Ferry Service from Indonesia to Malaysia
 

As some may already know, our friend Mr Lim from Cakra shipping has had his boat impounded by Indonesian customs, and according to his last email (21/10/15) he may not get it back for some months.

This put a spanner in the works for me as I was about to ship Medan to Penang with him, so i've found an alternative.

There is a high speed passenger ferry from Tanjung Balai (~150km east of Medan) to Port Klang every day, which will also take a motorbike for a fee.

The company is called Jetstar Atlantic, look them up with google maps in Tanjung Balai, the address is correct. They will most likely pass you onto a shipping agent called Mr Ade ph +6281362274003 who is well connected with the harbour, customs and immigration, so carnet stamping and passports etc was really easy.

Mr Ade quoted me 3 million rupiah (AUD$300) for two people and one bike (note that the passenger tickets are actually only RM15), but on the day we loaded he asked for another 1 million rupiah for loading and unloading. Eventually we settled on an extra 0.5 million rupiah for the port fees on both ends, we shook hands and the boat sailed. 4 hours later we arrived in Port Klang and were unloaded.

The loading and unloading is not for the faint hearted, it's all done manually over the pier, sometimes across a sizable gap to the bow of the boat. 6 people to lift a KTM 950 is just barely enough...

Anyway, once in Malaysia, we were of course asked for another RM150, no option to negotiate that one.

So I swore a little, paid up and rode away.

If anyone is going to follow our path, I'd suggest refusing to pay anything for loading (or something less than $25) as i feel like Mr Ade is already making quite a lot on the deal, but you'll have to pay the fee on the malay side, just get an invoice for it.

You could also try to do the lot on your own and no doubt save a lot of money. Customs is just past the port in Tanjung Balai (see below), and the guys there were friendly and familiar with the carnet. On the malay side it's really straight forward.

I was annoyed that Ade promised me that he'd pay the charges in Malaysia, so if you're offered the same thing dont believe it. In Malaysia the customs guys told me that several people arriving from indonesia were told this, but it's not correct.

Any other questions just message me, it was a simple enough crossing, and nice to travel with the bike, but bring some rope or tiedowns if you have them as the rope they used was pretty lightweight.

There is a boat every day, and as i understand it there is one big boat, and one small one, we got onto the small boat, but it could only carry one bike so if you're a group ask which boat is going on the day you want to ship, or you may have to wait a day in Tanjung Balai (not the nicest town).

Also, Jetstar Atlantic have a hotel of sorts above their offices, small dirty rooms, but for $3 a night you cant complain too much.

Some GPS coords for you...

Customs in Tanjung Balai (the ferry terminal is across the road, 50m away)
N 02.99929 E 099.81701
Ferry Company Tanjung Balai
N 02.96360 E 099.80212

Ferry Terminal (including customs and immigration) in Port Klang
N 02.99970 E 101.39095

There's some pics on our blog if you want to see the boat and tie down arrangement.

dinosal.com | dream explore discover

Thanks for this info. Would be great if there were a simple ro-ro ferry between Malaysia and Indonesia but at least this sounds like a workable solution.

Hope the ongoing haze situation isn't too bad for riding and if you need any KL info, give me a shout.

Thanks for the brilliant write up. Mr. Lims boat is still impounded (29/11/2015) We will give this a shot late December from Indonesia to Malaysia.

Will keep everyone posted.

In Malaysia getting bored, rode from Switzerland to KL, thinking of jumping on that ferry... If I do I'll let you know, in the mean time would love to hear reports...

Hey, if you're bored, will be meeting a few travellers tomorrow night in Sids Handlebar, just off Jalan Maarof in Bangsar (less than 5 min walk from the LRT). Welcome to join if you are free

just google location of American Chopper as its next door to the bar ;)

Sids handlebar
 

Hello Max and Mike

I,m currently in Port Klang and are about to Meet Mr One dollar from Aseantex about shipping across too Indonesian.
Also just visited Aerospeed and their 1535 ringgit fee.
hope to find use tonight at the bar , just booked into a hostel online in KL.

Got a time?

