Malaysia to Sumatra
 

Can anybody tell me whre I can find a ferry in Malaysia totake me and my bike to Sumatra or anywhere else in Indonesia. There seem to be plenty passenger ferries but a lack of vehicle ferries.
Many thanks!!

The situation with transport options over there is ever-changing (so this may already be outdated)....

But at least in February -08, the only reasonable option was the onion freighter from Penang to Belawan (contact Cakra Shipping in Penang), and you could not go with that boat, you needed to either fly or take the passenger speedboat. But all in all it was pretty straightforward and not too expensive, you just needed the carnet. Plenty of travellers have used the same.

I was also warned not to ship the bike to Dumai because of troubles with customs. At Belawan we had zero problems, took about 10 minutes to clear our bike.

too easy.

cheapest flights are at Welcome to AirAsia.com, The World's Best Low-Cost Airline

too easy.

cheapest flights are at Welcome to AirAsia.com, The World's Best Low-Cost Airline

I plan to go to Indonesia with my bike beginning of August. I just got the following information from cakrashippingATgmail.com:

WE HAVE 1 SHIPMENT PER WEEK TO BELAWAN, SUMATERA, INDONESIA
CHARGES IS RM 370-00 (FREIGHT, DOC, PORT)
DO YOU HAVE A CARNET?

Have a safe trip
Albert

I used that same shipper last year and had no problems when I toured Indonesia for 5months traveling up to the Northern tip of Sumatra ferrying to Java, Bali, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores, and Sulawesi then ferrying to the Philippines which I am the first and last to do that : ) I had a Carnet when I went into Belawan and it appears you do need one from the stack of Carnet receipts I seen when I was in the Customs office, but something tells me you could get around it for a fee if you had to. As for Indonesia it was a great adventure and expect to get lots of attention from local bikers all throughout the country who have a tremendous brotherly biker attitude. Enjoy! Feel free to send me an email as I can put you in contact with some great fellows in Medan, Jakarta and many places in between.

regards

Mister Lucky

sumatra
 

Hey,

I just found your thread about your experience in sumatra. We are looking forward to ship the bike from Cairns (Australia) to Java and travelling north from there towards Sumatra, Malaysia, etc. Can you tell me a bit of your experience in Sumatra and maybe Java ist well? What spots are worth to see etc.

Thanks

Mario