Posted by David Ige on Fri, Jul 16, 2010 @ 02:10 PM
The Federal Maritime Commission voted unanimously June 23 to star a major investigation into complaints from several people who have shipped household goods and personal property in U.S. to foreign countries via Ocean Freight. This investigation is about the nature, scope and frequency of the problem of potentially unfair, unlawful or deceptive practices of several Shipping Companies and to make recommendations for possible FMC action. An interim report is due no later than Nov. 15 and a final report is due no later than Feb. 15, 2011.
Apparently between 2005 and 2009 the FMC received over 2,500 consumer complaints related to household goods moving companies that were shipping personal effects and vehicles between various locations in the U.S. to various foreign destinations.
Among the complaints were a failure to deliver the cargo and refusal to return the pre-paid ocean freight charges, loss of cargo, delays in delivery, charges to the customer for marine insurance that was never obtained, wrong information as to the whereabouts of the goods, over pricing, and after some shipments were delivered there have been threats to withhold the shipment unless the increased charges were paid that were not pre-quoted, in some cases the Forwarder refused to pay the common carrier engaged by the company as the intermediary, which resulted in the customer having to pay double for freight. Another problem was that some individuals and companies had falsely represented themselves to perform ocean transportation and accept responsibility for the movement of these shipments without obtaining an ocean transportation intermediary (O.T.I) license which also provides the required proof of financial responsibility.
So in short, BUYER BEWARE. If you are thinking of shipping your personal goods anywhere from the U.S. to a Foreign country, do your due diligence, as there are sharks out there looking to take advantage of your naivety. Make sure the Company has references, they are licensed with a good track record.
Or to make things easier just use
Universal Cargo Management.
Posted by David Ige on Tue, Jun 08, 2010 @ 01:43 PM
Tip #1: Save container transport cost by preparing to load your container in less less than 2 hrs.
When the driver shows up to your site, the first 2 hours are included in your fees. We recommend staffing up and preparing in advance to load the container as quickly as possible to avoid overtime charges.
Tip #2: Prepare Shipping Container Contents for Extremes
Containers are subject to extreme conditions. There are wild swings in temperature and humidity inside the container - they go througth the Panama Canal and sometimes around the Cape. Containers are subjected to triple digit heat and humidity to sub-zero temperatures while in storage or in transport.
Tip #3: Carefully Declare ANY Organic Cargo
Plants, Edible Plants, Vegetables and Fruit are all treated differently depending on the origin and destination of the shipment. If customs finds any undeclared organic cargo, the can quarantine your container and charge you daily holding fees.
Tip #4: Properly Insure Your Cargo
Plan for “attrition”. All of the contents don’t always make it all of the time.
There will be some "attrition" - containers get inspected, sometimes by unscrupulous dock/deck hands...this isn't REALLY considered stealing, as the items in transit, technically are the property of the shipping company.
Tip #5: Understand that Freight Forwarding both an art and a science.
Many companies and handlers are involved in moving your container, here are just a few possible examples: Trucking company(ies) outbound (your door to the port of origin or train yard), Crane Operations transferring container from truck to train, and train to ship. that's just to get the container to the ship, then the reverse happens on the other side...it's a REALLY rough ride, even in good weather.
Why Universal Cargo Management, Inc.
By contracting with Universal Cargo Management, Inc. you directly benefit from the relationships and reputation for integrity that we have developed trusted relationships with our international shipping, air freight, ocean freight, and logistics service providers over the past 25-years. You benefit from our experience in keeping the freight forwarding process efficient an effective because we know the ropes as well, if not better than anyone.
Tips for Business Travel To Asia
Posted by David Ige on Fri, Jun 04, 2010 @ 04:05 PM
...Can an Importer from Shreveport, Louisiana Partner with an Exporter in Louisville, Kentucky?
Changes in demand for global freight logistics have opened new opportunities for collaboration. It doesn’t take an expert on global trade or economics to see that America is beginning to export more and import less. This is good news for American business, but does present some unprecedented challenges in moving goods overseas.
“...carriers don’t like to move cargo inland as they want their containers in the ports to save the cost of repositioning.” - Devin Burke, CEO, Universal Cargo Management, Inc.
Although most of the growth in shipping traffic is still bulk items, such as scrap, produce, lumber, rawhide, cotton, etc, this country is growing in exports of such items such as used vehicles, construction equipment, as well as new manufactured goods such as building materials, medical equipment, sporting goods, high endfurniture. You couple that fact with the weak dollar, an Obama administration pushing to “double our nation’s exports in 5 years”, a growing middle class Chinese population developing an acquired taste for goods “made in America”, and other aggressive trade policies between America and countries like South Africa and Australia you would have to see there is a growing trend in exports. So what we are experiencing on the logistics side of exports are a steady increase in space and equipment shortages for anything being shipped out of America. Therefore if you are an exporter you not only face a space problem, where you may have to wait 3-6 weeks to get on board a vessel, depending upon the port,you are also experiencing shortages of actual equipment, especially in interior cities. So you may have to wait 2-3 weeks before equipment arrives before the carrier will accept booking.
On the import side, while there has been a decline in volume because of the decline in the American consumer’s buying power, retail decline, weak dollar, unemployment and other factors that severely slowed down the amount of cargo coming into this country from Asia in the past 2 years, there exists strangely enough since the 4th quarter of last year a severe space problem on ocean freight carriers from Asia, especially China.
The Big Disconnect: Import / Export Challenges
Now most of us all know the cause of this space problem to be manipulated by the carriers themselves when they decided to dock many of their vessels in ports like Singapore.(If you fly into Singapore you will see an ocean of between 6-700vessels sitting there empty, it’s quite a sight). This was done to “save” the lives of carriers because of the billions they lost last year (I heard Maersk lost $2 bill, wow, they supposedly have never lost money, ever, but who knows with creative accounting what the truth is, but still, wow). Well this capacity constraint actually worked for the carriers, as if you are an importer you will know the freight rate shave gone up from $700/40 from China to the west coast during the summer of’09, to now most importers are looking at paying around $2500/40 this summer. But even with the increase in revenue for the carriers, they are cleverly withholding their vessels in order to continue the space crunch, so they can maintain their high ocean freight rates for inbound freight to the USA.
The Federal Maritime Commission is investigating this matter and urges anyone wishing to participate in these hearings or offer information relevant to the development of the record in this proceeding to contact her office at (202) 523-5715.
So, What Are We Looking At?
We have a shortage of equipment for exports, and a shortage of space because of too many containers coming into America ? So why the disconnect ? One obvious answer is the fact the carriers don’t like to move cargo inland as they want their containers in the ports to save the cost of repositioning. However if an importer in say, Shreveport , Louisiana cannot get space for cargo coming from Shanghai and now has to pay freight somewhere in the range of $4500 or more (up about$1300-1500 from a year ago) uses a carrier like Maersk, or MSC that also has an exporter customer in a nearby town in Northern Louisiana of lumber, waste paper,or cotton who cannot get equipment and space for their exports for 3-4 weeks, why doesn’t MSC or Maersk put these two needs together to solve each others' problem? It would seem to me that either the people running these carriers are too shortsighted, or maybe the cargo moving out of this country is just too far away and costly to match with the destinations of imported cargo, I don’t know for sure, but I would bet on the former.
Bottom Line
In the past, carriers essentially subsidized the inland distribution of containers; now, with some homework on the part of American businesses, collaboration with May 22, 2010 to save container distribution costs can be leveraged in negotiating for space on outbound ships.Universal Cargo Management, Inc. has over 25 years experience assisting customers and partners in freight logistics internationally and domestically.