Shipments done by Travellers

Melaka not a cargo port now, ferries not allowed to take vehicles. All this quite new. Go to Kuala Linggi north 45 km on Hwy 5. Around Masijd Tanah look for signs to go left. New docks being constructed but for now wiggle around to the temp. buildings where there is customs for carnet [very friendly] and a coupla agents. One is Jalainan Muara Ent. late of Malacca. Mr Rashid good guy and gave ride back into town about 6pm. His mob 019 - 3646699. For 450 RM they take your carnet, ship it, clear it and it takes 8hrs to Dumai,ie figure next day. Carnet goes with bike. Hassle is K. Li. is
long way from Melaka, go about 4pm to the port and cadge a ride back to M at closing time, 5pm. Noticed an immigration counter there and a glimpse of a passenger ferry.. this needs to be checked out though forget internet!!

After having failed to get on a cargo ship to Singapore at Chittagong port, I decided to ship the bike by air to Chiang Mai.

Thai Airways has three flights a week to Chiang Mai, but only the flight on wednesday can carry heavy freight as the other planes are loaded manually. If you want to go this way, please inquire if Thai Airways still flies this route as I heard it will be dropped due to low demand.

The shipping agent I chose is quite reputable as he also handles cargo of any kind for most of the embassies in Bangladesh. Thai Airways' cargo charges are very competitive with US$0.64/kg, but it didn't get that cheap in the end. I paid BDT4,500 for the
wooden box, BDT13,302 for the Thai Airways' cargo charges (352kg volumetric weight) and BDT15,000 for the agent's services like paperwork, loading, shipping and unloading at the airport. This includes "speed money" for the customs authorities as well, but this does not refer to extra speed but to any non-zero speed. So if you want to have something done, you have to pay.

If you could do the paperwork yourself, you'd manage to get a very cheap overall price. But I saw bureaucracy here on getting a visa extension so it's probably a good idea to have an agent for that. Futhermore he justified the big expense for his services with the missing import stamp in my carnet.
They didn't ask for the carnet at the border, so I thought it's a good idea to enter the country without that stamp. But even if I had had that stamp, the agent would have found some other excuses to get the money from me.

The bike was on the same plane as me (US$183 for the one-way ticket) and I could get it through customs at Chiang Mai within some hours and just the ususal cargo handling charges paid.

I really tried to do my trip without flying, but it didn't work out. But at least this is probably the shortest flight across this Myanmar oddity.

Qantas is still flying three times a week to BA, and they have quite a lot of cargo as well, because Aereolineas Argentinas and Malaysian Airlines can not take cargo at the moment.

I did not crate the bike, Qantas said they will put it on a palette, but I don't know how they did it. The bike arrived as I handed it to them in Sydney, ready to start.

Costs in Sydney: for up to 300kg I paid incl. all the fees: 2100 AUD (1050 USD) plus 100 AUD (50 USD) for the dangerous cargo form

Costs in BA: the official exchange rate for the peso is at the moment 1 USD - 1.4 Peso, we changed on the black market and got 1 USD - 1.95 Peso

Handling fees: 84 Peso (42 USD), Customs: 95 Peso (47 USD)

If you don't get the bike the same day it arrives you will have to pay about 60 USD a day extra.

The customs asked us here for a carnet and we got it stamped, I don

From Georg and Aleksandra Winterberger:

Air shipping charges from Bangkok to Sydney

The crate (2 bikes) was 2.93m3, so the volumetric weight 2.93/0.006=489kg, the real weight was 510kg

Shipping ($2.6/kg) $1332
Fuel+Security Charge ($0.23/kg) $116
Terminal Charge $4.5
Customs Charge $89
Total costs for 2 bikes: $1542

Cost in Sydney to receive goods were VERY EXPENSIVE and it takes a couple to get the import permit etc.

Quarantine $42
Import permit (AU$50/bike) $74
Cargo charge $103
Storage charge ($62.5/day) $589, the storage charge you have just to pay, if you are unlucky enough to be in Australia with your bike and not earlier.

Very Friendly and helpful - speaks adequate english. Have used twice in last 2 years for the same route