Cargo – 21 pces / 171 ton / 378 m3 comprising
Clients
Paccon’s scope – from liner out Durban to door destination Zambia including; arranging all relevant port and customs authority bonded clearances for transit through to site, supervise the receival of Cargo ex ship and loading out, surveying of Cargo for any damages or shortages, appoint and manage the transport contractors.
A relatively small job, of 7 loads including abnormals, but one complicated by the time of year as abnormal travel restrictions are in place during holiday seasons, some of the Cargo suffered packaging damages due to poor handling on board the vessel which required difficult and time consuming re-packing. Then to cap that, the consignee suffered breakdown issues with his crane at site which delayed offloading by 2 days as a replacement crane had to be sourced from Lusaka, not something that is readily available in Zambia.
The site is 62 kms of the main tarred road passing Kabwe and took approximately 8 hours to reach over rutted and muddy dirt tracks, enough time to travel around 500kms under normal conditions.
Many of these types of issues are not uncommon in the region but can lead to frayed nerves, especially when the truck drivers are delayed at destination and have no immediate access to a shop or supermarket to obtain food etc. You have to make a plan and fortunately our local contacts in Kabwe were able to deliver food to the drivers.
All part of the job in our wonderful Africa.