Regards Bryn

Cool, i'll probably head along there around 7pm, hopefully see you there

Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

Malaysia - Indo (2 motorcycles)
 

Hey,

Has anyone made the crossing last few days or have any more information? In Thailand now, heading down to Malaysia to cross over hopefully mid-end December. 2 people, 2 bikes.

Lim from Akra says their boat is still impounded (03/12/15) But passed on your message Dean re: Jetstar Atlantic so thanks for that!

Any or all information would be great! Sounds like it's a better option to plan a little and get a price locked in before arriving into Indo.

If anyone has travelled across to East Timor as well I'd love some information on route and ferries along the way as well!

Hope you're all well,
Thanks
Luke

This guy has pretty much nailed it when it comes to information about ferries and ports in Indonesia:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...682#post489338

I "crossed" Indonesia june to september this year and can add a tiny bit more from my memory:

Sumatra - Java: Ferries all the time, 2-3 hour crossing.
Java - Bali: Ferries all the time, 1-2 hour crossing.
Bali - Lombok: Ferries quite often, also at night, 4-5 hour crossing.
Lombok - Sumbawa: Ferries relatively often. Around 100 kms from the ferry port to ride to the first place with accomodation. Crossing took around 3 hours.

Sumbawa - Flores: Two ferries a day, one 9 am and one 4 pm. Crossing took almost 7 hours. The 9 am ferry was full even though I was at the port 8 am. The 4 pm ferry left 6 pm. At this point in Indonesia things are getting a bit uncertain about schedules and information. There are several hotels and guesthouses in the little port town on the Sumbawa side.

Flores - Timor: At this stage information and schedules seemed quite blurry.
There seems to be ferries from at least 3 different places on Flores going to Ende on Timor. Namely from 1. Aimere (once pr week - but I dont know what weekday)
2. Ende - once pr week - I think it was saturday but not sure.
3. Larantuka - twice pr week - friday and monday. I took this one and the crossing took around 15-16 hours.
However schedules and times can change due to bad weather, technical problems which seems to occure quite often.

Food on the ferries arent much to boast about. Instant noodles mostly. You better fill your stomach before you enter the ferries, at least the two last legs.
The Larantuka - Ende ferry I took was horribly overloaded so not for the faint hearted. But its all a part of the adventure as they say....:scooter:

Right, here an update from us. We crossed from Tanjungbalai to Port Klang on the 23rd of December 2 up on one bike.

First: It still works pretty much as described. It seems the people involved are getting the hang of it. There are only a few things to add to Deans initial post:

The biggest: Prices are going up. Everyone involved knows they are sitting on a monopoly here and that we depend on them. The asked price for me was 4.2 million rupiah plus a surprise RM350 (Indo Agent was telling us RM200) asked by the ships owner on the Malaysian side. With some squirming and begging we ended up paying 4 million rupiah and RM300.

Regarding the chance of doing it without an agent: I think this is out of the question now. The ships owner knows about bike travelers and the crew will always refer you back to an agent. So does customs and they might get ideas if you are on your own. But that may just be my view, feel free to try if you have the time.

We did sort out the carnet before meeting with Mr. Ade, which did nothing to change the price.

Sidenote: Do not go with Mr. Ade's suggestion of a hotel (Hotel Ananda) - we fled after an hour due to the insane amount of bedbugs in pretty much every room.

And large width MC
 

Hello

Just been to the small boat trader port in Port Klang that carry s the vegetables etc across to either Dumai or Tunjung Balai.
Found a agent ( Orchid shipping ) there who called over a Boat captain and the Captain said that Indonesian Customs laws had changed where you have to be travelling together with a your motorcycle. Hence why you can use the fast ferry,s and they have a monopoly.
The boats captain wasn,t going to risk it.

The building housing the agents and Customs is at

Kawasan 14
3.007791 , 101.390326 according to Google Earth if you are in Port Klang and want to get up too date information.
Orchid shipping Forwarding and Contact services.
In the Asa Niaga Pelabuhan Barter Trade SND Berhad zone

Just a short distance from the ferry terminal.

Also got the ferry owners to measure the door.
A crew member came back with a string and knot that measured 640 mm.
bit smaller than my 830 mm.

Awr, bugger mate.

