"Well I thought you could put the two big ones in and then stack the others on top?". I knew the size of the crates and had worked out that there was plenty of room. Didn't they know they were dealing with a Physicist, I know all about volume.
There was a sharp intake of breath, "ffff (whilst breathing in), can't do that, it happens all the time, people turn up with these Luton vans and we have to tell them the same thing, you can't use a forklift to stack these boxes - too heavy! We can get three on but not this last one." After a 4 hour drive to a warehouse in the middle of no-where on the south coast I was in no mood for jokes but I really hoped he was.
How did it come to this, it should have been so easy - buy the stuff in Chiang Mai, the shipping company collect it, pack it, ship it to Felixstowe and you pick it up in a hired van. Things are so cheap, surely even with the cost of shipping it's got to be cheaper than buying it at home and we had so much fun buying the stuff.
"I'll have that .... that ..... two of them"
"Look at this Sue!"
"We can furnish a whole room for under £100!"
"Don't worry about the weight the cost is done on volume"
- and the best one
"Oh, My shipping agent will collect it".
Our agent is called Adul, he is about 20 and lives in Chiang Mai near the Night Bazaar. He is a great guy and very helpful. We got to know each other quite well, mainly through email and he supports Liverpool.
Dear Mark and Sue,
The score in Anfield I can not believe it. Liverpool 0 -1 Man Utd(John Osea,90.) We assume the game 90% but can not do the score just nearly but Man Utd got free kick in the last minute and they make score.(T,T)
By the way for the paper lantern I will find and let you know the best price as soon as possible.
Have a good trip in Koh Chang.
Dear Mark and Sue,
How are you ? hope you very well.
I have some question to confirm with you
Please see picture in attachment file and confirm back those picture is your order or not ? due to this package dio not have any paper on it ,so I am not sure that this is belong to your or not ?
Thank a lot for your kindly confirm in advance
(We had never seen these before - what else would arrive in Felixstowe we wondered)
Dear Mark and Sue,
According for your cargo you can stay in our warehouse no problem but in Felixstowe Port you have free time only 3 days.
When your cargo arrive to Felixstowe Port please contact with our agent quickly and do custom clearance with in 3 days if over than 3 days they will have demurrage charge to you per day.
So please feel free to advice if you have any question.
Thank you for your reply.
Best regards
Adul
Dear Mark and Sue,
How are you ? Hope you very well.
I think you very happy for the big match( Liverpool with Man Utd ) but I'am very sad when the game finish.
Where are you now ? Take care.
My uncle and my aunt
Best regards, Adul
Dear Mark
Please see picture of your cargo
So please feel free to advice if you have any question.
Thank you very much
Best regards,
Adul
Dear Mark,
Your cargo is 4 crates please find detail as below.
DESCRIPTION SIZE DIMENSION
Crate No.1 : 0.76 x 2.06 x 0.92 : 1.44 CBM
Crate No.2 : 1.24 x 2.26 x 1.32 : 3.69 CBM
Crate No.3 : 0.76 x 1.37 x 1.25 : 1.30 CBM
Crate No.4 : 1.19 x 2.13 x 0.69 : 1.74 CBM
Total : 8.17 CBM
And vessel schedule please find as below.
FEEDER VESSEL : BANI BHUM V.517S
MOTHER VESSEL : NYK APHRODITE V.29W19
ETD BANGKOK : 14 MAY 2007
ETA FELIXSTOWE : 10 JUNE 2007
So please feel free to advice if you have any question.
Thank you very much
Best regards,
Adul
Dear Mark
Congratulation for Premier League Champion.
Please see the price per CBM as below.
C&F from Chaingmai upto Felixstowe Port,UK.
First CBM : 8,700 BHT.
Next CBM : 4,800 BHT.
Before you leave from Chiangmai you paid the deposit 8,700 BHT.
