Urgent question re: release of sea shipping container

[monicabeth10]

I am facing a potential legal battle with my shipping agent to get my goods released to me. They quoted me roughly $3000 for a 20 foot container. After they had my goods in their possession, they are attempting to charge $2000 in extra freight to go out of Oakland, CA, which they did NOT do, and $1000 in extra moving charges due to delays on the moving day that were their fault.

There is a recent MPI (formerly MAF) regulation that all containers heading to a rural Auckland address must go to a transitional facility for brown marmorated stinkbug inspection. In June, this will be ALL containers, not just rural ones.

Originally, the moving company on this (Auckland) side of things said they have to have access to the container no matter what, because it's a government regulation. This would have gotten my container out of the control of the shipping agent, and I had asked to merely pay this company directly for moving the goods to my house in order to avoid dealing with my agent that is trying to extort $3400 of unwarranted extra charges. (These charges do NOT include the estimated $1100 charges for customs and biosecurity inspection and moving the goods on this side, so if I were to pay my agent what it's trying to extort, we would be talking about a total of $7500 for a 20 foot container. Ridiculous.)

Today, the moving company here in New Zealand (which also handles the transitional facility inspection) changed their tune and said that my shipping agent is advising a HOLD on the container once it arrives in port, and that I may be responsible for additional port storage charges after 3 days before the container is released to MPI to be inspected.

Can my shipping agent actually prevent my container from moving off the wharf? That seems crazy, because if this bug is truly the risk it is, it shouldn't be sitting in a port for weeks or months waiting to be inspected for a potential biosecurity risk.

Has anyone else dealt with this recently? I realize the chances are slim, because most people will not have imported a container in the few weeks since this regulation went into effect, in combination with having a dispute with the shipping agent. But I'm really nervous about this, because although I can take my jerk of a shipping agent to court back in California to get my money back, I really don't want to, and as a matter of principle I don't want to pay them. But I also don't want to rack up thousands in additional storage charges at port, either, while my case is waiting to go to court.

I'm contacting MPI (formerly MAF) tomorrow. If they don't know, no one will. But I was hoping that someone on here might be able to offer some reassurances that my container does indeed need to go to a transitional facility no matter what, so long as it comes off the ship.

[JandM]

I don't know anything to tell you, but wanted to say I'm sorry to hear about all the problems.

[Super_BQ]

Can my shipping agent actually prevent my container from moving off the wharf? That seems crazy, because if this bug is truly the risk it is, it shouldn't be sitting in a port for weeks or months waiting to be inspected for a potential biosecurity risk.

It's not the shipping company holding the container but NZ MAF biosecurity will place the container in quarantine for the methyl bromide treatment. After that, port storage charges will accumulate if your shipping agent can't move it.

To clarify, shipping companies and custom brokers are entirely different. It sounds like you need to contact a broker that can explain you all these problems (and more importantly, the fees associated in shipping).

[kiwieagle]

Can my shipping agent actually prevent my container from moving off the wharf? That seems crazy, because if this bug is truly the risk it is, it shouldn't be sitting in a port for weeks or months waiting to be inspected for a potential biosecurity risk.

Yes, this happened to me. My shipping agent forgot to pay the shipping company who then put a hold on the container for payment. Luckily, in my situation I was able to get the agent to pay MSC and lift the hold within a few hours. The lady at the port told me this is actually quite common and a lot of containers get put on hold by the shipping company for various reasons. I don't know what to tell you about your situation but if it were me, I would pay the money and try to recoup it rather than accrue additional fees. Unfortunately, they're holding all the cards.

As for whether or not the container is required to go to a transitional facility, I do not know.