Regarding the width, I feel like they dicking you around. My handlebars are 905mm wide and they fit through the door without wiggling. See below, that is the narrowest bit there.

http://www.charowo.net/wp-content/up...2/PC237375.jpg

Also, wasn't Deans bike strapped to the outside of the smaller ferry?

Anyway, wish you all the best!

When in Malaysia we were caught by the same trick, I noticed we were the only ones charged for the loading ,unloading.

Wrong colour money?
 

Hello
Why would they not want to take my money?
They want to take what they can get away with.
Been down to their office five or six times already.

They also said the Marine police weren't allowing them to carry bikes on the outside
Whether they saw the last bike that they carryed across.
Hope it got a good wash afterwards.
I did the same ferry ride three years ago and got wet in the open part at back sometimes.

Hopefully someone else crossing can take a real good door photo and their own piece of string and knot to measure for others concerned following.

Also Orchid Shipping Operation Manager who speaks English phone number is 019-3110 652
e-mail shamosfacs@gmail.com name is Abdul Razak Bin Yusof

Good Luck

just to clarify
 

yes my bike was strapped to the outside of the boat, right up the front. Somehow it didnt get a drop of water on it, nothing. I didnt even bother to rise it, (2 months later and no rust).

I'm sure anyone's bike will fit in either of the boats, up front of the small one, or inside the bigger one.

sad to hear the price is going up, it's already a lot of money, and i dont feel it's going to anyone who really needs it.

i think there may be some roro ferries that run out of singapore which someone might investigate, although they go into Jakarta, which will be brutally expensive to clear into.

good luck all, here's hoping mr lim gets his boat back soon!!

Mr Lim is back in action
 

I managed to contact Mr Lim. His boat is back in action. It leaves every Wednesday from Penang to Belawan.


His cost is now RM 803. Mr Adnan charges 1.6 million rupees from the Indonesia side.

Tennants Motel about 10 min straight up the main road from Port Klang ferry terminal, on the left. If you go past the McDonalds on the left you've gone too far. Good spot for a night or 2 before or after ferry crossing.

Sent from my SM-T330 using Tapatalk

We've just loaded our two bikes onto the "Onion boat" for the journey from Malaysia to Indonesia yesterday. For some reason we got charget 783 per bike - we were told something about us not leaving the bikes and bringing them to the pier ourselves. Not sure how it worked for anybody else. We got really delayed though and loaded our bikes around 10 P.M. to the sides of the boat - looked rather safe.

Anyway, just make sure you make it to his office any Tuesday, loading happens on Wednesday, then they leave the port on Friday arriving to Indonesia on Sunday, making the bikes available for pick up on Monday.

Jealous
 

Great , Mr Lim is back in operation. yahoo

Hope it stays that way.

I missed out on so much adventure , flew my bike home from Malaysia.
With 300km of getting back home I had to replace a head gasket that was bubbling oil and dropping it all over my left hand boot, gear neutral switch that I had to by pass to start the bike and then a bearing broke in the gearbox when noises got really bad.
All things that would have made my planned time in Indonesia so much more adventurous.

Bearing Job was a US$100 repair somewhere else that lasted about 5000km then cost US$700

Jealous man, Indonesia I found for myself to be the most friendly South East Asian country.

The New Onion Boat
 

I just made the crossing from Belawan, Indonesia to Butterworth, Malaysia on the new onion boat. Turns out Mr Lim's last ship, that was impounded, was destroyed by customs for apparently carrying illegal cargo to Indonesia. The new boat makes one crossing every week on the same days (schedule for Indonesia below)

Shipping costs were 1.6 million IDR to Mr Adnan (I thought this was pretty steep but Mr Lim said that Adnan is actually just a clerk at customs in Belawan, not the shipping agent, and needs to pay a few people off to get the bikes on the onion boat without a fuss). It was easy enough on the Indonesian side, Adnan takes care of everything and you just sit around like a bored child. He bought me a bottle a coke to keep me entertained. Unfortunately it took about 4 hours in customs due to Ramadan and a department meeting.

