Shipments done by Travellers

Ouch! Yes that is expensive, but three flights were involved, as there are no direct cargo flights from Singapore to South America, Singapore-Dallas-Miami-Santiago. The sea alternative was too lengthy (2 months) and we did not know the various port landing fees. We will avoid that route in future. Had to work with shipper to get reasonable shipping crate dimensions.

Tataiana is the Japan based contact for DBS Ferries, which is a Korean company. She is Russian but speaks Japanese and English. I first met her when I transported my bike from Vladivostok to Japan. The ferry goes via Korea so when I needed to take my bike back there DBS was the easy choice.The ferry leaves Japan weekly on Saturday evening to make the round trip to Vladivostok via Donghae Port, Sth Korea. It arrives at Donghae around 9am.

All the arrangements were made with Tatiana by email, making life very easy. She is very helpful and explains everything very well. There are some forms to complete in order for her to make the booking.

1. She will request a copy of your International Driving Permit. She will also want to see it when you arrive at the port. No booking will be accepted without an IDP. I suggest you scan it when you first receive it.

2. On behalf of Korean Customs, you will be asked to complete some forms which she will email to you. They have to be signed so you will need to print them off, sign them then scan them back in before emailing them back to her. These will need to be completed several days before the ferry sails.

There will be: A Letter of Promise, where you give details of yourself and the vehicle. Depending on the vehicle type and engine size, there will be a fee to pay for the privelege of being allowed to import it with a customs exemption. My 350cc bike cost $120. You also have to pay for road insurance based on vehicle type/engine size and the anticipated length of stay. Six days cost me $68 for 'Basic' cover. You can pay more for 'Special' cover if you want to. You will also have to complete a form listing the 'Personal Goods' you will be bringing in. I just put things like 'Tent', 'Sleeping bag', 'Spare parts' and so on. Nothing too complicated.

3. The ferry I took departed at 19.00 but I had to be at the port by 14.30 to deal with customs clearance and to load the bike. Tatania will advise you of the time by email. It may vary on a busy day. I only just made it in time because of snow, but that's a whole other story.

4. You will have to pay in cash; Yen or Dollars. The freight charges came to JPY40,418 (approx JPY100 to the $). Your personal fare will be added to this. The driver/rider will get a discount. I chose 2nd class which means I got a bunk in an eight berth cabin. Economy class means sleeping on a mattress on the floor of a room shared with up to sixteen others. My ticket cost JPY7,800.

5.I didn't quite have enough cash but one of the staff in the office was happy to take me into town to an ATM.

6. The procedures for entering Korea will be the same if you are coming from anywhere else, most commonly Vladivostok.

First i have spent 1 day to organize all the papers, documents in Bandar lengeh. I arrived in front of the port, immediately one agent approached me and try to convinced me he will be my agent...without agent you are in quite deep messy shit. All the things about the ferry in Bandar lengeh were without any order... Fery should have left at 10 in the morning...10:10 i was still without the carnet... !!!! Yes ...my nerves were at the end.
Fery took 6 hours to Dubai, when we arrived the captain informed me i have to stay over night on the boat, because the customs are without computers, system collapsed. As the only passenger with the vehicle i didn`t have any company...whole boat was for me and upstairs some sailors :)

Next morning was not easy again...sistem still didn` t work...I got carnet in Dubaj After 2 days of my arrival

Perfect service, highly recommended!

Ask for a quote, book, go to the place in London near Heathrow, deliver the bike and they do all the rest, incl. crating. Bikes were delivered spot on in Los Angeles on the promised date, and the only cost was 40$ per bike for delivery charges. Fast and easy, don't hesitate to contact them and send your bike with James Cargo.

What to do in Dili, Timor-Leste

• Once we got to Dili, we went to the ANL office (used to be TOLL). Lenor Castulo is the person who takes care of all shipping to Darwin. She was very friendly and helpful, and answered all our questions. She advised us to strap our bike in a shared container as LCL. The price when shipping in a crate would be a bit cheaper but then you have the cost and work of the crating. The ANL office in Dili can be found at LAT -8.56008, LON 125.53217. You can also contact Lenor on

Leno...@tollgroup.com

• We agreed the date when we should bring the bike to ANL in Dili.

• To pass the strict quarantine inspection in Australia, we’ve spent 4 really long days cleaning our bike and all the stuff that we decided to put in to the container. We stripped the whole bike apart for this.

• We got our carnet stamped out from Timor-Leste one day before we took the bike to ANL. Customs can be found at the harbour of Dili at LAT -8,55338 LON 125,57355

• Once the bike and the entire luggage were cleaned, we took the bike to ANL. After we’ve put the bike in the container, we cleaned the tires with a toothbrush (yes, it is so important) and did a final check of the bike for any dirt/soil. NOTE: you need to bring your own straps to fix the bike in the container. After the container was loaded, we paid the ANL invoice:

Ocean Freight (FRT) USD110. x 3.0 CBM = USD 330.00

BAF (Fuel Surcharge) USD 20. x 3.0 = USD 60.00

East Timor Tax (ETT) 2.64% of the Freight = USD 8.70

Port Security Charge (PSC) USD 40. x 3.0 = USD 120.00

Documentation Fee (DOC) USD 30. per shpt. = USD 30.00

Stuffing / THC USD 50. per shpt. = USD 50.00

Wharfage USD 2. per CBM = USD 6.00

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USD 604.70

• Schedule for a boat is really flexible, sometimes it might be on time, sometimes it could be delayed for weeks, so be prepared for this.

