Tuesday 8 July 2008

Moving Nightmares Part XXII

This is an email from our moving company (it was in my spam file for a while)... anyway... our container will sit in Beijing for a while:

"The latest announcement is that trucks that do not have the proper “emission standards”, and all non-Beijing plate trucks are abandoned from driving on the roads, we are experiencing a shortage of available trucks for line haul here in Beijing and we are experiencing many new restrictions related to trucking.

Due to this, there has been a huge increase for demand of trucks available for hire; plus, there are many import and export shipments are sitting in warehouses while exporters and importers wait to get inland transportation. From the last week of June, we have a serious hard time in booking container trailer, which can continue to Sep. 20th. Even the prices has been increased much higher than normal rates, we still unfortunately could not confirm or guarantee on timing to release the containers.

We are trying our best to arrange your container to be on vessel earliest possible as we can. My best estimation is to have them loaded into container in one or two weeks.

If there is any change to this situation we will keep you updated, and we will keep your shipment with free storage in our warehouse. Sincerely, I wish to have your understanding on this situation which is truly out of our control
."

Have I recommended Santa Fe lately in Beijing Cafe as the best moving company?

Well, well, after my experience about 10 days ago, I can say, every other moving company might be capable of the same or even better service at a better price because they might not be overbooked like Santa Fe and do not need to hire so many unexperienced staff.

This time is crazy for shipping goods in and out of Beijing. If you can postpone your shipment, wait until after September 20st, when the Paralympics are over as well and things return to normal.

4 comments:

Marc van der Chijs said...

All businesses are affected at the moment in Beijing: factories cannot get their raw materials, others can not ship their goods out, and some do not get new orders because independent QC companies do not get visas anymore. Even on the internet there will be additional restrictions for some entertainment sites during the Olympics. It's a becoming a big mess.

I don't think this has anything to do with Santa Fe, as a company you cannot really prepare for this. Regulations suddenly get announced, and as a company you have to bear the additional costs and try to keep the client happy. At least they send you an email to inform, I think most Chinese companies would not do this :-)

I guess you're lucky you 'escaped' just in time.

Anonymous said...

Hi Marc,

I know it is a crazy time. But all moving companies knew about the truck regulation since at least end of May and the even and uneven licence plate story is known even longer. From a professional moving company I expect a bit more planning ahead. The German guy I was dealing with in the beginning left the company early June. I think this was a big loss for the company and the new lady in charge just had no clue. So one unsatisfying issue came to another. Even half of the packers were trainees... of course why should a company employ more people just for this exceptional situation? But if I am market leader, I would still try to be best especially in these exceptional times.

Maybe we did escape in time. But a a couple of weeks earlier would have been just perfect.

Now, we have a lot of overflow, that we have to pay out of our own pocket. That's of course why I am most sensitive about the moving company's performance. I am sure, more professional packers would have done a better job. BTW, this was confirmed by the supervisor, who told me that with such an unprofessional team he would need 3 packing days. But as I posted before, they reduced the confirmed 3 days down to 2 packing days only and then started with instead 5 professional packers only with 3 professional packers and 1 trainee. The next day we had 6 packers, but out of them only 3 professional packers.

Who would pack an empty buthtub and pack the cushions that were supposed to go inside in an additional large box, wrapped in papers... ? This was at least something I discovered on time.

And they even had no truck on the first day to deliver their packing material and to collect the packed boxes. And this was June 25.

I know that business in China is not easy.

That's why we have the market leader of the moving companies to have the best service even in difficult times.

I wonder how other moving companies have been dealing with the situation.

Probably you are right, and we were still lucky...

Best
- Suzie - from Stuttgart

Suzy said...

Susie - where have you moved to? I'm so sorry I didn't get to meet with you in Beijing...perhaps in another life!

- Susan - said...

Okay, to everybody who is confused:

I just have moved away from Beijing (a week ago). I am now living in Stuttgart, in the beautiful South of Germany.

And the renovation project of our house in Italy goes on - of course. I will be soon in Italy for holidays. Again, in the beautiful South...

Best
Suzie from Stuttgart

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