The actual shipping agent in Belawan was a dingy, little office opposite the port. The girls at the office spoke very good English, but I'm not sure you would be able to bypass Adnan to organise it. Mr Lim said it would be too hard. The details regardless:

PT.SINAR SURYA MALINDO

JL. KAPTEN R.SULIAN NO.15B BELAWAN

SUMATERA UTARA,INDONESIA 20412

TEL/FAX : 6945045

Shipping costs were 803 MYR to Mr Lim. Lim was fantastic to deal with, real nice guy. Sorted out customs quickly and whisked you around the port on his little scooter.

IMPORTANT TO WEAR LONG PANTS AT BOTH PORTS

Weekly Schedule
Monday: Meet with Adnan at around 11am in Belawan, sort out paperwork, drop bike off at warehouse, receive Bill of Lading from the Indonesian shipping agents
Tuesday: Bike is loaded on to the new onion boat, the Golden Lestari, and sets off for Malaysia
Wednesday: Bike arrives at Butterworth Wharves in Malaysia, gets unloaded
Thursday: Meet Mr Lim at his office in Penang at 10am, do the Malaysian customs runaround with Lim, took about an hour to get my bike

Contact
Mr Lim:
cakrashipping@gmail.com
+60 (0) 124 709 717

2nd Floor, 187 Lebuh Pantai, Penang

Mr Adnan:
+62 (0) 813 7098 0743

No office, he just takes you to a warung to organise paperwork before heading to customs

I just sent an email to Lim. I wonder if he is still in business, I'm on the way to Australia and currently stuck in Malaysia.

if anybody is nearby and want to share a container from Timor to Darwin at the end of November, let me know!

Keep us updated, would love to know if this is still possible.

Yep,me too. I'll be looking for a way across from Indo to Malaysia sometime in mid December. I don't really care where from or to.

Geoff

Lim is still in business. I will ship end of October.
here's his response:

You need a carnet for the bike to enter Indonesia.
Normally loading will be done on Wednesday, boat sails on Saturday, arrives
Belawan on Sunday, you can pick up on Monday.
Freight and charges in Penang are RM 803.52 rm, Belawan charges is about
950,000 Rp per bike.
If you are interested, please send me the carnet and passport for paper
works a week before the shipment.

Agent in Belawan(Principal)
PT. SINAR PUTRA MANDIRI,
JL. TM. PAHLAWAN, NO. 29,
BELAWAN
TEL: 6944491, 6944487,0062614145792
PERSON TO CONTACT : MR. AHAN 00628994974477
Here are the coordinates:

Balawan Customs
N03.78548
E098.69131

Warehouse
N03.782008
E098.68152

Office
N3.770236
E98.67989

Regards,

Lim
CAKRA ENTERPRISE,
187, 2nd Floor, Lebuh Pantai (Beach Street)
10300 Georgetown, Penang.
My mobile No. 0124709717

I just shipped my bike a few days ago with Mr. Lim.
Everything went fine, except the costs on the Indonesian side were higher than expected.

His office (N3.770236,E98.67989, 2nd floor) is in the tourist part of George Town on Penang, so there are a lot of accommodations nearby (I stayed in a hostel).
He is reachable by phone or WhatsApp (+60 124709717) and he said I should come to his office at 9:30am. I payed the 803 MYR (about 190 USD) and he wrote a receipt. Later I saw him hand over 600 MYR to the boat owner (Mr Lim is only an agent).
I followed him to the ferry (he was driving a scooter), which brought us to the Butterworth harbour. We went to the customs to stamp out the carnet (make sure you get the stamp when entering Malaysia!). After that we went to a restaurant nearby because we needed to wait for the boat to arrive. He payed me toast and tea :)
After about an hour we went into the harbour, where the boat just arrived and I left my bike there. It takes about half a day to unload the boat first, so I was not able to see how they loaded my bike. I guess it's by crane, because there's no ramp or something to push the bike on it.
Then Mr Lim drove me back to my hostel on the scooter, again with the ferry. I was back at about 1pm.
The day after he sent me the bill of lading per email.

This was on a Wednesday. After loading, the boat will stay in the Penang harbour, leaves on Saturday and arrives in Belawan/Sumatra on Sunday morning. You can get the bike on monday morning at 10am.

