Shipping a Motorcycle From Dili, Timor-Leste to Darwin, Australia

Shipping the bike from South East Asia to Australia is pretty simple and straightforward if you know the steps and tricks.  None of these steps are difficult, just exercise some common sense, vigilance, and oversight, and you will get an adequate and less expensive result.  NOTE:  All prices discussed in this post are US dollars, which is the official currency of Timor-Leste and me. 

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Pic: Seems obvious how BMW Determines the maximum length and height of their motorcycles.  Relax the suspension and take the bike from the center stand, and two bike crates will fit perfectly, one on top of the other.  

First, there is only one shipper, ANL, so you are at their mercy.  Additionally, there is one consolidator (they operate under three names, Bollore/SDV/FEdEx), so you are at their mercy too.  You might say that you are at the mercy of an organization that has a monopoly that is at the mercy of another organization that has a monopoly.  Soooo, as far as negotiations go, you are not exactly in a power position.  That being said, there are ways to shave down the price which I will got through in a bit.

Shipping Methods 

There are three options to ship the motorcycle:

• Consolidated (in a container with other materials)
• Dedicated container
• On a pallet  

The least expensive, and slowest method, is consolidated.  This is slowest method as the shipper has to find other shipments to fill the container, and cheapest because the costs are spread over multiple shippers.  With regards to shipping time, If you are first one in, then you have to wait a while for other shipments to show up.  On the other hand, if you are last one in, you have the luck of the shipment being relatively fast.  During my shipping research,  I talked with guys who took between 10 days and two months to get their bikes shipped. As far as my bike goes, unluckily, I was first one in, luckily another sender showed up and filled the remainder of the container later that week. 

The fastest, and most expensive option, is a dedicated container or strapped to a pallet.  I personally do not mind my bike being strapped to a pallet when on a plane, but not real confident about that method on a giant cargo ship with yard arms swing around, so I did not inquire about pricing or schedules for this option.   The dedicated container is a good idea if money is not an issue or you are riding with a group that can share costs.  The math actually works out that with three bikes, it will be cheaper (and easier) to get your own container.  .

Pricing

The price for a BMW R1200GS (504 lbs), two full 48L boxes, helmet, tank bag, and a camping roll in the consolidated container was $640, whereas the dedicated container would have been $1800.  I of course being a cheap person went with consolidation.  Do to the luck of my container being filled quickly, the shipping time was the same regardless of the method used.  

Some Tricks

Now for the tricks of the trade, the original price I was quoted was $917, $277 higher than what I actually paid.  This is how I shaved the price.  The shipping fee is calculated by measurement (i.e. length, width, and height), not weight, which surprised me a bit; I thought it would be a factor of both.  When Bollore first measured the bike, I was not there, and they calculated the volume to be 2.36 cubic meters.  I insisted they re-measure the bike in front of me (be persistent as they will tell you a centimeter here or there does not matter, it clearly does) and I found out that their measurements included the windscreen and mirrors in the height, and the two boxes (aka panniers) in the width.  Reminding them that those items are removable (which of course they knew as they ship bikes all the time) and they can stowed up next to the front and back wheel of the wheel and on the seat. I was able to reduce the cubic meter calculation to 2.04, which brought the price down to $715.  After further inquiry, I found that they were charging $75 to strap the bike in the container, a service that I am allowed to provide, and did, bringing the final price down to $640.  One of the adventure riders I ran into in Timor-Leste shipped a Tenere 660 (a smaller bike) the same way, his bill was $800, so it pays to be vigilant during this step.  

Contact Information for Bollore: antonio.magno@bollore.com

Indonesia - The Adventure Islands

I have now entered into the southern islands, or what I like to refer to them as, "the adventure islands" of Indonesia.  This is area a sportsman's paradise, world class surfing, scuba diving, hiking, fishing, and of course, great motorcycle riding.  Indonesia is an island chain, so it takes a series of roads (dirt, paved, and under constriction) and ferries to make progress.  The ground based route is a sure joy to behold (with the exception of an unmarked construction site, a pothole big enough to swallow up a small child, or an un-expectant landslide blocking the path or requiring some very swift throttle action.  Its a great place to visit and very inexpensive.  I am stunned more people have not taken advantage of all this area has to offer.  

