Tuesday 22.02.11 Christchurch hit with 6.3 earthquake at 12.51 pm local time
(epicentre was 10 kms to the South in the Port of Lyttelton)

As at 25.02.11 the port's web site www.lpc.co.nz is up and running with updates

Christchurch is now a Force Majure transaction for FCL & LCL cargoes.

Our share a container cargo which goes direct into Lyttelton will be rerouted via other NZ ports (either Auckland or Wellington) and trucked into South Island bond stores that you booked and paid for ie.. Nelson, Timaru, Dunedin, Invercargill and (Christchurch to be assessed as to what is available to us, it may be that you will have to Customs & MAF clear cargo at the ports of Auckland or Wellington, that will allow us to deliver your goods as free goods into any general warehouse or mini store basically whatever is going to be available in Christchurch)

Our Container ships we will reroute into the Port of Timaru, NZ Customs and MAF clearance and or inspections will take place in Timaru.

Our car ships from Australia have access to the general cargo wharf
The first car ship will be calling Lyttelton on Saturday 26th Feb

We have no information on road / rail other than the Lyttelton tunnel is closed. We suggest you get your updates from www.nzta.govt.nz

Hi Jeff,

Hope all is well with you. My shipping arrived on the 11th. They never phoned Mohamed until after I had tried to phone them and ask about it. Have had two trips so far to Alex - wading through incredible formalities and government buildings. I was almost totally ignored in negotiations.
All talk in Arabic to Mohamed who had to provide proof of his existence, a photo I. D. Customs apparently want to empty out every box - regulations. Understandable but they won't let me be there. Hope they don't wipe anything.

The agent we have is well in with the Customs (called gumruk in Arabic) so with a bit of well-placed baksheesh, all MAY be well. I actually went to the Bond Store. Dozens of mighty trucks coming and going. I had to stay in the car. No women allowed. Men only work there. So I was given tasty food, a cup f tea and I had a short sleep and left Mohamed to do the talking. He actually was allowed to see the 2 pallets with my boxes on. They ARE THERE! In 2 or 3 days the Agent will phone Mohamed and THEN we take the big ute to Alex, 2 and half hours drive, but splendid straight road, and we bring everything home. There is no way I could have done this alone and I am so grateful Mohamed was with me, plus two more of his friends, one who knew the back alleys of Alex.

Pass this info on to anyone else sending gear to the Near or Middle East. They need a MAN who speaks both languages - and a lot of patience. But it CAN be done with perseverance.

Regards - Zella

2004
Why we do not accept personal effects inside vehicles on our car ships

The car ships call into terminals that are very close to the CBD of major cities.
It's been decided that loading vehicles with personal effects is not a viable option, the perception is that the goods could actually be guns / explosives / dirty bomb.
Once a vehicle is taken on board a car ship you can walk around the various car decks
(you can't do this with container ships) and open up your vehicle and get your guns and take over the ship.

Recently one of our clients an Australian Exporter shipped Seven (7) containers containing machinery and plant to assist in the construction, repair and maintenance to the Freeport mine in Iran Jaya. When they completed the job naturally they shipped everything back to Cairns the base port for the Freeport mine.

Well what a disaster.

Firstly there is no shore cranes or straddle carriers or large forklifts to move 40ft containers around the wharf so the ship had to slide down the dock to place the containers onto the wharf using the ships crane.

Secondily there was no inspection stand to place container containers off the ground so that AQIS (Australian Quarantine Inspection Service) could inspect the containers for Elephant Snail / Beetle.
So one had to be transported from Townsville to Cairns and our client had to pay for that.
The Cairns Port Authority don't have the equipment and neither does the Stevedore
Go figure that one out ???

Thirdly The containers had to be fumigated and after fumigation the doors were swung open to allow the Methyl Bromide to disperse over the weekend. In the meantime Cairns had more than its fair share of tropical rainfall that weekend which saw containers saturated with water and the water residue flow out of the containers and into Cairns Inlet.

Fourthly AQIS said they wanted to inspect the goods, which meant we needed to go to a licensed bond store for unpack....... although we could have used the wharf ...
AQIS said at the inspection, if they deemed that the machinery needed washing then there was a possibility that remnants within the containers would have flowed off the wharf and into Cairns Inlet .. well we know that happens

..... now this is why you don't use the Port of Cairns

There are two licensed bond store facilities in Cairns
1) Tong Sing
2) Hastings Deering

We wanted Hastings Deering because they deal with machinery (which is what we have got) and they have Wash Bay facilities to steam clean machinery if required by AQIS.

However we could not do that because AQIS had given Hastings Deering ...
.... wait for it ... an unpack and wash license

We had to take our 40ft & 20ft containers to Tong Seng because AQIS had given them...
.... wait for it ... an unpack and inspect license

So at a cost of A$20,000.00 plus plus to our Queensland based Australia company

we had to get containers taken off Cairns wharf,
carted to Tong Sing bond store
get them unpacked and inspected
only to find YES they needed washing

so cargo was repacked into containers
carted from Tong Sing to Hasting Deering
for unpack and wash

I tell you, it's too stupid for words
"Smart State" I don't think so

30.12.03
Dear Sirs,
We are looking for Breakbulk vessels/ ships for carrying Cement in regular business every month from Biringkasi Port of South Sulawesi Indonesia to :

1. Mongla Port of Bangladesh - Quantity max : 15,000 MT per shipment.

2. Chittagong Port of Bangladesh - Quantity max : 25,000 MT /shipment

3. Taichung port of Taiwan - Quantity max : 25,000 MT/shipment.

If You are in position please offer the best rate

The New Zealand company is 
Macau Motors 
1100 Great South Rd 
Westfield, Otahuhu, Auckland NZ
The owner is Steve Beston 
On the vessel Bunga Teratai v1061 ex Brisbane to Auckland 
Bill of lading  BNEAS407403 
shipped on board Brisbane 17th March 02 
One ute tray 1.903 cbm / 100 kgs 
Our account to Macau Motors is A$ 402.54 

Steve comes across as the genuine article, his supplier for his 4 x 4 parts comes from Hervey Bay in Queensland. 
Delays of 3 weeks are encountered from his supplier Steve not a happy little vegemite with phone calls to us on a number of occasions asking us to chase his supplier. Goods eventually arrive and shipped out in the week they arrive in Brisbane.

It's now 8th August and still no money, you have to ask yourself would you do business with this man
if you do  .. ask for all your money up front and certainly wait till the cheque has cleared before you hand over your goods. 
In our case we are only talking about A$ 402.54 .. its not as if we are playing for sheep stations ...
You have been warned. 
Mind you when or if he does pay we will let you know..

Exporters to East Timor 
Informed sources in Darwin are saying the U.N are taking 8 to 12 months months or more to pay their Bills / Account, can you afford to carry an account for that long. 

In fact the Northern Territory hasn't been paid for water treatment plant they put in 3 years ago.
Remember Morris Catering from Yatala in Qld who got the U.N contract in Somali. 
Mr Morris was kidnapped and then killed by locals because the U.N after 2 years still owed Morris Catering 70 % of their outstanding account.
Moral of the Story .. make sure you can put food on the table for your workers and their families before you work for the U.N

12/8/98
Recently we had a vehicle 1 x 1995 Falcon Ute imported from the Port of Lyttelton ( Christchurch, NZ ) on the Ro / Ro vessel Rotoma v 636 w. The car was made available from 24th to 29th July 1998, however due to problems associated with Australian Customs, the car finally got its clearance and left the wharf on 11th August 1998.