Shipping from ind/nep to thai/mal - whats best??

[jj]

Hi!
I need to ship my bike from India/Nepal to Thailand/Malaysia in January. It seems the main options are by sea from madras to Kuala Lumpur or air from either Kathmandu or Delhi to Bangkok. I would love to take the sea option if I was able to be a passenger on the cargo ship but i haven't heard of this being done (anyone done this?).

Does anyone have an opinion on which is the best of these three choices in terms of efficiency, price and flying/ferrying myself, or are they pretty much all the same?

Many thanks for any feedback,
Cheers, Jasper

[davidmc]

Air shipping from Kathmandu to Bangkok is the most "efficient" way of shipping to Bangkok. There are lots of shipping reports in the shipping pages. If you want to go by sea from India, you need to have a very flexible schedule and be prepared for some major hassles.

We met a German guy who shipped his BMW from Chennai to Malaysia which took him several weeks and he ended up spending more than if he air-shipped the bike to begin with. Air shipping is far more reliable on this route, unless you have lots of time and patience on your hands.

[motormuli]

Hi Jasper,

me and a friend of mine are also looking for a way from India to Thailand (with 2 bikes) for January. We also heard that the best and cheepest way is to fly from Nepal - but nothing definitive until now.Here in India its much more expensive to go by plane and you have to do more Paperwork for the bike than in Nepal. If you want to put the Bike on a ship you will get problems to get it out of the customs. That can get very expensive...cause everyone knows you can't do it on your own.
It looks like we will go to Nepal....but at the Moment i stuck in Agra....my starter quitted...so I need some time to fix it. Enough time for me to look for the best way...
If you find out somethink intresting...please let us know. Where are you now. India?

Bergi
www.motormuli.de

[Grant Johnson]

Originally Posted by motormuli

Hi Jasper,

me and a friend of mine are also looking for a way from India to Thailand (with 2 bikes) for January. We also heard that the best and cheepest way is to fly from Nepal - but nothing definitive until now.Here in India its much more expensive to go by plane and you have to do more Paperwork for the bike than in Nepal. If you want to put the Bike on a ship you will get problems to get it out of the customs. That can get very expensive...cause everyone knows you can't do it on your own.
It looks like we will go to Nepal....but at the Moment i stuck in Agra....my starter quitted...so I need some time to fix it. Enough time for me to look for the best way...
If you find out somethink intresting...please let us know. Where are you now. India?

Bergi
www.motormuli.de

re the starter - have you checked the relay under the tank? Pop it's cover off and clean the contacts, it may solve it, at least temporarily! (I've gone through 6 of them in 150,000km and always carry a spare.) You can push the contacts together with a screwdriver to test it too. Of course your problem could be the typical Valeo problem, magnets falling loose.

re shipping - see the Shipping link on left - loads of people have done that route.

[motormuli]

Hi Grant Johnson,

thanks for your tip...but it was the typical Valeo problem. One of the magnets falling loose....but I heard a noise since more than 3000 km...also with this proble the starte was still working. But now the loosen magnet broke and thats the end of the starter :-)...but now everything is fixed and I'm back on the road.

Thanks

motormuli

[jj]

hi bergi,
sorry late reply. Im now in goa and will be in nepal around 15th jan, hopefully shipping at the end of that month from kathmandu to bangkok. Am going to study the reviews on the shipping page to decide which agent to use but will let you know how i get on. If youre leaving before me can you also let me know who you went with and if they were any good. hope alls going well on your trip. Cheers, jasper