1) Your cargo 8.17 CBM is : 4800 x 7.17 = 34,416 BHT 2)
Total for your payment is 35,381 BHT
So please feel free to advice if you have any question.
Thank you very much.
Best regards,
Adul
Bloody Hell, 8.17 cubic metres! I had imagined about 3, we had obviously bought more than we thought - 35, 000 baht is about £500, but it is still reasonably cheap (although not quite so 'reasonable' now!).
So, before we left Thailand we understood that we were going to have to pay import duty and VAT and that we had a couple of days to pick the cargo up before they started to charge for storage. I had visions of driving into the port area to a huge warehouse, you know like on the films with rows and rows of boxes piled to the roof and disappearing into the distance. We got back into the UK on 9th May, the shipment left Thailand 10th May and was due to arrive in Felixstowe about 10th June.
I have spent the last four weeks imagining my cargo battling it's way through the world's oceans to my home - round the tip of India, hugging the west coast of India or across the Indian Ocean to the Suez canal (surely not round the 'Cape of Good Hope') through the Med, the up the west coast of Europe, across the Bay of Biscay into the North Sea and the port of Felixstowe, how romantic, how I wish I was doing that journey!
On 1st June we had an email from a shipping company in Felixstowe to tell us our cargo had arrived (already!) in Southampton (where!). We would have to pay extra to get it to Felixstowe by road, neither they nor Adul seemed to think this unusual. Luckily I had 7 days free storage starting from Wednesday 6th June after it had been unloaded, so I decided to get it myself and having checked the dimensions I ordered a suitable van for Monday 11th and arranged for 2 friends to come and help me load up.
On Friday 8th I had an email to say that they couldn't release the cargo without the original 'bill of lading' (whatever that was), a fax or email copy wouldn't do. The document was enroute from Thailand so I had to cancel the van and hope the document arrived soon, the last free day was Tuesday 12th.
Tuesday 12th - no documents, so I rang the shipping company. "Oh yes, we have had a word with the people in Thailand and we have agreed to release the cargo anyway (!!)" I rang the van hire company, yes they had a van available all week. I rang off and rang the shipping company back, the charge per day was £40 but it was 11.00 by then so I decided to go on Wednesday and absorb the extra cost. I rang back the van hire company. "Oh, we have just let the van for tomorrow, will Thursday do?" That would mean an extra £80 so I said I would take it now. It was 11.30, the AA route planner suggested the trip would take 4 hours and the warehouse closed at 16.00.
I zapped down to the hire place on my bike whilst Sue made sandwiches and made sure that a) someone would be there even if I was late and b) they would help me load.
Off I went - M25, no queues, M3 no queues. I watched the time and the mileometer, I was averaging 50 miles an hour and the distance was 226 miles. At five to four I pulled up at a Post Office in the village where the warehouse was. "Oh yes, you turn left just there (pointing) and it is three quarters of a mile down the lane on the left. You go past a farm, down a hill and there it is. " I followed the instructions and at the bottom of the hill looked out for a sign. No sign but a track and at the bottom I could just make out a lorry and a shed. It was a miracle anyone ever found it!
What to do with the last crate? "I'll just have to unload it here and put the stuff on myself. Have you got a hammer and a crowbar I can borrow?"
I got an incredulous look from forklift driver and was that a guffwah I heard from the crowd. They shambled off and I set too.
When I finally broke into the crate I found that verything was individually wrapped and protected by shredded newspaper. It was quite a breezy afternoon so you can imagine the mess. I finally finished and looked round, everyone had gone and the place was locked up except for an old boy hanging around. "I've left a bit of a mess, what do you want me to do with the bits?" "Oh, just leave it there." That was a relief and I hightailed it out of there as quickly as I could before he could change his mind.
I arrived home at about 10.30pm and we unloaded. Luckily the van had a tail lift so all we had to do was drag the crates onto the lift and then lower them into the garage.
Quite a day!
This Import - Export business is not all it's cracked up to be!! Still next time it will be so much easier .......
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