The roads in this part of Indonesia are in much better shape, and the traffic is almost non-existent.  Each island, surprisingly, has a flavor of its own. The practiced religion (Muslim Hinduism, Buddhism or Christian) shapes the people and the amount of fertile soil shapes the land. It feels a bit like changing countries when changing islands.  Religion, while varying, is deep rooted here.  When a local asks where your headed, and you tell them, the response is always, "they are  (insert religion) there," though never with a sense of negativity.  

What to say about the ferries, well, to put it bluntly, the ferries are kinda scary. They look like prison barges with overflowing toilets.  Some of the ferry rides are quite short, just an hour or so, and some are intolerably long, about 18 hours.  Number one rule is to poop before you get on the boat. Unfortunately the anxiety about the having nowhere to poop on the boat makes it difficult to poop before you get on the boat.  The 18 hour ferry (Flores to Timor) was a challenge, both in terms of intestinal control and finding a place to sleep.  For the later, I set my tent up in the empty space of the vehicle deck and camped out.  The locals thought I was crazy, but the tent served as a good way to keep my stuff together.  For the former, well, I just clamped down for dear life till I arrived on shore.  

Well I have made it to the Indonesia/Timor-Leste Border.  I really enjoyed the country and its people...especially its people.  They were friendly, helpful and a pleasure to be around.  The only beef I had with Indonesia is that it was hard finding beef...or chicken...or anything that wasn't rice, rice and noodles, or rice noodles....with a fried egg on top.  The food, when you can find some, is all fried carbs, which will leave one sluggish after a while.  Restaurants, outside of the few tourist areas (just about 50 miles of the over 3,000 miles I rode through Indonesia), are few and far between. The reasoning is that Indonesians are very family oriented and eat at home as a family unit, thus no real need for restaurants.  As a result, I would go for day or two without meals, living on snickers bars and coke zero that I procured at the local candy mart.  All in all, it is a small price to pay for sure for traveling through this paradise.  I highly recommend you visit, just bring food, and you can leave the Snicker Bars at home.    

Leg Distance: 1,248 mi (2,013 km)

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 42,801 mi (69,034 km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China (for 20 seconds), India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Timor-Leste

Indonesia, Bali

Visiting Bali is not the same as visiting Indonesia, but to visit Indonesia without visiting Bali would be a mistake. Bali is truly a world unto it own. To be honest, the only thing Bali has in common with the rest of Indonesia are the inviting people and .... the dangerous driving. Bali allows alcohol and nightclubs and when combined with world class surfing and beaches, the State has tons of tourists and their coveted capital pouring in, and it shows in the architecture, infrastructure and atmosphere.  Additionally, major companies have invested here, such as fast food, mega-marts, hotel chains, coffee chains and surfing companies. Much of the differences in Bali and the main islands of Java and Sumatra stem from religion.  Indonesia is predominately a Muslim country, but Bali is predominately Balinese Hindu. I am by no means saying one is better or worse than the other, but to ignore the impacts of the different religious ideologies would be disingenuous. 



In a more practical sense, the appeal of Bali is instantaneously obvious.  The beaches are beautiful, a nice villa located in an attractive part of town is $18 a night, a quick meal costs $4, and and an upscale sit-down meal, will run about twice that for food.  There are also a number of embassies here, which makes getting visas, like the one I had to secure for Timor-Leste, quite easy to accomplish.  All-in-all, it is a nice place to rest up and get documents sorted out. 





On the Lighter Side:  While in India, monkeys shredded the pillion seat of Greta.  At the time, I thought this was an isolated case of wanton monkey destruction  I did not want to jump to unwarranted conclusions about our distant relatives, and just chocked it up to a couple of bad bananas.  BUT, it happened again.  While in Ubud, an overpopulated bohemian hipster/family of four, tourist town, a monkey with intense malice and forethought, shredded my tank bag.  As a point of information, the motorcycle was made in Germany, the tank bag, a Givi, was made in Italy.  I think it is clear, monkeys have a clear disdain for once fascist WWII countries and their manufacturing. Come on monkeys, get over it already, the war ended 75 years ago. 

Leg Distance:  78 mi (126 km)

Total Distance Traveled by Motorcycle: 41,553 mi (67,021 km)

Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Greece, Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, China (for 20 seconds), India, Nepal, Burma, Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia