So there we were, TC was all cleared for delivery but we had no way of unloading it when it arrived at the airport. The only idea we had was to hire a forklift truck, five able bodied men and a bit of “on the spot” ingenuity. It was at this point that MSC then told us that a fork lift was not allowed near to the container just in case it got damaged!

I was unable to think of much else, without having the ability to unload the container it would not be allowed to be delivered and, remember, we were still paying demurrage while a solution was found. It was then, at about 1:00am in the morning on he seventh day an idea came to me. I went onto the internet and fired up Google Earth, I would use it to have a look at the local area around Johnston County Airport for an unloading dock. Failing that I would look for anything that could be used for the unloading, for example a raised bank of earth, anything.

Up the road from the airport I found what I was looking for, a commercial building with trucks around it. I informed Richard, the guy who was going to put TC back together, and he drove over there to have a look and if suitable ask for permission to use it for the unloading. It turned out to be a siding manufacturing company and the owner was all too happy for us to use his facilities. Problem solved….or so I thought. MSC would only deliver TC to the ZIP code on the delivery notice and even though this company was within a quarter of a mile from the airport it is located in a different ZIP area!!  After a bit of negotitating MSC agreed to deliver and we were back on track.

MSC did help us out in the end, they agreed for the trucking company to collect TC on the Friday and keep it in their yard for the weekend even though it was scheduled for delivery on the Monday. This saved three days of dockside storage and due to this we only ended up paying MSC $240 for two days worth of demurrage.

TC finally arrived at Johnston County Airport at 08:00am on 21st July 2008.

Total importation/customs charges:
Hipage – $250
MSC Demurrage (which could have been avoided, but could have been much, much greater!) – $240
MSC Fee – $6