Garuda air cargo handling<\/p>\n
On Dec. 23, 2002, we had a shipment of two boxes containing 16
\npots of poinsettia plants destined for Semarang. The boxes were
\nspecifically designed and manufactured for shipping potted plants
\nor flowers of this particular size, and the plants inside the
\nboxes were wrapped in heavy Samson paper sleeves, specifically
\nmade and designed to package such plants for shipping.<\/p>\n
On the address labels were written Jangan dibalik (Do not turn
\nupside down) and the boxes were printed with arrows to indicate
\ntheir upright position. The Surat Muatan Udara (SMU), or the air
\ncargo invoice, of this particular shipment was No. 126-6640051-5,
\nand we were charged with and paid the 125 percent perishable
\ncargo rate.<\/p>\n
Normal handling would not have damaged the plants. The only
\nway the plants could have been damaged was if the boxes were
\nthrown from one handler to another, and\/or were dropped. This is
\nvery possible, because our plants are grown in a mixture of loose
\npeat. As you can guess already, five of the 16 pots were crushed.<\/p>\n
Because the plants are relatively light, they almost always
\nget charged by volume weight, and a whopping Rp 112,219 for 94.5
\nkg was charged for an actual weight of 48 kg, plus other
\nadministrative and storage charges, not including the cost from
\nBogor to Cengkareng.<\/p>\n
We reported the incident to Garuda in Cengkareng, and were
\ninformed that the consignee in Semarang contact Garuda there, and
\nthat Garuda would pay damages. The consignee had taken photos of
\nthe crushed plants\/flowers immediately after opening the boxes,
\nbut afterwards cut the flowers off the damaged plants in an
\neffort to save the beautiful part of the plants. He took the
\nphotos to Garuda in Semarang, but to no avail. Garuda blamed the
\ndamage on the packaging.<\/p>\n
We have shipped much bigger quantities of the same plants to
\nSurabaya, Yogyakarta, Bali and Singapore previously, and would
\nhave lost many plants if our packaging was faulty.<\/p>\n
The crux of the matter is that although Garuda had charged
\nhigher rates for perishable cargo, it did not handle the cargo
\naccordingly, and did not want to take responsibility when things
\nwent wrong as a result.<\/p>\n
BENNY TJIA, Bogor, West Java<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/garuda-air-cargo-handling-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }