What a shocker, sea freight delay

[niello8]

Just got some cranky mood inducing news this morning. Our bike is sitting in Singapore. We sent it sea freight from Dili, Timor Leste (air freight was not an option) to Vancouver but it has to change boats in Sing. It was going well, all cozy in a big crate but now we hear they want it uncrated, put on a pallet, and the oil drained before loading on the 2nd boat. All of the sudden there is some yammering about Dangerous goods, I thought DG was only for planes? The Dili freight agent is very nice but this is getting way outside their usual runs. We are in DC trying to avoid flying to Sing to sort this big fat mess out. Anyone have words of wisdom? Our bums grow itchy to be back on the road so it's much appreciated

[RogerM]

Lookup and read the International Maritime Dangerous Goods Code, then tell the agent in Dili to tell you which section of the IMDG "used engine oil less than 5 litres" falls in - it does n't, oil is not a DG. After that tell them to stop f...ing you around and get the crate into the next container going to Vancouver. Make sure that the agent in Dili knows its his problem to fix and not yours.

How did you pay? Credit Card? if so get onto them and make it their problem to expedite the bike for you.

I've never heard of such a ridiculous excuse - I'd suspect that they dont have enough freight going to Vancouver ex SIN to fill a container and are just creating an excuse to make the delay problem yours. I know some freight forwarders dont like any liquids in their containers, but all vehicles are shipped with oil (and fuels on RoRo) and if it was a problem they should have declared that.

[seouljoe]

Originally Posted by RogerM

I've never heard of such a ridiculous excuse - I'd suspect that they dont have enough freight going to Vancouver ex SIN to fill a container and are just creating an excuse to make the delay problem yours. I know some freight forwarders dont like any liquids in their containers, but all vehicles are shipped with oil (and fuels on RoRo) and if it was a problem they should have declared that.

Ditto !

[niello8]

Originally Posted by seouljoe

Ditto !

Credit card? Lol this was Dili so all cash, natch. They got us by the short n curlies. I started pawing thru the IMDG doc, jeez! Worse than the US tax code

Trying to call the shipper in Sing with crappy Skype, good times. It is ridiculous. We never had to drain oil for air freight. Thanks for the info.

[wheatwhacker]

So sorry to hear about your situation.
I cant imagine why you would need to drain oil out of a sealed engine. Thousands of vehicles are transported by ship every day. I have never heard of anyone having to drain oil before. My own bikes were shipped from the USA and oil was never mentioned.

[mark manley]

Sounds like utter bull, I have shipped and flown my bike several times with the oil in it and a lot of new bikes come from the factory with oil in them and are shipped without a problem. As has been stated it sounds like an excuse for something else, good luck with sorting it out quickly and keep us informed about how you get on.

[jparke]

Jeff, niello8/Si's husband, here. Thanks for the advice everyone.

A quick update. We've been in regular contact with Toll Dili. We send one or two emails a day to try to get more information, clarify that the bike fuel is empty and oil is not a DG, etc. They send incomplete responses every couple days or so. They seem to have no expertise in DG themselves and so are simply serving as no-value-add liaisons with their Singapore office. I've asked for direct emails/phones numbers for supervisors and Singapore reps but this is never provided. So I called the main Toll Singapore number and get transferred around, ultimately to a couple rep's voice mails. They're never around.

This morning we began calling the Toll US and Toll Canada offices. The sea import/export reps are both responsive and seem willing to help but both were surprised to find that the only document we have is a standard bill of lading from Perkins, rather than a house bill of lading from Toll. Toll bought Perkins a few years ago, so I can't answer why the Dili office is still using Perkins documentation. I'm starting to think that the bill of lading that Toll Dili sent to us is the one provided to them by the sea carrier, which just happens to have been a boat (named the Kathryn Bay) formerly owned by Perkins, if that makes any sense. Ordinarily, a freight forwarding company would then take this (master) bill of lading and produce a house bill of lading and provide that to us, the shipper/consignee, but they didn't do this. I'm no expert, obviously, but this is my current best guess as to the B/L situation. What do you all think?

Anyway, back to Toll US and Canada. Because I can't provide a house bill of lading, they can't do their own independent research on what's going on. They have to check with the "overseas offices" themselves. Hopefully they'll do this and have better luck than me and Toll Dili.

We'll keep posting updates as we have them. Hopefully this thread will help others avoid these problems!

Thanks again,
Jeff (and Si)

[bad babba]

this company sucks but thear are the only one in east timor perkins in australia is also shit lying and tealing untrue storys had may fear shear off headik dealing whid them last year good luck

[Keith1954]

Originally Posted by jparke

Because I can't provide a house bill of lading, they can't do their own independent research on what's going on.