I took a plane from Penang to Medan on Sunday and stayed in a (shitty but cheap) hostel. The Belawan harbour is about one hour drive away from the airport and 45min from Medan. So you may also take an early flight on Monday morning instead of Sunday.

The office in Belawan is very hard to find, as it does not look like an office building! you have to go inside the middle garage, then left and through an unmarked door. I haven't seen the company name anywhere there!

fortunately there's a guy helping out: Mr Anwar +62 81370692310. Use WhatsApp, as he does not speak English, but he uses Google translate. He picked me up at the hostel in Medan, brought me to the office (N3.770236, E98.67989), then to the customs (N03.78548,E098.69131), then to the warehouse (with the customs officer to check the bike), back to the customs and back again to the warehouse again (N03.782008,E098.68152).
He knows the procedure as he already did this many times. his service costs 300'000 IDR (about 22 USD). unfortunately it seems to get more expensive. as of Mr Lim, the last customer paid only 250'000 IDR.

also at the office I had to pay 1512000 IDR (about 110 USD), instead of 950000 IDR as advertised.

the customs officer was really nice. he checked the chassis and motor numbers, made photos with the bike, asked if I have drugs in the bike and let me open the panniers. but he didn't really look into them. just made photos to prove that he did his job. and he said they are good officers and don't take bribes! and I also should not give bribe money to the warehouse security and other guys there!
when I finally got my bike and packed my stuff, they indeed approached me and asked for money! I just said that I already paid everything, finished packing and left.

so basically everything went pretty smooth. no damage on the bike or stolen stuff (I left two big bags on the bike without locks).

the boat is going weekly. but it will be out of service for two weeks in December because of maintenance!

I just went from Belawan to Butterworth, and Mr Lim asked me to update this thread with the current costs. It was 941,000 rupiah in Belawan (although this seems it's subject to change, and is not entirely in Mr. Lim's control), and 856 MYR in Butterworth for one bike.

The procedure has changed a bit too. I mailed Mr. Lim first (cakrashipping at gmail.com), who gave me contact numbers for Mr. Ahan and Mr. John. I Whatsapp messaged Mr Ahan who told me the steps. It seems he does not do as much directly anymore. On Monday I took the bike to the customs office myself and stamped out the carnet. (Easy to do without help, they speak sufficient English and are familiar with the procedure). Then you go meet with a Ms. Umi in an office on Jl tenggiri no 7A with a photocopy of the carnet and your passport. Her office is the side door of the white building on the street corner. She does some paperwork, then escorts you to a nearby office where you pay the fees and get a receipt. She then escorts you to the dock where you just leave the bike. I left my soft bags unlocked on the bike with less valuable stuff on it, and locked my helmet to the handlebars.

If you're staying in Medan (which I recommend, Belawan is boring), directly across the street from the warehouse you can flag down a number 32 Angkot bus which takes you straight to medan via Jl. KL Yos Sudarso
and Jl Gatot Subroto, for 5,000 rupiah. Just shout when you want it to stop and let you off and pay then.

In Butterworth on Wednesday I met with Mr. Lim at 9:30 at his office in Georgetown, pay the fees, hop on his scooter to the ferry to Butterworth, he pre-stamps the carnet, then you wait in the canteen for the boat to arrive. When the boat gets there, you head to port security, surrender your passport for a security badge, then head to the dock. They let me get on the boat, see the bike, and then watch it get unloaded, which was pretty fun (it seems doing it the other way you don't get to do this). Then it's get your passport back, a quick customs inspection, and then Mr. Lim escorted me back to my hotel.

Southern Ferry Routes Back from Sumatra to Malaysia
 

Hello Everyone!!!

Amazing info on here for Mr. Lim, great dude.

I'm looking for an alternate route back to Malaysia. Eventually I need to fly my bike to Australia and I'd like to avoid back tracking to KL if possible but it may be unavoidable. Has anyone found other routes either back to Malaysia, besides Penang-Medan?

Thanks again!!!

Some guy on Facebook said Mr. Lim ceased operations. Anyone know anything about that?

Need to ship from Malaysia to Indonesia in a few months.

