Thursday, November 08, 2007

conundrums of marine shipping.

As Anonymous said...
hi a guy i know shipped something to the coast from goose bay and it got left on the bond and it ended up in lewisporte.so much for labrador marine

things can get a bit bizzaro with shipping goods on Labrador Coastal Marine.

While the two orders of furniture for the OKS NMC are not required urgently it is imperative that the customer knows where the shipment is, and that it will not be damaged on arrival. Being the end of the shipping season makes it impossible to get in replacements if there is a need.

So after some checking [by interested parties] it was discovered that the large order of office furniture coming from the mainland is still in Lewisport, this after it was promised it would be in Nain on the last trip of the Astron.

Then the shipment of two lifts of radio control room furniture, accepted at the LCM terminal on the 29th Oct in Goose Bay, is still in a container in Goose Bay.
This after it was arranged that the furniture would be on the Northern Ranger on its arrival in Nain yesterday.

So now the radio furniture will go to Lewisport on the mv Sir Robert Bond, off loaded onto the Aston and head for Nain on the next Astron. Or that’s what was promised, but as every one who has ever used the LCM service knows, promises mean zilch.
I will add an over rider here. One of the latest promises came from on high in the LCM hierarchy, so we will see what we will see.

After all the meetings and promises over the past year not much has changed with marine shipping. Some small changes have been achieved, but it still has a long way to go towards any modern 21 century professionalism, both at the shipping end and specifically the consignee end.

7 comments:

The Voyage of The WANDERBIRD said...

Hi there Brian. Thanks for the fine blog, Our friend Tony Roberts in St. Anthony told us about you. We have been cruising the coast of Labrador for the last few years aboard our vessel Wanderbird. We are scheduled to run two trips from Nain to the Torngats in August 2008 and we hope to meet you then. As we prepare to start our trip in Nain would it be allright to run questions by you as they come up? Things like availability of groceries. water at the dock, actual dock space for a 100' trawler like Wanderbird? Also do you know of a Crab Fisherman from Nain whose name is Joey and whose boat is named "What's Happening" ? We would like to get a mailing or an email address for him if that is possible. Okay for now Brian..thank you and we look forward to talking more over the blog! Kind Regards, Ricjk and Karen Miles www.wanderbirdcruises.com

Anonymous said...

The sad part is no one takes responsibility,it always someones elses fault,usually the lowest person on the pole.Labrador is controlled by outside sources,that have our "best interests at heart".Is the shipping any better this year then last? Since the move.a question i have is how many heated reefers come to the north coast with non perishable food stuffs?Just a thought

Brian said...

T Anon.
No heated reefers up this way, lots of damaged goods this time of year. Even freezer reefers are a big problem for LCM, mostly ancient craped out equipment is used up here.

Brian said...

Rick n Karen,

Thanks for the kind words. I have sent you an e mail from your web site address. If it did not get through then contact me at Kingurutik@hotmail.com

Brian.

Anonymous said...

i live in labrador i kind of figured that,par for the course.Its so sad,considering the prices people pay for goods. is it true 75.00 for a turkey

Anonymous said...

R and K,
I have traveled on The Labrador several times over the years. I am a regular reader of Mr. Williams blog as it keeps me up to speed and brings back old memories. From what I've been able to read from all on the internet it looks like you folks are partnered with Wildland Tours for a couple of Nain north polar bear search trips next summer. The Wildland folks are somehow partnered with a fellow who works for the new Torngat parks service in Nain. According to the internet this same chap is or was the minister of finance for the new Inuit government. I can't figure for the life of me why you wouldn't just pick up the phone and ask the Wildland people the questions you have asked of Mr. Williams. Or why not call and email the new Inuit government folks. I'm now in my late 70's and plan on doing one last trip to Labrador, God willing. I sure as heck wouldn't pay one red penny for a roll of the dice in the waters of the Torngats on a ship with a captain who at this stage doesn't know the simple basics of his base port (Nain). I'd be willing to bet even less is known of the unforgiving northern waters in which you intend to take paying passengers. Good Luck!
Jed A. Gilderoy

The Voyage of The WANDERBIRD said...

Hello Jed. Well what a surprise to hear such negative and nasty comments. To a person, everyone that we have met during our last two seasons of cruising the coast of Labrador has been kind and supportive...... and polite. We have been carrying guests aboard our own vessels in Northern waters for over twenty five years...without incident. Do you really feel so high and mighty to critisize a responsible captain for asking about dockage and availabilty of fresh groceries in a port that he has never visited? Red penney or not I must say that I am glad that you won't be joining us on this incredible adventure and i'd ask you to have a little more courtesy than to speak like that to and about people who you don't even know. Regards, Capts. Rick and Karen Miles