some Texans in front of me at the airport that had many boxes of their trophies and spent 40 minutes with the airline squaring everything away to take them home. From what I saw, they succeeded in getting them on board the plane. I don't know what processes they did back home in the US though.

 

[TROPHY SHIPPERS]

Everything we are receiving right now is either coming on Ethiopian Airlines, Turkish Airlines, or Qatar Airways.

Maybe Tom at @TROPHY SHIPPERS can shed some light here. I am not sure this list is correct. Plus the source is suspect of course!

 

[Chago]

After my first safari I was so gung ho mounting everything. I had a pricelist from a local taxidermist which was incredibly low so I went crazy shoulder and pedestal mounting everything. Sable, Zebra, Kudu, Gemsbok, Nyala, Impala, Blesbok and Blue beast. Taxidermy only cost me $3700. Work was actually pretty good, I was expecting worse. But then shipping cost me like $2300. Customs brokerage was $600ish if I remember right. Then my glorious Canadian government decided to hold it in storage over the holidays to confirm that my zebra was not a lion apparently. You know... classic mix up. That cost me another $800. Then after they nailed me with import taxes, another $1000. It literally cost me what my safari cost me, or damn near it. So I was already starting to lean towards Euros next time. But shit seeing this thread..... I might just bring a camera lol

 

[JimP]

It has always been said that the taxidermy is the expensive part of the hunt.

Mine cost me about the same as Chago, this was in 2015.

For my hunt next year I plan on bringing home a warthog and a couple of euro's so I can get off on the cheaper side. But then there is dealing with the USFW with the warthog.

 

[Cam Moon]

I'm Canadian, and I know there are cost differences, but here's my story. I had been on two South African safaris about 6 months apart. I figured I'd try to save a bit of money by having them shipped together, but ran into a couple issues. First off, as many others have found, communication is often horrible. I asked both taxidermists if they would communicate with the other to try to arrange consolidation of the mounts. I don't believe either made any effort to do so. The mounts from my second safari were completed before the ones from my first safari, and that taxidermist had their preferred shipper take possession of the crate. I felt it was only fair that I should be able to shop around and save myself some money on shipping and that this taxidermist jumped the gun by releasing the crate to their preferred shipper without consulting me. Then the taxidermist working on my animals from my first safari notified me that those mounts were done and ready to be shipped. The quote I got from them was cheaper, and it was a larger crate with more mounts! Long story short, I was trying to get the shipping companies to still ship the crates together, and for the best price. Again, communication became an issue. For the most part, it was the taxidermist dealing with the shipping company on my behalf, and it took far too long with far too little progress. Then COVID hit, and the cost jumped up nearly $1000! The taxidermists recommended waiting things out a bit to see if prices went down. They've now increased another $1500! The only "good" thing was that the one taxidermist found enough time to finally send me pictures of my mounts (that I had requested several times) and there were some issues that I wanted corrected with the mounts. I still don't know if that's been fully addressed, as (again) the communication SUCKS!!! So here I am, a year later and the price for the shipping has gone up by $2500 or more, but hey, at least the communication has remained the same!
As far as dip and pack vs having animals mounted in South Africa, I would much rather have someone here do it, but with it costing 300% more, I simply can't afford it! Even with the 'new' cost of shipping.

 

[Chago]

I'm Canadian, and I know there are cost differences, but here's my story. I had been on two South African safaris about 6 months apart. I figured I'd try to save a bit of money by having them shipped together, but ran into a couple issues. First off, as many others have found, communication is often horrible. I asked both taxidermists if they would communicate with the other to try to arrange consolidation of the mounts. I don't believe either made any effort to do so. The mounts from my second safari were completed before the ones from my first safari, and that taxidermist had their preferred shipper take possession of the crate. I felt it was only fair that I should be able to shop around and save myself some money on shipping and that this taxidermist jumped the gun by releasing the crate to their preferred shipper without consulting me. Then the taxidermist working on my animals from my first safari notified me that those mounts were done and ready to be shipped. The quote I got from them was cheaper, and it was a larger crate with more mounts! Long story short, I was trying to get the shipping companies to still ship the crates together, and for the best price. Again, communication became an issue. For the most part, it was the taxidermist dealing with the shipping company on my behalf, and it took far too long with far too little progress. Then COVID hit, and the cost jumped up nearly $1000! The taxidermists recommended waiting things out a bit to see if prices went down. They've now increased another $1500! The only "good" thing was that the one taxidermist found enough time to finally send me pictures of my mounts (that I had requested several times) and there were some issues that I wanted corrected with the mounts. I still don't know if that's been fully addressed, as (again) the communication SUCKS!!! So here I am, a year later and the price for the shipping has gone up by $2500 or more, but hey, at least the communication has remained the same!
As far as dip and pack vs having animals mounted in South Africa, I would much rather have someone here do it, but with it costing 300% more, I simply can't afford it! Even with the 'new' cost of shipping.

I know you used Umlindi, as did I. His pricing is wildly cheap, and his work was great. But I think I would have saved doing it at home back then. Never mind now.

Shipping was $2300USD and $600USD brokerage. I will ignore the storage fees the idiot government dinged me for. But then I had $1000CAD for the HST, HST is on the taxi bill. so having a more expensive bill raises your taxes. So that total was roughly $5000CAD not including the storage fees which from what I am told can be very common for customs to stop it for inspection and ding you with those fees. But again we will ignore them. And I found my taxi bill it was actually 3950USD. So another $5200 CAD. Total spent $10,200 CAD. Now for todays rates add another $3k Cad if its $2ish USD higher.

Dip and pack was $80 per head. Would have cost me $560USD. Shipping quotes I had done prior to trip were saying those animals in this hypothetical sized crate were roughly $750USD. Broker would still be $600USD. So so far total is roughly $2500CAD. Now your HST would only be on dip and pack so would be roughly $150 with there fees. $2650CAD all in. Now my local guy was going to charge me $1200 per head on the larger animals like Sable and Kudu etc. But the smaller blesbok and impala were $850. Nyala was in the middle it was $1000. So total from the taxi would have been $7500. So grand total was $10,150CAD.

So you can see they worked out almost identical. But I know my local work would have been much better. Regardless of how I do agree Umlindi did a great job. But no matter how cheap Umlindi is, the shipping eats up all of those savings.

My trip to Limpopo this summer I will be bringing back my kudu, eland and waterbuck dip and pack. The rest will be euros or just photos. The more and more I keep doing this math, I keep convincing myself @Red Leg was right about doing euros or just brining a camera lol. Now that I have a nice Africa display, I think I will enjoy future trips not worrying about trophies and just enjoy myself. Save my walls at home for any single specie hunts I go on back home.

 

[gizmo]

Not looking to start a shit slinging contest here but this is one of many reasons why I advise against having taxidermy done in Africa. The whole line of “we save you so much it practically pays for the shipping” is nonsense and volumetric weight is one of the reasons.
I deal with Safaris daily and I’ve yet to see anyone save money from having them do it there. You spend twice as much for subpar work at best.