Shipping Mistakes

Shipping Problems

For Importers and Exporters
Now that you have sold or bought your wine and loaded it on the vessel, you may assume your problems are over until the container lands. They are not.


Here is what can go wrong in transit and how to avoid it:
If your container is loaded wrong the wine can spoil in the heat, or be bruised from rough seas; the importer unloads and opens his wine bottles to find the wine has gone bad, or worse the corks have popped.
- You can avoid spoiled and overheated wines by making certain your freight forwarder loads the wine below deck, uses a thermal blanket or temperature controlled container, keeps the wine away from the engine compartment and as close to the center of the boat as possible.


The vessel unloads it's cargo onto a hot dock (Panama, Freeport) and your container sits waiting for the connecting vessel.
- Avoid this by only accepting direct vessels, and if that is impossible, insist on temperature controlled boxes if off-loaded.


There are documents due before the ship sails or you can be charged a $5,000 fee when it arrives in the US, plus drayage and storage fees until you get the mess cleared up. 
- You can avoid this by clearly communicating with the Freight Forwarder who is responsible for these documents and when they are to be sent, to whom and by whom.


The overland carrier does not load the wines on the vessel because he is due funds from either party depending on the contract terms. The container will sit, hopefully in covered storage, until the overland carrier releases it. This is costly and once it is in storage you start to accrue other costs and have to wait for another vessel going to the same port.
- Make sure all parties to the transaction are operating in the light with clear dates for payments, documents and product to move from one hand to the next. If there is a breakdown anywhere, fix it quickly.


The vessel, like the vessel below, runs into problems that delay or destroy your wines.
- Have insurance that covers your losses. Importers should take into consideration the cost of the lost business. you can always get more wine, but it will generally take 45-60 days to go from order to US port.


A word of advice to Wineries and Exporters - you may feel shipping doesn't involve you since you sold your wines ex-cellar or FOB and as far as you are concerned, it's out your hands. Not so fast! If the importer off loads spoiled wine he is going to send it back to you and you will incur the charges both ways and most likely a spoiled relationship. The cost of landing the first container is roughly the same as profit on a container, so losing a customer is expensive. It is far better to help your customer and be his supporter than his adversary.


A word of advice for Importers - the exporter is probably not a logistics company but they most likely have a relationship with one. It may not be the cheapest bid, but it is probably safe to say the importers trust is well earned. All your hard work on finding the right wine, striking the deal, and working with the TTB can go away over a few pennies per bottled saved on a fly-by-night forwarder. It is better to work with your importer and take advice for forwarding companies and overland carriers, they may know something about the local businesses that you don't.