wehatethecold

How To Ship Moto To NOTORIOUS INDIA (oooooooooohhh)

Added 2025-04-27 16:25:20 +0000 UTC

So, I told you I'd make a post de-mystifying the old India customs. After having run through the process myself, here is exactly everything you need to know before shipping your bike across the Bay of Bengal!

First Up: Get Yourself A Cargo Company

If you're going from Malaysia, or India I'd honestly choose CTE Shipping. It was the company I personally used, and despite a few weird, unprofessional things on the other end in India (like spelling "Britain", "Briten" instead), they provided a very cheap and fast service.

For $900 each (4 people), we shared a container, which had enough space for 4 bikes. Shipping took 2 weeks from loading in Malaysia to arriving in India and passing all customs checks.

Things to be aware of before booking cargo:

Release charges are not included in shipping, but you should be made aware of that by the freight company. Total release charge was $72 USD from port.
If shipping to India, insurance is mandatory. This was cheap for my little 125, but cost varies. For instance, my friend's Yamaha Tenere 700 cost upwards of 40 USD to insure. Mine was $7-10 USD
Make sure you get an agent the other side. They will handle all documentation and customs conversations. This was included in the $900 shipping charge for us. It make the whole process so much simpler and all you have to do is provide the docs!

Prepping The Bike For Shipment To India

Documents needed to present at the offices beforehand are as follows:

Carnet de Passage
Driving license
Passport front & visa pages
Indian E-Visa
International Driving Permits (make sure you have the right one for the right country you're going to)
Original owner's document (and official translation if yours is in a different language like mine)
ICP (International Circulation Permit, provided by Malaysia border Police). This is only if coming from Malaysia
Insurance from the country of shipment (in my case, Malaysia)
English translation of number plate (if bike is in other language, can be done at Sadao border in Thailand)
Motorcycle packing list (example below this list)

You will present these documents at the cargo company, or you can send screenshots/scans of them to their email.

After presenting all the documents:

You will be asked to take your bike to the port.

Now, you'll likely be shipping your cargo as an item that is deemed safe. This means you will need to ensure that your battery is disconnected before packing, and that your tank is below half full. If not, they'll re-consider it as dangerous goods, and hold your items at the port or add on ridiculous extra fees.

We were recommended to keep it at 2 bars maximum for shipment. I'd recommend keeping it at less than 20% of what your tank can hold.

What about luggage?

Anything you are shipping in the container can be kept on your bike. That means, any soft luggage, your motorcycle equipment, camping stuff and more can be sent inside the container at no extra cost.

Unfortunately, often, you are not allowed to travel in a cargo ship, so to save on paying for checked luggage during flights, I recommend you keep everything on your bike, properly secured and strapped to it.

I left everything but essential clothing, and my laptop and chargers. I'm pretty certain anything with batteries is a big no. Simple torch, probably fine, but anything with Lithium, high powered batteries, take on the plane with you.

To ship in the container, you are required to attach everything to the bike, so that it doesn't fall. You can use bungee cords for this, and I did it with my motorcycle clothing, helmet etc.

Bike Shipping

The bike shipment from Malaysia to Kolkata or vice versa should only take 9 days total. If you are shipping another route, it will take longer. Kolkata is the closest port.

Keep in mind that it takes a few days to load the items onto the ship, and a further few days for the ship to actually leave the port. Additionally, if you are shipping by sea, in smaller ports such as Kolkata, ships will sometimes dock for a few days to allow workers to unload. This means that ships waiting to come in and dock at the port will have to anchor outside for a few days while the loads are cleared. This can add a delay to your arrival time, so be aware of it.

My shipment's total time from organisation to arrival in Kolkata was start to finish about 2 weeks.

The bike was shipped on the 16th of March and arrived on the 1st of April, but was not collectable until the 3rd of April.

Before arrival in India

You should arrive 3 days before the shipment's ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). This allows for a little bit of leeway, and some time to sort documents before the cargo arrives.

There are a lot of documents to get for the Indian side, when compared to Malaysia.

Documents needed to clear customs in India:

NOC (no objection certificate) - $25 USD fee
Cargo Insurance - varies, but mine was $7 USD
Digital signature (can be made in notes app iPhone, shown below)
Everything that was needed in Malaysia + some!

Without the NOC, you will not be allowed to clear customs. This is the hardest document to get, and you need to provide so much crap it's unreal.

So, here's the list:

Most are self-explanatory, but 4 of the documents need further explanation:

Motorcycle photos - you need front, left, back and right of the motorcycle. I managed to screenshot my videos and it worked, but make sure you take one with your numberplate visible before shipping.
Motorcycle route map - this is a very short itinerary of what you're doing. If you don't know, just make it up, they won't look into it. Here is a google doc template of mine.
ICP Malaysia - only needed if coming from Malaysia, get at border crossing.
Bill of Lading - you will get this from your cargo company, it's like an invoice for shipment.

After you have these documents, everything is done on your end. All you need to do now, is wait for the shipping company to ask for you to come in, or provide anything else.

Customs Day(s) in India

When you are called into the customs office, they will have all your documents together. You need to ensure that you bring everything with you, IDP, CDP, Passport, Driving licenses etc.

Here they will meet you, then get you to check over each document page to ensure it is correct. They will ask you to sign each page off.

Please make sure that you check each page thoroughly, we found spelling mistakes of country names, mixing and matching of Carnet de passages between travellers, mix and matched passport scans etc.

It took a total of 3 tries to get it completely correct, mostly due to the agent's faults. If you sign those papers with faults, you will be at fault, not the agent - so make sure you check it over and over!

Once you have signed everything off, you will go to customs to present your documents. This is a simple process, you go with your agent, walk into the room one by one, and they ask you some simple questions.

Just answer them truthfully, and you'll pass this process. But if you have plans to go to Pakistan, probably best not mention it at all (India doesn't like Pakistan). If the question comes up, don't lie, just don't say anything upfront about it, because it entails more questions about why etc.

Once this is all done, you will wait for your container to be opened at the port (if it has arrived and docked). When it is open, you will be requested to go to the port yard to unpack everything. You will meet your agents there, and provide your documents to the officials.

Firstly, there is a check of the Engine Number & Chassis Number. You need to be able to present these on the bike, so that the customs officer can see that they are the same in the Carnet de Passage as they are on the bike. This step is mandatory, and you need to do it or your bike does not get released.

(sneaky pic of my Engine number... better than any nude you've ever got)

After you have done this, they will allow you to unload from the container, but you will need to go to the main office, where you will wait for your agents to sort the rest out. There are a lot of formalities and navigating this yourself as a foreigner that does not speak Hindi is a terrible idea.

Ours took a total of 5 hours from arrival to the port, to be released.

Once all is said and done, you pay your insurance charges in cash, alongside your release fees (spoken about above), and Bob's your Uncle - you're free to go!