Anybody have a contact at Maersk? My charity container shipping nightmare...

[jkarolyi]

Hi All,

This may seem like an odd request, but I've gotten so many useful suggestions here that I thought I'd run this by you. Welcome to my nightmare.

Long story short, I filled a 24' container with slightly used computers and medical equipment from the hospital where I work. We are a Christian medical center (Loma Linda University Medical Center) with satellite hospitals all over the world, and having visited many of these places, our hospital and medical university in Zambia was woefully lacking in technology.

Myself and a couple others from my church chipped in around $8,000 to ship this container to Zambia. We booked through what I thought was a well-known legitimate agent called Coral Sea Shipping (based in Australia since 1978) to handle the shipping logistics. The website I went to to get a quote (www.coralseashipping.com) was one made up to look like the real Coral Sea site and purported to be the "US Branch" of the company. In reality, it was a scam artist posing as such, and he disappeared with most of our money, leaving the container in Biera, Mozambique. We shipped the container back in May and were told over and over that there were delays and such. Meanwhile, the container (shipping was contracted to Maersk) racked up over $4000 demurrage (storage) charges sitting at the Biera port!

Maersk has no customer support contacts at their home office in Denmark, and instead refers you to the country where the container is. Maersk Mozambique tells me that the container was broken into and takes a month to "investigate" the container break-in, meanwhile racking up more storage fees. They will not budge on the fees in spite of our being scammed and broken into. They say they will sue us if we don't pay and abandon the container. Basically they are giving "third world" customer service.

I've done all kinds of transactions on the internet since 1994 and *never* been gullible enough to fall for a scam. Does anyone have a contact at the main Maersk office who might be able to help me get my container out of hawk? Figured someone on here might work in international shipping or know someone who does.

Thanks for any help.

[Dottore]

Years ago, in another life, I used to do this kind of work.

If you dealt with a fraudulent agent who absconded with your money, why should Maersk look after you? Presumably they have also not been paid.

That's like buying a car from someone who doesn't have title, and then expecting to recover from the true owner when the scamster disappears with your money.

Maybe I'm missing something on your facts.

[Joeaksa]

Agree with Wayne. Would go that route as you will never get anything from the Africa division. You cannot imagine the way things work down there.

The idiots I am flying for right now insist on sending the monthly update paperwork to us in Moscow where we land often. Of course the frigging Russians open everything and steal everything valuable before handing it to us. We have lost two laptops and numerous other electronic things for the crew or plane.

This is what you get used to dealing with while working overseas in some of these areas. Mozambique is one of the worst, with Nigeria right behind. Was in Zambia a few months ago and they can really use the things you were trying to send, so hope you can help in the future.

[The Gaijin]

Originally Posted by jkarolyi

The website I went to to get a quote (www.coralseashipping.com) was one made up to look like the real Coral Sea site and purported to be the "US Branch" of the company. In reality, it was a scam artist posing as such, and he disappeared with most of our money, leaving the container in Biera, Mozambique.

I bet they paid Maersk, so Maersk does not care. And I am sure this happens, over and over and over. Once you abandon the venture - there are many waiting to take what is yours on the other side. A scam, pure and simple. The shame is, this equipment could have been put to good use.

I always use Japanese frieght forwarders and make sure they have offices or strong partners overseas. And buy insurance from them too.

[RickM]

I know a recently retired VP from the Maersk Madison, NJ headquarters. I may see him tonight and will ask if he has advice or contact info.

[jkarolyi]

Yep, they paid Maersk, sent us the tracking number so we would pay in full, and then disappeared with the remainder of the money, so Maersk could care less. However, the container was broken into while in their care and possession. Why am I paying $4000 in storage fees if they can't even secure the storage yard? There were 70+ computers and monitors in there, and probably $100,000 worth of 3-5 year old medical equipment. I called about our insurance policy (which I verified before shipping), and the bank account our agent wired money to them from was fraudulent, thus policy is void. Amazing how elaborate this scam was...six other people on the internet got taken by this same scammer. One hired a PI to track this low-life down. What heartless bastard steals from a third world hospital?!?!

I'd appreciate it Rick if you could ask him what I should do. This problem has caused many sleepless nights and I hope I can resolve this with someone at Maersk and get the equipment where it needs to go. It would be a shame for all those who contributed to the container to waste their time and thousands of dollars. My only option may be to sue. I'm not expecting a free ride here...I'm already set up to personally pay $2200 for a trucking company (Maersk recommended) to get it from Mozambique to Lusaka, Zambia and later return the container to port, and a few hundred more for a customs processor. *sigh* a good deed never goes unpunished.

Thanks for your advice and help so far.