Shipments done by Travellers

I had decided to ship the bike by air, so I went to the cargo airport in Mumbai. I wasn't able to get into the complex, but outside, on the left is a big building with some majors companies (Alitalia, Lufthansa, etc). There, I was told that its impossible in India to deal directly with the company and that you have to take a shipping agent. I made contact and asked price to 3 of them (really easy to find, there are many of them around the cargo terminal). After a few days, I had the same price for all of them : around 1,000 EUR, so I decided to ship by sea.
This agent (Ibrar, from galaxy freight), has been recommended to me by a company of Mumbai which is a bit similar to Lally Singh (Delhi).
It took one week to do everything, and it was not very easy. I

This shipper is very very good. His office is small and smelly, but he knows what he is doing. He is quick as well. He did my bike in two days, packing papers, everything. The bike came, as promised, after 20 days in Rotterdam. It took 1 week in customs and another 170 dollars port charges. But now its home

Hi - don't know about shipping to Iran. It's not on the route of the normal shipping run between Mumbai, , which does a run between England, the Med, Red Sea and Arabian Sea and back. However, rather than shipping to Africa (as you may have a bit of a problem getting visas to head North), you could easily ship to Aqaba, Jordan.

Ships go once a week from Mumbai. Then travel up thru' Jordan Syria into Turkey.

Only prob is that unless you book a whole (20ft) container, you may have delays as the shipping agent will wait until the container is full before shipping. However the delays may be quite small as this is a busy route.

If you are near Mumbai, then your best bet is either look in yellow pages on the internet (yell.com) or go to the port user's building at the port itself (JNPT, Jawarhal Nehru Port Trust) in Nhava Sheva, which is 60km south of Mumbai by road, about 15km by boat from the old port on the south side of the Mumbai peninsula. In the port user's building there are a number of shipping agencies, who will give you contact details for their sales offices.

You will also need a clearing agent. We found that 90% of them either did not know how to clear a vehicle, or just pretended they didn't, in order to rip us off. We found it was quite expensive to ship from Mumbai, in terms of port charges. Also, most of the shipping agents couldn't recommend a clearing agent.

The one we used was BC Buhiralla - ask for Mr Ness. His number is (22) 2615451 or 2615452. They were expensive but efficient, which is a rarity in India. I think their address is:

1st floor
5 JN Heradia Marg,
Balmier Lawrie Building,
Ballard Estate,
Mumbai.

If you decide to ship, keep smiling and enjoy the experience, it is stressful and time-consuming but you will get there in the end!! Good luck