Shipments done by Travellers

Probably very expensive, but am happy to get my bike in one piece and get on with travelling in Nepal.

Total weight of shipment - 384kg. That is a dominator (dry weight 168 it says on the manual)

Contact person at Trans Air Cargo is Kittima. She is really helpful, and has since become a good friend. She did all the paperwork very efficiently.

The biggest shock for me was the weight, something to consider when crating. Try to use as little wood as possible. The crate is really heavy!

Cost breakdown. Freight - 57 baht per kg Crate - 3200 baht (the carpenter does a good job making the crate as small as possible without you asking) If you use less wood though, pilfering from your crate is invited.
Dangerous goods handling 1000 baht
Fuel and crisis surcharge 5 baht/kg
Some other surcharge 2baht/kg
Service fee - 3000 baht
Total cost 31 776 Baht (for 384kg)

Procedure - Ride up to TAC house on Soi Ruam Rudi. The guys there will take you and the bike up the lift. Dismantle your bike, battery, and fuel (i left a little in - Good thing too as I arrived in the middle of a strike with petrol pumps closed for 2 days) Carpenter comes the next day, or same day if you arranged it, takes measurements, and the following day brings the wood, with the base prepared and gets it crated in an hour or so. Once ready, your bike is weighted, and you will then know your exact cost.

Kittima takes it from then on. I changed my freight date a few times (and Kittima kindly obliged every time), as I was looking for a cheaper ticket for myself. Flying by Royal Nepal saved about $148 Singapore dollars, or you could decide to fly Biman Air you could save another $70 Singapore dollars (but there's a stopover in Dhaka)

Over at Katmandu Airport, go to the Thai Cargo office at the airport and sign a few papers (without actually seeing the bike!) I'm told that's the Nepali way of doing things. Finally go to the Cargo Terminal (5 mins taxi ride or 15-20 mins walk) and you should get your bike.

I was approached by some guys who asked for 20-50 rupees to fill out my forms for me. I suggest to use them, as they do a good job of sorting the paperwork (and carnet) for you and you focus on uncrating your bike.

I think I had an umbrella pinched off my crate somewhere along the freight. Make sure you secure everything and try to use cardboard (on the inside) to cover most of the crate. Other than that everything was smooth, and got my bike within 3hrs (including assembling)

My agent of course asked for a tip as he said he had his hands in the uncrating(was more like getting in my way). Anyways I gave him about $1 or 2 USD tip, as he indeed did a good job. Carnet and customs clearance forms all done. Ride out of the cargo building and you are free!

Had to ship my bike back after an accident. LalliSingh was recommended to me and did a very good job, picked up the bike from the railway station, dealt with the customs, even treated the bike with oil against rust, etc. I hardly had to do anything.

The bike got crated, transported to Bombay and shipped from there. Took one week for the paperwork that I had to stay in Delhi, but just for the case of it, they needed me only once.

LalliSingh is friendly, helpful and doing a very good job. http://www.lallisingh.com

Try to ship as close to your hometown as possible. The transport from Hamburg to Munich was nearly as expensive as the shipment from Delhi to Hamburg. Annoying. Might have been much cheaper to ship to some smaller riverport of a city more southern Germany, though slower probably. But I didn't figure that out. happy trails Jens

The shipping cost was very reasonable, customs was outrageous due to corruption. The bike went without a crate or even a palette, but arrived in Sydney 10 weeks later unscathed (it was wrapped in sleeping bags). Make sure your bike is clean before shipping it to Australia. Expect another $120US for customs/ quarantine.

Just a quick note that I used them again (1st time see
http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tripplan/transport/shipping-africa.php#...).

Still excellent service and recommended.

...they seemed very relaxed about it all and very informal , a bit conserned about it at the time but then it is Dilli . No crating and a shared container, tye down the bike youself. This is a bit old as I shipped the bike on 10/03/03 but things in Dilli dont change that much . A good service.