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Riding the waves…


Egham, Surrey-based Moto Freight scooped BIFA’s Ocean Services Award in recognition of its innovative approach to the transportation of a challenging cargo


“We feel – well, we know – we do something very different to any other freight agent,” said Roddy Warriner, director of Moto Freight. “As far as we know, we are the only freight agent in the world that makes freighting of motorbikes our first priority and do it all in house, ourselves, including packing, Customs and shipping documentation. “Motorcycles are delicate machines, especially


some of the older classics,” he continued. “But any sort of damage, whether to a collector’s piece or a cheap bike, has the same effect on the customer: it kills their trip, their dream. “We load bikes in such a way as to avoid


damage. We are different because we do not treat the bikes as cargo. Each is loaded, lashed and chocked individually, by hand, with space and protective material between each one.”


Dedicated containers Furthermore, the motorcycles are transported in dedicated bike containers, rather than being mixed in with other cargo. Loading containers in this way is a service no one has provided before, Warriner said, explaining that Moto Freight collects bikes for various destinations with a cut- off date for shipping each container. At the time of writing, Moto Freight had just


received its fifth container of the year from Australia and there were two more on the water. The company was also about to load its third container of 2018 bound for Sydney. Its shipping system has made it possible for


several tour operators to enhance their own portfolio. For instance, historically it has been a problem to get a group of, say, 17 motorcycles from A to B simultaneously with support vehicles – but Moto Freight has opened up routes that were previously not practical or


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A precious cargo of classic bikes all lined up, secured and ready to go


viable for the tour operators. Warriner is always keen to work around a


problem. For one customer, whose support vehicle had a low floor and a high top, he recently designed a winch and pulley system to enable lashing of both the front and the rear of the vehicle inside the container, from one end. Usually, the person responsible would lash one


end of the vehicle and then climb over or crawl under it to lash the other end before exiting the container – but in this case, there was not sufficient space for this approach. Another example relates specifically to Buenos


Aires. “Sea freight is better out of Montevideo, and it is just a short distance to Buenos Aires from there, so we now have an agent in Montevideo to support tour operators needing


access to Argentina,” Warriner said. “We are also far more affordable because our


methods save on crating, which helps customers whose dream is to travel but who cannot afford a very large budget. With us, bikes go from depot to depot, where they are unloaded and the customer can ride away – it is simpler.”


Private clients Around 95% of Moto Freight’s work is for private individuals – people who are buying or selling classic bikes, travelling by bike or relocating entirely – and no two shipments are the same. Warriner explained: “Everyone employed by


Moto Freight are themselves motorcyclists, and we are all travellers too, so we are all familiar with our customers’ needs. We know what is going through their heads and we understand their passion and their fears.” This is certainly something customers


appreciate very deeply, judging by the testimonials Warriner has gathered over the years. In addition, he said: “We recruit through word


A container full of motorcycles is moved under careful supervision


of mouth and we tend to employ people without any freight experience. This is because people who do have experience think they know how things work, but we have to explain that is not necessarily how we do things here. “We have a responsibility to each of our


customers: we have to remember that it is not just freight we are handling,” Warriner concluded.


July 2018


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