Hi Jeff

I assume, therefore, that the consignment is not trackable, nor traceable, in the usual way.

Si says in her opening post that 'Our bike is sitting in Singapore ..' Question is: do you know this is a fact, and beyond any doubt whatsoever? Only it occurs to me that, without absolute verification, you are relying on what the Dili-based agent is telling you, which is obviously questionable. Maybe the beast is still on Timor somewhere .. :confused1:

Watching this thread with more than just a little interest. Please do keep us informed. I hope you make good progress with it all .. and quickly.

All the best mates

K&E

[bad babba]

when i shipt fourst in australia 1 boat whas canceld then insted off going to east timor the bike whas in singapore then finaly the bike arivd in east timor dont trust a whord off what the are tealing yuo

[niello8]

Ya that happened in reverse to the last group heading from Dili to Darwin. So frustrating!

Keith we are sure it left Dili, they don't issue the bill of lading otherwise. The subcontracted shipping co is sticking to their assertion that the oil be drained but I don't understand why theyve been scratching their balls for 2 weeks. With the time difference every email is maddeningly slow and no one picks up the phone in Sing. Running out of time & don't want to fly all the way back there just to stick a boot in someone's ass!

[jparke]

Movement! Long story short, after many emails and many phone calls to the many companies involved in many countries (Toll Global Forwarding, Toll Marine Logistics, Toll Global Resources, Penanshin Shipping, Star Shippers/ZIM, YRC Logistics, Timor Leste, Singapore, Canada, US), I finally got someone on the phone who was familiar with the shipment and got them to acknowledge that draining the oil isn't necessary. A second justification for delay, which they decided not to reveal to me until today, was that they were unsure that bike could be imported into Canada. I told them that I would deal with customs. So with those made up obstacles dispensed with, Toll and Penanshin both tell me that the bike will go on the next ship sailing for Vancouver in a week. Actually, the way they said it was kind of funny:

"Pls note that after checking, cargo is acceptable and we will proceed to load..."
After checking!?!? How many missed ships and how many days and how many unacknowledged emails/calls from a frustrated customer must they see come and go before they check whether the cargo is acceptable.

Anyway, feeling much better now. Thank for the advice. If I had to give advice of my own, for future sea shippers:

1) Before shipping, ask specifically about fuel, battery, oil and anything else that might be (mis-)construed as dangerous goods. Ask the logistics/freight forwarder/agent/shipping company to check with all other companies involved to make sure their policies jive.

2) Ask about both master bill of lading from the vessel company for each leg of the shipment, as well as a house bill of lading from the logistics company. The house bill of lading is more useful for tracking, etc.

3) I got much more responsiveness via phone than email. Email can be misconstrued, ignored, or partially answered. If you don't reach the right person by phone, keep trying. Again, and again.

4) If you don't see movement, consider escalating to supervisors or even executives quickly. Whoever's contact info you can get. I found the name of the CEO over Toll Marine Logistics on their org chart and guessed his email address. My pleading email to him didn't bounce and, although I didn't see a response from him, less than a day later I started seeing many more responses from other people involved and now the bike is cleared to ship.

Hope this helps someone.

Jeff

[niello8]

Sweet chickens! We finally got the bill of lading and the motorbike is on the ship heading for Vancouver. Estimated arrival is Sept 10 so total time for all of this hoopla will be about 2 months. So far ill count us normally lucky. Lets see how much the Canadians rake us over the coals for at port woo hoo on the move soon!

[RogerM]

Lessons for everyone. Maybe pay for shipping ex Dili in Australia, at least that'll give some additional protection upto a point.

International sea freight is one of the few industries where the 19th Century has yet to touch it - they live on exclusion clauses and international treaties which give the ship owners an "all care, no liability" business model.

The RoRo shippers are far better as the car manufacturers have forced them into the 21st Century with on time deliveries, no transit damage, etc. RoRo ships keep pretty well to their published timetables, severe weather being about the only excuse they will offer up for a late delivery - and that is usually only hours not days/weeks/months.

[niello8]

I wish RoRo was an option from Dili! Well the saga continues and it's not good. The boat arrived on the 11th (we saw it) and the shipper said it would take 5 days to move the container to their warehouse, then they'd send us a document that would allow us to go to customs and get their inspection process going which should take another 2 days including the soil inspection. We paid all the fees. We just got a message that customs has held the container for inspection, we don't know where, and when we called customs they said that could take up to 15 business days!! This is turning into a big fat mess, y'all have no idea. We've got to be on the east coast by oct 10.

If anyone has any insights on dealing with Canadian customs (sea freight) please post. We are going to the custons office now to get a straigt answer, they were clueless on the phone. Thanks all.