Shipping from Thailand to India
 

Hi, we are with 2 Africa Twins on a big trip through Asia (Home - Transasiatwins). We are now in Lao and not able to enter Burma. So we have to shipp or fly the bikes from Thailand to India or Nepal. Does anybody know a cheap shipping or flying company. And has anybody an idea if there is a ferry, going from West Thailand to India.

Thanks and Regards, Frank

I did this quite some time ago Frank (1977 to be precise). I shipped Bangkok to Calcutta with Air India. It cost me around $200 back in the day but I'm sure prices have changed somewhat.

Customs clearance was a challenge and took me around 2 days.

To cut a long story short, the Indian bureaucracy was ridiculous and the look on the faces of a group of Soviet travellers - recently disgorged from a Tupolev T144 - seeing my crated bike getting stuck in the baggage carousel at Dum Dum (Calcutta) airport, whilst eagerly awaiting the arrival of their suitcases, is one that will live with me for the rest of my years. :laugh:

With respect to your other question, there have never been ferries between Thailand and India, and the Penang (Malaysia) to Chennai (Madras) ferry ceased to operate many years ago.

Apparently the preferred route nowadays is to fly Bangkok - Kathmandu, and you will find a fair number of threads on that option on this site.

Trans Air Cargo Co.,Ltd.

Hi, I used Trans Air Cargo in Bangkok to fly my bike to Kathmandu a couple of years ago, would recommend them. You can email them scans of your paperwork to get the ball rolling if you are not in B'kok as the Dangerous Goods Certificate took a week or two to obtain.

They crated up the bike well and got it as small as possible. DR650SE (66Wx192Lx116H, total weight 250kgs including luggage and crate which was 60kgs)

Looking back at my blog, it seemed to be around $900 for bike

Singapore to Scotland

They didn't take Visa at the time so had to pay in cash. My flight from B'kok to KTM was 10,000THB.

We went the other way in Jan-2008, one DL650 by air from Chennai to Bangkok via Kuala Lumpur on Malaysia Airlines (MASKargo). Cost about 600 euro for the bike, plus our own flights (directly from Chennai to BKK) 200 per head. Strange, but it seemed to cost roughly the same, if we´d send by ship to KL!

In India it was a bit complicated, I´d think you might have an easier job sending from Thailand. Our agent in Chennai was Shell Air. I have no personal experience from Nepal, but clearing the bike into India will be tough. It is plausible this could be easier in Nepal, and many travellers seem to go that way.

But hey, why dont you just ride through Burma - see Wikipedia, it is very easy.... ´will require complex administrative processing´ - this might very well be the understatement of the year :rofl:

Intercontinental motorcycle touring - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Burma - The country is practical because it can link Eastern India with China and Thailand, thus helping making the Southern Asian road more continuous. The country is, however, a communist dictatorship which means that independent travel, particularly with a motorcycle, will require complex administrative processing"

Matey,
I shipped my bike by air from Bangkok to Daka in Bangladesh in 2008. No problems. Look up my post on Horizons under "Bike Shipping":thumbup1:

Hey,


If your looking for airfreight, basically, there are two options that have some
experience with motorcycle shipping inn BKK:

1. "Fair & Easy". The agent name is Nitiphat, a very helpful and capable men.
His email- Fair & Easy : nithipat@fairandeasy.co.th
2. "Trans Air Cargo". Allso good.. Agent name is Kittima, email is: kittima@transaircargo.com

Good luck.
Adam

Thanks for the reply
 

We found a company flying directly from Chiang May, Norththailand to Kalkutta. It is Schenker DB. It will cost about 1200 Euro.

Reagrds Frank

Good luck in Calcutta. Seems expensive, though...

Don't forget to post the details into the shipping db after yoiu have arrived.