Shipments done by Travellers

Here follows Sebastiens reply to my enquiry re costs. 'SDV Logistics' are a French run company in Dili & are the agents for Perkins shipping an Aussie company. There is a once a week boat which leaves Dili on Thursday & arrives in Darwin Saturday. I got my bike on the following Wednesday after arranging for the Customs & Quarantine inspections. A bit of a palava to coordinate everyone in Darwin, but all involved were friendly & helpful. I would recommend going out to see the Quarantine guys at Berrimah Farm - 15km from Darwin city - as soon as you arrive to register in order to make an inspection appointment.

O.K. Seb says.......

"Here are our rates for your LCL shipment from Ex-Dili to CIF Darwin:

- Wooden crate: USD 80.00/CBM (Minimum charge USD 30.00)
- Export Customs clearance: USD 30.00/shipment
- Port wharfage: USD 2.00/CBM
- Ocean freight: USD 45/CBM (Minimum charge 1 CBM)

Regarding Australian Quarantine regulation for your motorcycle, the Australian Army based at Hera port (30 minutes from Dili by car) is the only place allowed by Australia for vehicles to be cleaned. Usually, Australians seeking to re-export their cars go there and arrange the cleaning by themselve with the Australian army. We just arrange the freight from Hera port to Darwin.

I suggest that you contact our agent in Darwin and check with them if you can arrange the cleaning in Darwin after arrival in the port. The contact is Scott (S.An...@patrick.com.au) or Kristy (K.Fi...@patrick.com.au), the company is Patrick Air Service, they are also customs brokers."

In my case my bike was 2.64 Cubic metres. I was lucky in that they just wheeled my bike straight into a container & I strapped it down with my tie-downs. Only the mirrors were removed. So no crating costs.

In addition to my USD154.00 shipping costs the fees in Darwin were AUD80.00 for quarantine inspection & AUD30.00 port handing fees to Perkins. That's it. Pretty good really I think.

I used the water blasting service in Port Hera. Again I was lucky in that it is a commercial business run by an Aussie bloke Dave almost exclusively doing Aussie Army vehicles. He just gave me a 3000psi hose & left me to it. In all honesty I think this thing was too ruthless for the delicates of a bike & that a good hand scrub & hose down is the answer. BE WARNED Aussie Quarantine is EXTREMELY THOUROUGH. They look everywhere for dirt & seeds. Not just surface stuff either. In battery box, air filter box. Seat & Tank off. Spend time & do a good cleaning job to avoid aggravation in Australia.

Good luck. It's a great trip down through the Indonesia islands. They should not be missed.

Jordan -Transocean are agents for Safmarine and CMBT. Their ships depart Aqaba every Saturday for the 13 day sail to Nhava Sheva (Mumbai). You need to be in Eyad's office by Tuesday morning and ready to load your bikes on Wednesday to catch the Saturday sailing.

Eyad speaks excellent English and is efficient and helpful, he even put us up in his apartment for a week whilst we were awaiting our flights. His fee of 355 JD (US$500) , payable in cash, included everything to ship a 20' container (regardless of the number of bikes you squeeze inside) i.e. help/rope to lash the bikes, customs clearance, port costs and all paperwork/admin costs. Friends who shipped a fortnight ahead of us managed to get five bikes into their container, considerably reducing the cost per bike. To our knowledge, it is not possible to share a container with other goods as Jordan exports very little to India.

If shipping more than one bike, it is ESSENTIAL that you have separate Bills of Lading for each bike/carnet otherwise you will run into trouble when trying to clear Indian customs - it takes long enough even when your paperwork is in order!

Do NOT show carnets at the Jordian border as customs officials in Aqaba are, apparently, not interested in stamping them on the way out of the country. Instead, when you enter Jordan you will have to pay for a temporary import licence which is recognised by Aqaba customs.

Royal Jordanian fly Amman (4 hours by bus from Aqaba) to Mumbai late on Friday and Sunday Nights.

