My girlfriend and me are heading from Thailand to Holland on two Transalps. Since Pakistan is not safe, we want to ship our bikes out of Bombay (India) to Bandar Chomeini (Iran). Does anyone know if this is possible? Or even better know of a shipping agency willing to do so? Or is it wiser to ship to Africa?
Any information I appreciate. Rob&Martine

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Hi - don't know about shipping to Iran. It's not on the route of the normal shipping run between Mumbai, , which does a run between England, the Med, Red Sea and Arabian Sea and back. However, rather than shipping to Africa (as you may have a bit of a problem getting visas to head North), you could easily ship to Aqaba, Jordan. Ships go once a week from Mumbai. Then travel up thru' Jordan Syria into Turkey.

Only prob is that unless you book a whole (20ft) container, you may have delays as the shipping agent will wait until the container is full before shipping. However the delays may be quite small as this is a busy route.

If you are near Mumbai, then your best bet is either look in yellow pages on the internet (yell.com) or go to the port user's building at the port itself (JNPT, Jawarhal Nehru Port Trust) in Nhava Sheva, which is 60km south of Mumbai by road, about 15km by boat from the old port on the south side of the Mumbai peninsula. In the port user's building there are a number of shipping agencies, who will give you contact details for their sales offices.

Sales Office details I have are:

P&O, who we used, and they were extremely efficient - we shipped to Spain:

Kimatrai Building,
77/79 Maharshi Karve Road,
Marine Lines,
Mumbai
Tel: (+91) (22) 2087343 or 2069925
Fax: (+91) (22) 2014043 or 2038473
email charmaine@ponl.com

J M Baxi & Co,
Port Users Building,
2nd Floor,
Nhava Sheva
Tel: (+91) (22) 7242413 or 7242414 or 7242418
Fax: (+91) (22) 7242419 or 7242509

(91 is the code for India, 22 is the code for Mumbai).

You will also need a clearing agent. We found that 90% of them either did not know how to clear a vehicle, or just pretended they didn't, in order to rip us off. We found it was quite expensive to ship from Mumbai, in terms of port charges. Also, most of the shipping agents couldn't recommend a clearing agent.

The one we used was BC Buhiralla - ask for Mr Ness. His number is (22) 2615451 or 2615452. They were expensive but efficient, which is a rarity in India. I think their address is:

1st floor
5 JN Heradia Marg,
Balmier Lawrie Building,
Ballard Estate,
Mumbai.

If you decide to ship, keep smiling and enjoy the experience, it is stressful and time-consuming but you will get there in the end!!

Good luck