Shipments done by Travellers

Bob LaMacchia ships cargo on a small boat between Kupang, West Timor and Darwin, Australia on a regular basis. He runs the boat on average once a month, but basically leaves whenever he has enough cargo (primarily prawns), so its tough to get an exact shipping date in advance.

Bob is a no nonsense guy who is not into lengthy conversation, but he is professional and knows the shipping business in Indonesia and Australia very well. In the future, Bob may be doing some shipping from Bali to Darwin and vice-versa. He has plans to expand his shipping business. Bob is best contacted by phone.

We contacted Bob about a month before we planned on leaving Indonesia and were able to nail down an approximate week that he would most likely ship. He was pretty close with his prediction, but the boat was delayed three days due to rough seas. Bob's boat is small, and while he has no problem with motorcycles, a 4x4 or other 4-wheeled vehicle will be too big for his boat. The bike does NOT need to be crated.

As with any vehicle coming into Australia, the bike will have to be cleaned very well for Australian Quarantine. They will inspect your air filter, radiator, fenders, under the seat etc. for dirt. Bob's men will help you out with this in Kupang when you are ready to ship.

The voyage takes about 3 days to Darwin. You can go with the boat if you like, but Bob will charge you $300AUS to ride as a passenger. The flight from Kupang to Darwin goes twice a week on Merpati (with an Air North plane), takes about two hours and costs about $185usd. Get your plane ticket from the Merpati office in Kupang. We took the air flight, cheaper and quicker than the boat.

When you arrive in Darwin, Bob will put you in touch with his agent, who will coordinate the Quarantine and pickup of the bike. We paid the Quarantine fee to Australian customs in advance and the agent had everything in line when we got to the boat. The agent should be able to get your bike off the boat before the other cargo to save you some time.

We had no problems with Quarantine, they were friendly but thorough. The bike was very clean so any issues were minimized. Getting the carnet processed by Customs was not a problem, either.

After you pick up the bike, you will have to go to the Motor Vehicles office to get a temporary road permit for the bike and third-party insurance. The office is easy to find in Darwin. They will inspect your bike for safety (headlight, tailight, indicators, horn and that's about it) and then you will pay a fee for the inspection and the third party insurance. If you have a carnet (the easy way to get into Australia) you may have to ask a couple of people who are familiar with the carnet before you are able to get things completed. They have done carnets there before, so be patient. Everyone there was quite friendly and helpful, welcome to the laid-back town of Darwin. In addition to the Carnet, you will also need your registration papers and your driver's license. I didn't have my original registration papers, but they accepted my copy since I had the carnet.

Cost breakdown for one 1989 Honda Transalp:
Shipping $300AUD
Quarantine $90AUD
Motor Vehicles (Inspection/Insurance) $143AUD

At the time of shipment, the border with East Timor was closed so shipping from Dili with Perkins was not an option. The only other option out of Kupang is an expensive air shipment back to Bali and then another expensive air shipment onward to Darwin.

Patricia Cadena speaks and writes English and is very helpful. She responds to emails promptly. So the Miami end of the deal went relatively smoothly. I built my own crate and towed it from South Carolina to Miami. Beware, BDP did not have a forklift to lift the bike (Harley Davidson Sportster) and had to borrow one from a competitor. I shipped with the front wheel, travel trunk, and windshield off but included. Steel panniers and crash bar remained on. Panniers were packed full and locked and never checked. A gel battery was hidden in the crate(gel batteries are allowed on planes, but often shippers do not realize that). Drained of gas, not oil. At the last minute I was told the bike and crate had to be fumigated. Bike and crate weight:404 Kgs.
COSTS:
1. AirFreight- $181.80
2. Dangerous goods surcharge- $100.00
3. Dangerous goods inspection charge- $125.00
4. Fuel surcharge- $202.00
5. Airport transfer (from shipper's office)- $40
6. Security/War risk surcharge- $60.60
7. Crating service (fumigation)- $120.00
8. Transport to fumigator- $35.00
9. Forwarding- $25.00
10.Customs validation- 75.00
Lots of add-ons that may or may not be actually required. Could not get a fumigation receipt or receipts for anything but the total.
BDP has an associate company in Quito to assist in getting the bike out of customs:
Cal-Vima CIA.LTDA
Juan de Alcantara 235 and El Telegrafo
Quito, Ecuador
(593-2)2245205 or 2241477 or 2436701 or 2456870

My contact at Cal-Vima was supposed to be Joana Brito as she speaks English. She never answered any emails, never informed me when the bike arrived, never met with me when I went to their office. I was assigned a 21 year old young man named Christian Alvarado (cell 09 9 291 331) who spoke English and was pleasant but did not know the ropes. He wanted us to leave our passports at Customs for several days and we refused (in Ecuador it is against the law to not have your passport on you at all times). He really did nothing. For some reason the Customs anti-corruption official heard about us, presented our paperwork to the jefe and made sure we did not get too badly cheated.Because of him we got the bike out in 5 or 6 hours vs. having to wait over a weekend. His name is :
Angel Gabriel Salvador
Contraloria Social,Customs
Cell 085-592274

He got into a heated argument with Christian after Christian first said there were no costs (already paid in Miami) then kept adding on costs. Sr. Salvador saved us some money. He said he would help motorcyclists shipping their bikes anytime. He speaks English.
Cal-Vima costs (included in total listed above): $123
Warehouse at customs in Quito (included in total):$28
I would use BDP, but avoid Cal-Vima.

The above price includes port and customs charges. We shipped a Honda VFR800 and a Honda CBR1100XX Brisbane to Vancouver via seafreight this price is 1 way and does not include transit insurance which adds $375.00 AUD per bike return for $10000.00 AUD cover on each bike. There is a list as long as your arm of dreamt up charges, most of which I don't understand, eg AQIS barrier fee, port service charge, etc etc. Total consignment was 570kg.

As for delivery time, we were told 6 weeks and actual was nearer to 7 weeks. Well within the 8 weeks we had allowed. Bikes were crated by us in genuine Honda steel frame cates this avoided any use of timber and associated fumigation charges. We crated them at the freight forwarders depot at Northgate. As for the rating, this is the first shipment I have made, so I don't have much to compare it with. A staff change within the freight company did not help, but overall service was not too bad. You will never get a quote that you can compare with another as they all use different terms and they will add on any charges that they forget to quote you on.

The following items are included in the above price but were added to the original quoted price, cartage from freight forwarder in Brisbane to the dock around $93.50 AUD for both bikes, storage in Vancouver due to reasons only known to the freight company there at around $135.00 CAD for 10 days for both bikes.

Very difficult to tell you the exact difference between quoted and actual prices as some items were quoted in CAN$ and some in AUD$ and some were on a do and charge basis. All up it was about half the price of hiring a bike and about half the estimated cost of air freight. Yes I would sea freight bikes again. I do have an Excel document that has quoted and actual costs that I can email to anyone that is interested. Hope this helps! Glen

We shipped our bikes from Busan to Vancouver by the cargo moving firm "Schenker". They made all the works (papers, packing, custom) for about 514,- USD per motorcycle.
Because we have not been allowed to ride the bikes in South-Korea they also transported our bikes from Sokcho to Busan by truck. This was about 175,- USD per bike.
We only can recommend them! They did great work, all organisation and this very fine!

Webadress: www.schenker-kr.com

We will go to Vancouver on 06-06-06 by JAL for about 800,- USD per flight, one way.

Greets from Seoul

Alex & Carsten
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At Bogot