SHIPPING THE MC FROM INDIA  Part of a story by Alistair Weir

Come time to leave India I found myself in the southeastern city of Madras. There's a good number of shipping agents here servicing the port so it pays to spend a couple of days shopping around getting quotes as they do tend to vary a bit.  Having said that you don't necessarily want to go with the cheapest outfit as some of them are all talk and have no experience in shipping motor cycles.  I tried in vain to find a shipping line that would let me travel with the bike on board the vessel, but they don't seem to allow that sort of thing anymore.  I eventually settled on a long established agency called "Binny Ltd" who had previous experience in shipping overlanders vehicles out of India.  

The charges break down as follows.  Ocean freight expressed in US$ per cubic metre, box making or crating charge, and handling expenses which is basically the agents fee.  If you're good with your hands and want to save money you could theoretically build your own crate, but some agents won't allow this as they can't then guarantee safe delivery, as the crate might not be up to the job. Obviously you want to keep your crate as small as possible to keep the ocean freight charge to a minimum.  If you remove the wheels and mudguards then lay them along side the bike in the crate you significantly reduce your overall dimensions and will still have space left to throw in your saddle bags and helmet etc.  My Yamaha XT 350 ended up filling a crate of 1.7 cubic metres.  At the time the rate to Bangkok was US$65 per CBM resulting in a total ocean freight charge of US$110.  This plus $50 for the crate and a $75 handling fee resulted in a total bill of $235, which I thought was quite reasonable.

 It's slightly cheaper to ship to Singapore or a Malaysian port if this suits your plans more.  All you have to do is give them your passport and carnet, bring the bike in once the crates made and pack it, then let them do all the clearing through customs and paperwork with the shipping line before paying your bill in receipt of your stamped documents.  This can usually be completed within one working week. There's also Calcutta on the eastern side of India which has a port, but it doesn't seem to be as active as the Madras port and apparently has problems with silting and watersider strikes.  Also you're in the state of West Bengal here which seems to have some strange laws regarding the exportation of vehicles by foreigners, making the logistics of the whole operation a lot more drawn out and difficult.  I've spoken to people who have used Calcutta and most had either grown grey hairs or had pulled it all out.  My partner flew his bike between Calcutta and Bangkok with Thai Airways which worked out at approximately three times the cost of shipping and knocked three years off his life expectancy.  As far as flying yourself out of India goes, it's by far cheaper out of Calcutta and worth getting the train up from Madras.  At the time Druk Airways (the airline of Bhutan) were offering the best deal at 4100 Rupees (US$100) one way to Bangkok.

Continue to Page TEN