India -Contessa Forwarders are clearing agents who will deal with all the Indian formalities, including liaison with Safmarine. Jay Parab speaks reasonable English and is very experienced in vehicle importation and, hence, has the right contacts. You can trust him with your passports and carnets and he will get on with the job in hand, but if you are the kind of person who wants to know what is happening when in the clearance process, you will find his manner very frustrating! It is worth going to see Jay a few days before the ship is due so that he can get the wheels slowly moving. The clearing process can take anywhere between 2 - 5 days, but it is difficult to find out, either before or during, how far down the road to freedom you are! Despite the frustrations and costs involved in using an agent, we recommend it as everything we hear about doing it yourself sounds like a nightmare - at least 5 days of running around like the proverbial blue buttocked.

Before Jay can start the process you will need to get a 'Letter of No Objection' from the Federation of Indian Automobile Associations (known as the WI in Mumbai - Western India AA), 76 Veer Nariman Road, near Churchgate Train Station. You have to contact your carnet issuing authority to ask them to fax a letter to the Honorary Secretary of the FIAA (+91 22 2041382) stating that they did indeed issue your carnet and that they have no objection to the FIAA having no objection to you temporarily importing your bike into their country. Makes sense? This costs 500 Rs (US$10) per bike/carnet and is done 'on the spot' - remember to take a good book. Whilst you are in the WI office, you can purchase very cheap third party insurance - probably not worth the paper it's written on, but worth having to show the police if you're stopped.

Needless to say, it is ESSENTIAL that all details on your carnet match your bike exactly as Indian customs will check engine and chassis numbers.

Costs:
Per Container - port duty, stamp duty, warehouse charges (will vary slightly with value of bikes) - 13,700 INR (US$285)
Per Bike - Agent's Fees, including baksheesh(!), 6,500 INR (US$135) fixed price. This also includes ferry and taxi fares to get you to the container port, which is 90km south of Mumbai.

Note: It would probably make the clearance process quicker, easier and cheaper for Jay (and, therefore, you) if you ship to Mumbai port rather than Nhava Sheva as they are about 2 hours away by ferry/taxi. However, Safmarine do not ship to Mumbai but it's possible that other shipping lines do.

Price is high because it is for a Ural Bavarian Classic, which is a motorcycle with a sidecar. I called around just about everywhere trying to locate the best price (some places were throwing out estimates for cars - $3000+)

I also tried to get it over by sea, but my title company (PeopleFirst.com finance) would only allow me to have the bike out of the country for 30 days (they do permit it, however, and were great about providing me the needed paperwork-they re-fi bike loans if you are having trouble).

I tried contacting Lufthansa directly but in the end, it was just too confusing (I got a different price every time I called...) I finally contacted Scott at Berklay Motorcycle shippers who was someone willing to work with me on the matter. He explored a couple of options - putting it in a container, strapping it to a pallet, etc. - all to change how the weight was handled (bike and sidecar are large, but not too much heavier than a big bike - the shipping cost is some combination of the two).

The bike went on a plane to Frankfurt and was then trucked to Florence, Italy. (all cities in Italy were the same cost) Service was great - I drove the bike over in the morning (to JFK Airport), provided him the paperwork (title, bank lien waiver, etc.) and they had someone drive over to the Lufthansa shipping department with me. That guy made sure everything was in order (drained the gas to 1/8 tank and disconnected and taped the battery terminals) and I left - total time was about 90 minutes. I even got a tracking number so I could monitor the shipment on my computer (Lufthansa's web tracking is top notch).

When I got to Florence (5 days later) the bike was waiting for me - no problems whatsoever. I was warned that the Italian authorities may expect some 'tipping' but this was not the case for me. Looked at my title and green-card insurance and I was on my way (obtained insurance while in the US from Alessie Insurance in the Netherlands for $315 for 1 month, contact email: Ales...@alessie.com).

Interesting to note, the Italian authorities did not even look at my lien waver - I am not sure they knew what it was as liens on titles are less common over there. Drove the bike to Spain, where I shipped it back by sea - see separate review for that...

We shipped two Triumph Tigers from Brisbane to London Jan 2003 (arrived London 20 Feb 2003). Cost was $633.91 total. Insurance $160 Total. Each
crate measured 2.033 Cubic Metres.

Very helpful people and highly recommnded.