• When everything was arranged in Dili, we flew to Bali to wait for the bike to arrive in Australia.

What to do in Darwin, Australia

• Sixteen days after the vessel has left Dili, we got a mail from ANL logistics that the vessel has arrived in Darwin. They also send us the BOL (Bill Of Lading) and the invoice. We knew it would take at least 3 working days before the container would be released. We heard afterwards that this is due to the Giant African Snail (GAS) that can be found on containers coming from Dili. We got the mail on a Tuesday so we decided to fly to Darwin on Sunday, to start the paperwork on Monday.

• On Monday, we first went to the ANL office in Darwin. There they told us that shared containers are handled by PJ'S CUSTOMS BROKERS AND DARWIN FORWARDING and supervised by the ANL logistics head office in Melbourne.

• PJ’s can be found on 3302 Export Drive, Berrimah in East Arm Wharf (LAT -12,47010

LON 130,92131) and contacted on a...@pjscustoms.com.au. Here we ask for the status of our shared container. We also paid the invoice.

Here’s the breakdown of costs to be paid in Darwin:

Destination Port Charges = 90.00
Carrier Security Fee=20.00
Destination Documentation Fee = 60.00
Bill of Lading= 50.00
Handling Fee= 20.00
Destination Un-pack = 100.00

SUBTOTAL = 340.00
GST = 34.00

TOTAL AUD = 374.00

• At PJ’s, we were helped by Mel. She was really friendly and informed us that the container where our bike was loaded in, was inspected by the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) and they had found GAS on the outside of the container. This means that the container had to be cleaned and inspected again.

• In the meantime, we could already start with the paperwork, so first we went to the Customs Office in Lindsay Street (LAT -12.45879, LON 130.84040) They took a copy of our Carnet, our BOL and passport. They told us to wait a few hours before the papers were registered and then we could call AQIS to make an appointment for a quarantine inspection.

• We had to wait for our container to be released before we could make an appointment, but normally you could do this immediately. We already went to AQIS to pay the bill (147 AUD) but as mentioned, the appointment had to wait. We got a paper with a Q-number and an invoice. As soon as the container is released, you will receive a Quarantine Direction. This is what you need to make an appointment for your quarantine inspection.

(You can also call AQIS at 8998 4940 and pay the bill with your credit card through the phone, you can find AQIS at LAT -12,406757 LON 130,87727)

• We got a message from PJ’s that our bike was unloaded. After this we called AQIS and agreed on an inspection time. I informed PJ’s about the time when AQIS would be there to inspect my bike, and I also called Customs so they could be there to inspect the bike as well and to stamp our Carnet.

• Next day we went to PJ’s 15 minutes before agreed inspection time.

NOTE: you need to have real shoes, with slippers you cannot go to the harbour area!

• Inspection took around 15 minutes (We were lucky) and result was ok. Customs didn’t really check anything, they only stamped the Carnet.

• After this I needed to wait for a “release”, but don’t know exactly why. When things got cleared, we were free to go!

• Now we needed to get roadworthiness check done at the Motor Vehicle Registry (MVR) located at (LAT -12,437583 LON 130,83961), to get a Compulsory Third Party Insurance (CTP) which covers bodily injury for the 3rd party in case of an accident.

We went there early in the morning, drove directly to the inspection line. Inspection was fast because we imported the bike under a Carnet de Passage. They only checked the tires, lights, signals, horn and brakes.

• After passing this, we walked inside, took a ticket and explained to the clerk what we were there for. We needed to give her the Carnet, passport, drivers-license, credit card, and inspection paper. They also wanted to have our address in Darwin, a hostel address was enough. Because we stayed with a friend, we didn’t have proof of any address but we opened a bank account on our friend’s address and this was also good.

• We took a CTP for one month (the CTP from the Northern Territory is not valid in other states)

Costs for temporarily importing Honda Transalp XL650V

Shipping cost and harbour fees in Dili: 604,7 USD
Harbour fees in Darwin: 374 AUD
AQIS inspection fee: 147 AUD
MVR inspection and one month CTP: 112 AUD
Total cost: 930 Euro

Notes:

• PJ’s can store your bike in Darwin for 7 days free of charge after bike is released (check with PJ’s).

• Darwin is really expensive place, better to stay longer in Asia.

• Be flexible with a schedule. Total time from Dili to Darwin in our case was 2 weeks, we've heard stories about 1 month or even longer!