After a bit of investigation a short update on the current situation in Penang:

Cakra Shipping & Trading (that's the company everybody here is talking about -> Mr. Lim) is still operating and seems to be the place to go if you want to send your bike from Penang to Belawan/Medan. We had a long talk with them, they are very friendly and helpfull.

The boat is leaving every Monday and Thursday late afternoon (at least that's the schedule). You can bring in your bike the same day in the morning, but you need to arranged the papaerwork in advance. You can assist the loading of the bike, which I would recomend after hearing how they handle the bikes. But "50 bikes and no accident so far" :-) The boat is leaving from Butterworth harbour, one km or so (south?) of the place where the ferry from Penang arrives.

They will charge you RM 350 (aprox 110 USD) for everything, assuming you have a CDP. This does not include the fees on the other side in Belawan, we've been told they charge around RM 100, but I'd expect more partly depending on your negotiation skills.

Claudios (Globetrotter) report on the famous Mr. Monti in Belawan was not so good (read above), so I guess the way to go is either to avoid him (can you speak Bahasa?) or to agree to a price at the begining and to stick to that whatever he comes up with. He seems to be very well informed and to know about every bike coming. Sure he's reading this, so Mr. Monti, see you soon :-)

We were told that if you put your bike on the monday boat you can take the tuesday morning speed ferry from George Town to Belawan and be ready at the port in Belawan for assisting the unloading of the bike on tuesday afternoon. But I wouldn't relay on that, there's a fair chance the boat will not arrive on schedule, so be prepared for at least one night in Belawan. That's also the reason why not to use the thursday boat, otherwise you might be stuck in Belawan for the whole weekend. There's a hotel somewhere near the port, though, at least we've been told.

Cakra Shipping & Trading
187 3rd Floor
Lebuh Pantai
10300
Malaysia

Phone: +6042625879


Me off for Indonesia soon. Anyone near Penag/Medan right now?

Cheers, Jiri

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