What you need to get with a bike into Singapore:

1. Stay in Johor Bahru (Border Town in Malaysia)to save (a lot of ) money.
2. Mandatory insurance for the bike from UniAsia General (17/18th floor Jln Tebrau, 80250 Johor Bahru, Tel: 07-2230488; http://www.uniasiageneral.co.my); cost: 70 Ringit per Bike for one month; insurance is valid in Malaysia AND Singapore.
3. To get the mandatory ICP (International Circulation Permit) take the Expressbus into Singapore(2,40 Ringit), with the MRT-Train from Busit to Somerset, 10 min walking to Automobilclub Singapore, River Valley Road (Mo-Fr. 8.30 am to 5.30 pm); costs: 10.50 S$ per Bike. You have to show carnet de passage, insurance documents, passport, vehicle registration documents of your homecountry.
There you also get the endorsment for entering and leaving Singapore (stemp on the back of the carnet de passage). They want to know, when you are leaving Singapore, so get in contact with the shipping agent before.
4. Back to JB, get some extra departure and arrival cards at the border to fill it out in the hotel. Saves hassle at the border.
5. Clean your bike and camping gear as good as possible.

How to enter Singapore with the bike
1. Start early
2. On the Malayian side take the motorbike lane (very left). After passport controll ask for Customs and let the carnet stemp out.
3. On the Singaporian side que at the cargo/truck lane (they will sent you there anyway)
4. Get carnet stemped
5. Buy a autopass at the Transport Authority (Office in the Customs area); Costs: 10 S$ per bike per day; You have to show ICP, carnet de passage, insurance documents, passport, driving license (national was enough)
6. Welcome to Singapore
8. Take Expressway to shipping agent to get your shipping documents and letter for Harbor Authority
9. You get the PSA (Harbor) pass at the PSA building gate 1 (End of Cantonment Road)
10. Ride to gate 3 ( around 10 km west of gate 1)Customs is at the gate. Let the carnet stemp out
11. Get to building PT1 and ask for Mr. Sum (if Angie is not giving a different name)
12. Pass over the shipping documents and ride your bike into the container. A bike is not a dangerous good (dif to air cargo) so you could leave the fuel in. Container get sealed.
13. Walk out of the harbor and take Bus No 143 to New Bridge Road. 10 min walking distance to Megastar.
14. Angie Ong will fill out the Bill of Landing (B/L)(Important Document: includes the container and seal number)
15. Book your flight to Darwin with a stop over on Bali. Shipping takes 10-12 Days.

Costs in Singapore:
1. Shipping Charges: 275 USD per Bike
2. LCL Charges(less container charge): 20S$ per cbm
3. WHC Charge (Wharf handling charge): 1.75 S$ per cbm
4. UCI fee: 10S$ per shipment
5. B/L Document Fee: 50S$ per shipment

We paid 550 USD for 2 bikes (5.8 cbm outer dimension)and 186.10S$.

How to get the bike out of Customs in Darwin
1. Get into contact with Perkins (Nandra Turton, nand...@perkins.com.au Tel: +61 8 8982 2000)to ask when the bikes are unpacked and Customs and Quarantine can check the bikes.
2. Go to Customs (21 Lindsay Street) to make an appointment. They need the B/L documents and ask for carnet, vehicle registration documents and passport. They also arrange the meeting with Quarantine. Costs: 87 A$ per appointment.
3. Go to Perkins (Francis Bay Drive) at least 30 min earlier and pay the wharf fee of 150 A$ per shipment
4. Now you will see if you cleaned your bikes good enough. Quarantine checked the camping gear, the bikes including airfilter. We had no problems. If they have anything to complain you can clean little dirty spots by your own. Bigger failures have to be cleaned by Perkins. They charge you 50A$ per hour.
5. If you get the bikes started (we had a few problems: the clutch of the R1100 GS was backed tight, and the battery of the F650 was empty. The fuel was boiled and not usable anymore, so take some spare fuel) ride to the Motor Vehicle Registry in Goyder Road at Stuart Highway. They check and register your bike. Here you have to pay 150 A$ per bike to get the 3 month mandatory third-party-compensation-contribution.
6. Hit the road - good luck

In General, it was easy to ship the bikes from Singopore to Darwin. Angie Ong at Megastar knows her business. The only hassle is to get the bikes into Singapore.
It is nice to arrive in Darwin. It is a pretty little town and everything is in walking distance. Saves a lot of money. The people are very friendly and helpful.