current shipping quotes from Africa for air and sea rates

45-70guy said:
Minus the shipping costs I’d pay the taxidermy and coppersmiths fees but the shipping alone I don’t think I would justify it.

I’m curious on this as well as I’ve always believed you avoid storage costs with them.
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I would be incredibly angry about $2,500 airport storage fees when using an import agent.

Rakman said:
I just spoke with the people in the Chicago Coppersmith office…what they communicated is they have a coppersmith owned warehouse. Once the trophies arrive there from the airport you will not accrue the crazy storage fees. It’s when the trophies are at the airport itself is where/when the storage can stack up if the trophies happen to get stuck there be it long holiday weekend, issues getting inspectors to check them, Covid situations, etc.
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The person above got charged $2,500 for airport storage fees. Daily airline storage cost varies but it has been around $250/day. That's 10 days stuck at the airport. That's much more than a long weekend. If Coppersmith New York has a USDA warehouse then they shouldn't have been waiting on inspectors to get it to coppersmith's warehouse. I know Chicago has a USDA warehouse, but I don't know about New York.

If Coppersmith has a USDA warehouse in New York, and there isn't some great extenuating circumstance that explains it, then in my opinion, Coppersmith failed him.

I think Airports with their exorbitant holding fees, and sometimes, import agents are taking advantage of hunters at this point. Airports are charging insane daily fees and import agents are saying "come to us because we are experts and will help you avoid these crazy fees". And then you still get charged crazy fees. It won't stop until people start pushing back when they get hit with a way out of line fee that isn't explained well.
 
Sabre said:
I would be incredibly angry about $2,500 airport storage fees when using an import agent.




The person above got charged $2,500 for airport storage fees. Daily airline storage cost varies but it has been around $250/day. That's 10 days stuck at the airport. That's much more than a long weekend. If Coppersmith New York has a USDA warehouse then they shouldn't have been waiting on inspectors to get it to coppersmith's warehouse. I know Chicago has a USDA warehouse, but I don't know about New York.

If Coppersmith has a USDA warehouse in New York, and there isn't some great extenuating circumstance that explains it, then in my opinion, Coppersmith failed him.

I think Airports with their exorbitant holding fees, and sometimes, import agents are taking advantage of hunters at this point. Airports are charging insane daily fees and import agents are saying "come to us because we are experts and will help you avoid these crazy fees". And then you still get charged crazy fees. It won't stop until people start pushing back when they get hit with a way out of line fee that isn't explained well.
Click to expand...
Ya I’m looking for a new importer after SSI is under performing…


Coppersmiths has never appealed to me in my initial contact and seeing that 2500 fee. Bad business.


I think I will try Pro cargo or Genus in a Few months
 
Sabre said:
I would be incredibly angry about $2,500 airport storage fees when using an import agent.




The person above got charged $2,500 for airport storage fees. Daily airline storage cost varies but it has been around $250/day. That's 10 days stuck at the airport. That's much more than a long weekend. If Coppersmith New York has a USDA warehouse then they shouldn't have been waiting on inspectors to get it to coppersmith's warehouse. I know Chicago has a USDA warehouse, but I don't know about New York.

If Coppersmith has a USDA warehouse in New York, and there isn't some great extenuating circumstance that explains it, then in my opinion, Coppersmith failed him.

I think Airports with their exorbitant holding fees, and sometimes, import agents are taking advantage of hunters at this point. Airports are charging insane daily fees and import agents are saying "come to us because we are experts and will help you avoid these crazy fees". And then you still get charged crazy fees. It won't stop until people start pushing back when they get hit with a way out of line fee that isn't explained well.
Click to expand...
What im saying is for the taxidermy he had done the cost of around $5k id spend, paying for any storage fees , taxes, or extras id rather burn my money in the woodstove.
 
This scenario is confusing to me. We just used coppersmith in Atlanta because they had a bonded warehouse and had x number of days to pickup from them (maybe 10) before they began charging storage fees. I can’t understand why a crate would be stuck at the airport for that long right now. No Covid, gov’t shutdown, etc to cause a delay.
 
dchum said:
Ya I’m looking for a new importer after SSI is under performing…


Coppersmiths has never appealed to me in my initial contact and seeing that 2500 fee. Bad business.


I think I will try Pro cargo or Genus in a Few months
Click to expand...

I feel like what I have learned from experience, posts on here, and DMs from members, is that there is a bit of an issue with importers across the board. The importing process is something I would rather not DIY. But there is a tipping point where if they become too incompetent it's better to do it yourself or not bring things back.
 
I just got my trophies from my 2023 Selous hunt home yesterday. The long delay was due to SSI dropping the ball on the CITES permit for my leopard. Everything arrived in great shape.