Hello Bento.
I used Mr Lim about 2 months ago, so he was still running then.
He is great and makes it all so easy.
His email is cakrashipping@gmail.com
Drop him a line.
Good luck
Michael.

Dear Sir,
Our vegetable boat has been stopped running since August, my advice is, contact agent in Port Klang.
Regards,

Lim

I showed up at ferry Port Klang at 8 this morning as arranged only to be told that their loading ramp was broken and it would take two weeks to get fixed. They did say that they could load on the 16th when there was a high tide and easier to load.

So as of today there seems to be no options that will get me to Java by the 11th.
Bob:scooter:

Hey Bento,

Did you find anything else to go on yet ?

I’m trying to go the other way Indonesia > Malaysia in the next 10 days.

Will let you know what I find.

Timoto
The only option I was finding was to go via Borneo.
They should have the ferry ramp fixed by now and the people ferry might take you across.

For all the rest that are making plans, check the following link.
https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nati...roro-services/

By the end of the year there may be a roro to Sumatra.

Bob:scooter:

Tanjung Balai > Port Klang [Indonesia to Malaysia]
 

A recent report for those who are looking for answers.

In Dumai I played on the customs' office guitars whilst they went to great lengths looking for solutions. At one point they even drove me around town to meet different agents in the hope of resolving the case.

1. There is no passenger ferry service from Dumai accepting motorcycles.
2. The RO-RO "onion" boat is not running.
3. There is no LCL container option.
4. I also called ahead to Medan to verify that there was also no LCL from there at the current time either.

So the next day I drove along a mostly good road to Tanjung Balai.

The next day I wove through the mayhem of the tiny port to discover, "Yes !", the ferry is accepting motorcycles. But it's a small passenger ferry now, and so they lift the bike onto the roof of the ferry.

The ferry service office said the price would be 1500RM (5,500,000IDP) about 360USD. Expensive, but apparently the only option.

They would not give me a receipt. Obviously there is some skimming involved. In that case I refused to pay until the bike, my luggage and me were on the boat. They accepted this arrangement after consulting with a man on the phone.

Unfortunately that man on the phone is, Adek Soto, who I have to say is the only 2 faced person I met in 6 months of being in Indonesia. At first he was very pleasant, but later became unnecessarily aggressive and rude. I guess he found me too demanding, which I am.

Everyone else, coast guard, baggage handlers and other locals were all really helpful.

A lot of guys were involved in pushing the bike up some steps, across a wooden plank and finally onto the roof of the boat. They performed the task in a very organised and experienced fashion. Image attached to this post.

Once everything was on board, Adek came to get his money, which we both counted whilst I was seated next to the other passengers. Not the ideal situation, but it worked.

The trip itself took about 4 hours during which time the passengers are supplied lunch and plenty of drinking water, which made up for the captain's obsession with Muay Thai boxing movies, of which we were forced to endure 2 and half movies on the subject, the most amusing of which was Jean-Claude Van Damme's classic "Kickboxer".

At the other end in Port Klang the bike was off the boat via a ramp before I could get off the boat myself. There was NO damage to the bike.

Customs and immigration fast tracked me and generally treated me like royalty, all in the course of asking me a hundred questions about overland lifestyle and scanning every single baggage item I had on the bike. Such a nice introduction to Malaysia.

Overall a good experience save for the cost and poor character of the agent. :)

Great news Timoto, thanks for sharing.

I did come across this newspaper article in one of the many overlander Facebook groups. Aparently there seems to be plans to start operating a roroferry between Melakka and Dumai (Malaysia to Sumatra Indonesia)
I dont know the content of the article as dont read much of the “bahasa” but it seems it is scheduled to start operating before new year.

Indonesia dan Malaysia Jajaki Pelayaran Kapal Roro Rute Dumai-Malaka - Tribunnews.com

I really hope this is reality and that we can have a roroferry option between Malaysia and Indonesia. Would be very conveniant for those travelling with a campervan or similar.

Google translate gives https://translate.google.com.au/tran...aka&edit-text=

Looks like planned for early 2019 if they get all the paperwork in place

Hmmm, I'm not so sure, if anything it's all moving in the opposite direction.

