i'm in the middle of setting up a trip to travel from europe to australia only by vech, and car ferry (only where need).. but i've hit a snag!.. i can seem to find any available car ferry that brings you from se asia (like indonesia or papa new guniea) to mainland australia.. i've heard you can get a freighter but thats not the same as staying with your vechile..

any help, thoughts or experiences who be great!!..

i cant leave on the trip otherwise!!

David

It seems car ferries in SE Asia only operate on rather short distances these days, and most international lines are a thing of the past. Flying has become so cheap, and its so much quicker, so people fly, and very few have their own vehicles to transport. I dont think you can find a passenger car ferry from anywhere in Asia to Australia.

In 2007, someone in India was certain that there is a ferry between Chennai and Singapore, even gave me some cellphone number (which never replied)... later on, I noticed, there may be a big freight ship operating that route, with a few cabins available for passengers, but even that was super-expensive, we probably got our bike and us flown across the Bay of Bengal for cheaper. Maybe it is a good choice, if you got a car. The last time a regular passenger ship went from Chennai to Malaysia (Penang) was in the 80´s, then it burnt.

There have been some ferries going between various ports in Malaysia & Indonesia, so if you get lucky, one of them hasnt sunken, and may still be operating, when you get there, or they´ve opened up a new one just in time (dont mean to scare you, but their safety standards arent too high!) These lines seem to come and go almost each month, and current economic crisis probably isnt helping a lot. Lots of ferries all around the Indonesian islands, too, but getting accurate info about them is sometimes hard.

The seas around Europe, for example, we are actually very lucky to still have many car ferries operating, so we dont need to freight. Its not the same everywhere.

I've been travelling throughout Asia since the early 70s and during this period there have NEVER been any car ferries in to, or out of, Australia. Even stronger than this, there have never been any regular passenger ships of any sort coming into the country. The only passenger ships have been cruise ships, and these are not an economical mode of transport.

There is the occasional cargo ship which may take 10 or so passengers but these are few and far between. The last person I knew who came to Australia by cargo ship was my wife, who sailed from Yokohama to Perth back in 1978.

Garry from Oz.

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Garry from Oz - powered by Burgman

You could try Perkins Shipping. They operate a cargo sea-transport service from Singapore <~~> Darwin, Australia. Passage time is about eight days.

It might be an idea to try and arrange shipping from Singapore Harbour, then fly down separately from Changi Airport (SIN) to Darwin (DRW) on a standard commercial flight .. thereafter meet & greet your vehicle in the Port of Darwin .. maybe stopover in Bali for a few days en route, eh?! ..

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Right Way Round ...

Many travellers report to have used that Perkins line. Do note that it makes a stopover in Dili, East Timor, so you can ride through part of Indonesia, and ship from there.

We were planning to do just that, but fighting erupted in Dili, because their president & prime minister had been attacked, and we were already running out of visa time (do get a 60 day-visa, if you can!)... and it was the rainy season, so boat timetables were anyones guess. So we ended up freighting by air from Bali.

Still, Sumatra, Java & Bali were a huge experience, something I definitely wouldnt leave out by shipping straight to Oz from Singapore. Or you can do that, and go backpacking through Indonesia.

Many RoRo ships consolidate loads in Singapore for onward movement to Australia's major East coast cities - (sometimes Townsville with mining vehicles) Brisbane, Sydney, (then to NZ or) Melbourne and Adelaide. The other route is to go via Perth.

I'm not sure that Darwin gets any RoRo ships at all nowadays - its not a very big market for the ships to bother docking there regularly. You could get lucky if big mining equipment is being unloaded in Darwin.

RoRo is available ex Singapore to Port Jarkata, but you would probably have to back track to Singapore to go onto Australia, security maybe a bit sus on this leg.

There is a freight/passenger line that operates around Indonesia, I cant remember its name. Does not have a good reputation for safety and reliable schedules.

I'm not aware of any RoRo ships that have passenger services and I tried to find one last year ex S Korea via Singapore to Australia.

RoRo is far safer nowadays, its very rare for anything to be stolen from a vehicle whilst on the ship. The risky part is always on the wharf, but even that has improved 1000s of % since all the anti terror security began in 2002.

Hi everyone ...

If anyone's got a direct contact either phone or mail for Perkins would appreciate it. After going to their website can't see any info' for this.

I'm heading into Indonesia over the next couple of months, so need to consider shipping options to Australia.

Thanks in advance. Len (Len Jones)