Cost to get my shipment home from Tanzania wasn’t too bad, all things considered. Turkish Airlines was $3,270 from Dar es Salaam to SFO. Coppersmith’s Clearing, Cites costs, one day warehouse and trucking to Sacramento totaled $1,116.00. That was for a 229 lb. crate. It contained my leopard, buffalo skull, hippo skull and skin panel, full crocodile skin (heavy as hell), and a bushbuck. $4,386 total to get my stuff home.

Contrary to what others are saying here, I find Coppersmith to be excellent and reasonable in their charges of $400 to clear my shipment. Given the CITES aspect and weight of my crate, I thought the cost was reasonable.
 
dchum said:
Ya I’m looking for a new importer after SSI is under performing…


Coppersmiths has never appealed to me in my initial contact and seeing that 2500 fee. Bad business.


I think I will try Pro cargo or Genus in a Few months
Click to expand...
Matt handled my leopard import form Zambia and did a great job and price was really fair
 
dchum said:
Ya I’m looking for a new importer after SSI is under performing…


Coppersmiths has never appealed to me in my initial contact and seeing that 2500 fee. Bad business.


I think I will try Pro cargo or Genus in a Few months
Click to expand...
Good Evening Sir, my name is Joy and I am with Trophy Shippers. We are an importing Broker as well and if you have some time on Monday I would love to have a chat and go over the details and options with you!
 
I just received my crate of trophies from SA on July 14th. One crate; 176kg Freight to Atlanta $5652, Importer $1200 (approx) I saved $$ by picking up the crate at the exporter's warehouse. It ain't cheap ad any first time hunter to Africa MUST understand and program enough money for this on the back end.
 
More and more I am hearing hunters say that these costs will change the frequency of their African Safaris. And that's a damn shame. I wonder if it has or will negatively affect the Safari Business itself. It seems inevitable. Taxidermy we expect to be expensive, it's art after all, and good art is rarely cheap. Shipping on the other hand ... just doesn't seem like it should cost a fortune.

I went to SA in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Trophies from 2023 are on the wall and 2024's are just about to be crated. 2025 still TBD. Using Highveld Taxidermist, quality is excellent but they aren't that fast.

We shipped the first batch by sea as it contained several pieces of furniture (GF couldn't help herself when we visited the Taxidermist's studio). Huge crate, Covid, Worldwide Shipping interruptions blah blah blah. Cleared by Genus in NYC and I picked it up there myself. Price seemed pretty high but it was a huge heavy crate and I had nothing to compare it to.

Overall and all in the Costs are not only high, (and getting higher), but they seem damn near impossible to estimate and plan for. This part may be the most frustrating thing of all.

I brought 3 first timers with us, and my advice to them was: Decide what you REALLY want mounted, strongly consider Euros, Skulls, and flat skins, rugs etc AND Take lots of really good pictures. OH, and start saving money like crazy once you get home, you have a year or two to pay for all this.

I will add that the big Cavas prints I have made after each Safari are really great. They are pretty cheap and well worth it. They don't have quite the impact of a mounted trophy animal on the wall, but they are a cheap alternative or add-on. For example displaying them near a Euro mount, you get the full effect. YMMV
 
ACE (in CT) said:
More and more I am hearing hunters say that these costs will change the frequency of their African Safaris. And that's a damn shame. I wonder if it has or will negatively affect the Safari Business itself. It seems inevitable. Taxidermy we expect to be expensive, it's art after all, and good art is rarely cheap. Shipping on the other hand ... just doesn't seem like it should cost a fortune.

I went to SA in 2023, 2024 and 2025. Trophies from 2023 are on the wall and 2024's are just about to be crated. 2025 still TBD. Using Highveld Taxidermist, quality is excellent but they aren't that fast.

We shipped the first batch by sea as it contained several pieces of furniture (GF couldn't help herself when we visited the Taxidermist's studio). Huge crate, Covid, Worldwide Shipping interruptions blah blah blah. Cleared by Genus in NYC and I picked it up there myself. Price seemed pretty high but it was a huge heavy crate and I had nothing to compare it to.

Overall and all in the Costs are not only high, (and getting higher), but they seem damn near impossible to estimate and plan for. This part may be the most frustrating thing of all.

I brought 3 first timers with us, and my advice to them was: Decide what you REALLY want mounted, strongly consider Euros, Skulls, and flat skins, rugs etc AND Take lots of really good pictures. OH, and start saving money like crazy once you get home, you have a year or two to pay for all this.

I will add that the big Cavas prints I have made after each Safari are really great. They are pretty cheap and well worth it. They don't have quite the impact of a mounted trophy animal on the wall, but they are a cheap alternative or add-on. For example displaying them near a Euro mount, you get the full effect. YMMV
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What did genus charge you to clear at the port via sea shipment.
 
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