In my conversations with the customs officers, they said that port activity had been slowing, and in the case of the crossing of Tanjung Balai > Port Klang they downsized the ferry used due to lack of demand.

But here's hoping they will still give it a try and overlanders make good use of it to boost the chances of it staying that way.

Currently in Dumai, and can confirm everything timoto has reported, plus the fact that no one seems to think the Dumai/Malaysia RoRo will come into effect any time soon :/

I have heard that I could get a RoRo from Mengkapan -> Batam and then potentially get across to Singapore, but it all sounds rather long and uncertain.

Thanks for the recent info timoto, I will head to Tanjung Balai tomorrow and bite the cost bullet.

@eurobob

Yes going via Singapore opens up a huge can of bureaucratic red worms, so don't go that way.

Actually the fish boat agent I met in Dumai did mention one other possibility, but I was way too lazy for the potential pitfalls, but could be a great adventure to tell.

Just next to Dumai is an island, Rupat Island. A small boat would take you and bike to the island. You would then drive to get to the north east of the island where you would wait for one particular fish transport to arrive, and hope that it was only half full of cargo. Then you could put your bike in there and they would take your bike to a fishing port called Muar. However, you would not be able to go with the bike and instead have to find a way back to Dumai, to then catch a passenger ferry to Muar, which is now operational.

Incidentally, the cost of renting one of these small fish transports Dumai > Muar would be about 9M IDR (600USD), I'm guessing the price could come down a bit, so if you were in a group I'm guessing you could get about 4-6 big bikes on there, maybe more. And that would mean not having to do this weird island hop or pay 360USD per bike for the Tanjung Balai > Port Klang run.

Hi @eurobob

Would be great to hear how it goes, I am a couple of months behind you and need to figure this out as well. Heading North West from Australia

David

Malaysia
 

Hi Timoto
If you are still in Malaysia please could you do me a favour? We are shipping our car to Malaysia next week and need to know if we can get Autogas in Malaysia. Next time you pick up fuel could you ask if garages do it in Malaysia please. We drive with diesel but have a small Autogas tank for LPG for cooking. I can’t find out if it’s available.
Many thanks
Suede

Autogas
 

OK I'll ask about the gas, but not sure when I'll be in a station next.

Insurance and Permit to drive in Malaysia
 

So if you are arriving at Port Klang and you'd like to be legal on the roads in Malaysia, you will discover that there is no service at the port to help you with that.

First you need to get insurance. But most insurers will not take the risk of an overseas vehicle. I was advised to go to Liberty Insurance who will consult with their High Risk Pool department here: https://goo.gl/maps/pqCZcjQv2dN2

Go to the ground floor, get a ticket, and show them your documents. There are at least 2 people there that know exactly what to do with a carnet etc. You'll fill in a form and they will take copies of all your docs. They say they will get back to you in 1-2 hours, but in my case called me back the next day. My quote of 3 months third party for a big bike was 36USD.

Then you need to take the new insurance policy and all your other docs AND your vehicle to the Ministry of Transportation 45km south, here:
https://goo.gl/maps/LeV17Tk9Gh92

Go to floor 3, ding the bell at the counter of this ultra quiet office and ask for Mr Jaafar. He confirmed that any vehicle arriving from a the shipping ports or airport had to come to his department. He will inspect the vehicle (check the chassis and engine numbers) and produce the ICP document, it's free.

Everyone I dealt with has been extremely polite and helpful.

Is someone still doing transport from Indonesia to Malaysian
 

Has anyone done this lately?
Is this service still available?

I am planning to be in Indonesia and need to transport myself and my bike to somewhere in Malaysia.

Just in the planning stage now, will be passing this point mid December this year.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

After not being much possibilities for a (Covid-19) while there is now a traveller who found a possibility for shipping a motorbike Indonesia to Malaysia. The opposite way should be possible too I guess, but that has yet to be confirmed.
The shipping is from Teluk Nibung (near Tanjung Balai) in Sumatra - Indonesia to

Port Klang in Malaysia. We dont know all the details yet - but here is the travellers post on the Indonesia overland forum on FB:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/Indo...6050877434350/