Ferry Service from Indonesia to Malaysia

[Dean74]

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.

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