Does anybody know what the approx charges there will be to clear customs in Thailand
We are trying to ship our XT,s From South Africa after spending a year travelling through Africa from the UK
I have had no problem in getting a quote to ship the bikes, however none of the shippers can tell me how much it will cost to clear customs in Bangkok
The Bikes are on carnets and are UK registered and will not be a permanant export as we will be travelling on
Any reccomendations of a handling agent in Bangkok?
Thanks in advance, Pete and Brucella

We shipped by air from India to Bangkok in January 2008, and at least back then I was clearly advised NOT to ship anything to Bangkok seaport. Said there could really be a truckload of problems to clear the vehicle there. The new airport was no problem at all.

Can´t be 100% sure, if this is still so, and things do change rapidly in Asia... but if I was sending by ship to that region, I´d go for Port Klang (Kuala Lumpur) or Singapore. The roads are good, only a few days of riding between BKK and Singapore.

Thanks for that mate, did you have any additional costs to clear customs?

Can´t remember exactly, but I don´t think we had to pay more than ~2000 baht, and that includes everything at the Thai end of the transportation. Took about 2,5 hours to get the bike out of the cargo-area.

We did, however have a thai-speaking person with us, plus we got great help from my friend, who lives near Bangkok, and has brought bikes into Thailand for decades, so I think that made it a lot easier for us. Seemed to me like it could be done without any external help, but could be a bit more time-consuming. They spoke very limited English.

They´re not in the carnet-system, so they should give you a temporary import paper of their own, we got 30 days (but Ive read something like this could be only 15 days now...) Anyway, if needed, you should be able to make a visa-run to Cambodia, Laos or Malaysia, and get a new temp import paper for the bike as well. I heard you could keep the bike in Thailand about 6 months until the customs really get nasty with you (but did not try this myself, so cannot confirm).

Compared to India, the Thai bureaucracy was a breeze, the only real problem was the alphabets, that look like worms to us... but most official papers were bilingual.

Ok, thanks for that, we will have somebody to help us in BKK

Hi,

Just to let you know we shipped our bike from Chennai to Bangkok by sea and had no problems at all at the port, in fact the guys were really kind even if it was a little confusing getting the bike back out. In the end I think we paid approx 5000 Baht to our shippers in Bangkok and then about 340 Baht to the Thai port authority to actually get our bike out.

If you are going to do it make sure you do it in the following order, we missed out paying the Port Authority for releasing the bike which added a couple of hours as we got back there at lunch time!!

1. Visit your shipping agent pay for the shipping and collect all necessary papers.

2. Go to Port Authority building and collect the release papers (I think that is what they are called, you basically have to go to the main building and collect the papers there (not sure what they were, they were in Thai!).

3. Cross the road and find the building where you have to pay for release of your bike, you are basically paying the Port Authority some sort of fee but not sure for what exactly.

4. Go to the shed that has your bike with all the papers and collect the bike, they will usually have something to open the container and when we were there one of the guys even went off to get us some petrol so we could get to the nearest petrol station.

Not sure if that is any help or just making it sound more complicated than it actually is but either way it wasn't that bad, it was our first attempt at getting our bike out of any sort of customs place and we managed it all in one day, just!!

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The Wonderful Wander To Oz

Hi and thanks, great info and just what we needed to know!!
The difference between shipping and flying is 19000 rand, and we can live for 4 wks on that including our flights to BKK

Just to make sure I don't confuse anyone else more than I have to (I sometimes have a habit of doing that!!) the 5000 Baht we paid in Bangkok was in addition to fees we paid to our shipper in Chennai, not sure if all these fees are needed if you fly into Bangkok??

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The Wonderful Wander To Oz

Got it , thanks, keep it shiny side up, Pete

to Pecha72: which company did u use for shipping? thanks

Hi there , we used TSL and the person to speak to is Vivy, great service her email is vivy@tslbkk.com, please say hello from Pete and Brucella for us, she also helped with Our shipping to Brisbane OZ, very good contact.
Hope this helps, Pete and Bruce

Hello all,

I know this post starts in 2009 but now that we are in 2015 does anybody have any recent information about getting the bike out of the port in Thailand? We are looking into shipping our bike from Los Angeles to Thailand this October and would like up to date info for about how much we would have to pay at the arrival.

Thanks everybody!!

Hi mattam, go to the top of the page 'on the road' then do a search in shipments by travellers.
There is current info in there for you, perhaps contact the author

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My memory is becoming that good, I should be able to organise my own surprise party soon

I recently helped Lyndon Poskitt (Races to Places and Dakar racer) get his bike through customs in Bangkok with a minimum of charges and extra fees.

The person to contact who helped Lyndon out was Khun May. She was GREAT and she and her sister got Lyndon out with a minimum of hassle. Get in touch with her. I've used her before as a shipper / importer and she has been very very helpful.

May
Maxcore Logistics Co.,Ltd.
HP : +66-83-778-3334
Skype : sobright168
Email : may@maxcorelogistics.com