Shipping Thai registered bikes to start trip in Russia
 

Hi HUBB,

I am trying to arrange the shipping of two Thai registered bikes from Chiang Mai to Vladivostok to start a trip back to the UK. The registered owner of the bikes is travelling with me and we're both UK citizens.

I'm hoping that someone on here has experience of doing something similar and can offer some advice on how to handle Thai and Russian customs.

I have been told that export from Thailand without de-registration is only available to Thai citizens. If this is the case we'd have to register them in Russia which is probably difficult or impossible. Can anyone verify this?

Can anyone give and general advice on paperwork for this process?

First, get a translation of your Green Book from the motor reg office. Nobody can read Thai outside Thailand.

To get around the issue of export, I'd recommend you ride the bike to Malaysia and ship from there. We crossed at Padang Bezar without the bike getting processed by Thai customs. If you don't want to do that you can get a temp export permit valid for 30 days and possibly have to face the music when the bike returns...

Note that Customs at BKK sea port are corrupt and I advise against shipping to or from there. The airport is OK.

Cheers,
Peter.

In order to facilitate entry into Russia I'd also suggest shipping to South Korea then taking the RORO ferry from Sokcho to Vladivostok.

Doing it this way I had my bike customs cleared by Russian customs within 3 hours. By comparison it can easily take a fortnight getting clearance for bikes coming directly out of a cargo container.

Garry from Oz.