From Chittagong, Bangladesh to Bangkok, Thailand - June, 2007

Sorry all you bikers out there but this shipment was for a Land rover 110, but I am sure they would ship a bike and of course the cost would be less I imagine.

To sort out this shipping we drove to Chittagong and found that a lot of international companies like Maersk did not want to ship our vehicle, however PIL did. The cost quoted above is the total cost but the break down of payment looked like this:

In Chittagong paid to PIL:

Freight - $350
VAT - $19
Bill of landing - $11

In Chittagong paid to customs broker:

Custom brokerage charge - $150
Lashing - $37
Off dock charges - $37

In Bangkok to PIL (Eastern Maritime Ltd):

Not sure what for - $172

In Bangkok to Port officials:

Unlashing and storage - $66

In Bangkok to custom broker:

Custom brokerage charge - $277

The customs brokers were recommended to us by PIL in Bangladesh and then by PIL in Bangkok, and they seemed pretty insistant that we use the people they recommended, the two customs brokers we used were:

Bangladesh:
A2Z International
Mr Ahsan
Progressive Tower (Mezzanine Floor)
1837 Sk. Mujib Road
Agrabad
Chittagong

Bangkok:
Transport Management
Rama 4 Road
(sorry no further address)

The service from PIL and Bangkok customs broker was very good, but PIL in Bangladesh were totally unrealistic in predicting the costs in Bangkok so do not believe when they tell you it will only cost $30.

The customs broker in Chittagong did overcharge us significantly and was a bit unreliable, however he did get the job done in the end but if you could avoid using him, I would.

Another word of warning - customs clearance in Bangkok can be difficult and we could not get them to accept the Carnet even though apparently they will at some land crossings. Due to this we had to sign a bond to the value of $32,000 which is claimed if we stay within the country with the vehicle after the expiry of our visa (28 days). To be honest we did not understand the whole process so there may be ways round this.