Friday 6 September 2019

Shipping a Motorbike from Port Klang to Kuching Via GIGA Shipping Sdn Bhd.

This started one year ago in Jul 2018 when I first resigned and decided to go motorbiking South East Asia and had no idea where to start yet. I eventually started with Peninsular Malaysia then Thailand, Cambodia and Laos before returning to KL for a break from my holiday and now July 2019, I am in Sarawak riding Bluey again. 

Surrendering the Keys to Bluey at Westport - Port Klang 
Why July 2018? because I first did the inquiry one year ago. As far as I know there are at least a few shipping company that does RORO (Roll on-Roll off) vehicle shipment from peninsular Malaysia to Sabah/Sarawak but I only did two inquiry which was Pos Malaysia and Giga Shipping. I went with Giga Shipping purely because it was cheaper than Post Malaysia which quoted me RM 900 for a 125cc bike going from Port Klang to Kuching. (one-way)

I looked up Giga Shipping (http://www.gmg.my/ ) and drop an inquiry though their inquiry form stating which port to port, motorbike model, cc and almost immediately they send an automated reply which says someone will get back to you within 24 hours. The next day, I was quoted RM 500 to ship the bike from Port Klang to Kuching with an attachment of the shipping vessel name and schedule. The quotation last for one month only. 


The Giga Vessel & Shipping Schedule sent to me with the quotation
I left it at that and went on my tour and one year later July 2019 I send in a new inquiry asking for a quote which came back as RM 512.

YES I would like to book this date please I emailed them back.

Giga Shipping then emailed me the quotation which I signed, scan and mailed back to them and they proceeded to process the booking confirmation and invoice for payment.

To be honest, I was a bit nervous dealing with Giga Shipping for this was my absolute first time doing something like this and not seeing a physical person makes me a bit cautious if I was going to be in deep water after transferring the RM512 payment to them.

I decided to drop by their office which was at Shah Alam ( No.1 Jalan Penyair U1/44, Seksyen U1, Glenmarie 40150 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia) and spoke to their booking coordinator. The staff assured me the shipping is very normal and RM 512 includes every type of payment from boat, customs, clearance, etc etc and that is all I will need to pay to see my bike in Kuching next week. 

I got the Barcode (A piece of paper required to deliver the bike into the secured holding area at Port Klang) for Westport in Port Klang for loading the bike which I had to send in Bluey at least 3 days before the ship depart. Meanwhile, I also did the online transfer fund to giga shipping bank acc and email GIGA Shipping the tracsaction slip.

Sending Bluey to Westport. 

Westport - Port Klang 
With the map provided by GIGA shipping and with the help of Google maps it was not hard to locate westport in Klang. I called up the contact number given to me once I was at the Port Gate and proceeded to surrender my I.C to change with the Port Pass. Went to the Giga holding yard and surrendered the keys to Bluey and got an acknowledgement stamp, received of motorbike.

(Note: bring an extra copy of the barcode so the acknowledgement stamp can be done there. I had to get the stamp on some random paper since I did not have an extra copy of the barcode)

The whole procedure once I arrived Port Klang took less than 20 minutes and I was out again exchanging the pass to get back my I.C. From there it was just a GRAB ride to the nearest train station and slowly making my way back home.

Wait for the Boat to arrive Kuching

Nothing much to do other than wait. While waiting for the bike to arrive Kuching I kept watching my emails for notices and sure enough the moment the bike was loaded up to the ship, I got an email from GIGA with the bill of lading.

The ship also sent out notifications of its schedule every few days so one could know if the shipment is on schedule or not. Bluey had a delayed start by two days, originally schedule to be on board on the 19 July but became 21 July instead. Surprisingly the arrival date in Kuching was still the same.

Contact Wilakota Agency (Giga Shipping Agent in Kuching)

Wilakota Agency is the agent from GIGA shipping on the Sarawak side. I got their contact number when I booked the shipment and once Bluey was en-route I gave them a call for some advice on when I should be there to collect the bike. They told me to give it another 2 days extra for custom documents clearance and this was not including a weekend off since they don't work on Sat/Sun

Picking up the Bluey at Pending Kuching Port

I flew to Kuching on Saturday anyway and went around sightseeing Kuching downtown while waiting for Monday to come. Monday morning and I send a message to the lady from Wilakota Agency and was immediately replied with a good news that Bluey is ready for collection at Pending Kuching Port. 

Pending Port - Kuching 
Pending Kuching Port was a short 5km away from downtown Kuching and a short GRAB ride later I was at the gate fully escorted by the agency guy to change pass, collect keys from customs, and sign out the bike with all the necessary documents to be carried with me at all times. Don’t ever lose the customs document the agent said, since it will be a big hassle when you ship the bike back to peninsular Malaysia in future.

Documents Received was :

1. Original Copy Bill of Lading
2. Original Customs No.3 Form (Permit to transport goods within the federation)
3. Original K3 Chit (No idea what this is but has the forwarding Agent and Importer particular duly stamped by Customs)
4. Copy of Vehicle Ownership Certificate duly stamped by Customs
5. Letter of appointment of forwarder agent dully stamped by Customs
6. Invoice dully stamped by Customs

Its time to ride .... PAN BORNEO awaits ....

Traveled on: Jul 2019
#gigashipping #shippingvehiclefrompeninsulartoborneo #roromalaysia

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