OMG since when is a fire extinguisher a hazardous good? OK, it's got a gas propellant in it but come on, it's not flammable! Also, apparently a small container of brake fluid is a hazardous good. But hang on, Graeme's dad made an excellent point, the car has brake fluid in the brake lines already, but that's ok according to the laws of shipping hazardous goods. Ooookaaayyy.
The reason for my ranting and raving is because our shipping agent advised us at 5.30pm tonight that there's a problem with our hazardous goods form because it doesn't list the fire extinguisher and the brake fluid. This is why I wanted the inspection done on Monday while we were there. But oh no, the way all the "professionals" wanted to do it was do the inspection after the form was completed. Seriously! Where on earth is the logic? And surprise surprise, there was an issue with the form. We don't know what's classified as a hazardous good and I thought that's what the inspection was meant to sort out prior to the form being submitted to the shipping line.
I was peeved the very first time I found out about this new hazardous goods law mumbo jumbo and this is just the sour cherry on top.
Perhaps I should explain events further. We were presented with two options: 1) Have the form redone to include the fire extinguisher and brake fluid. This would result in the form needing to be resubmitted to the shipping line and could risk them denying to carry the goods or delaying the acceptance of the goods to the point where it would delay our shipping date. 2) Remove the two items from the car and leave the form as is.
Of course we went with option 2. The fact that they have typed the car's weight as 2092kgs instead of 2920kgs, I'm keeping under my hat. At this stage, I don't give two hoots about their mistakes when they have emails and forms from me with the correct information on it. As far as I can tell, this hazardous goods form should only affect the shipping line's acceptance of taking our container. It shouldn't affect anything else down the line, and I doubt they're going to rely on this form to calculate the weight of the container.
Well, we now have something to do during our two weeks in Vladivostok before taking delivery of the car...buy another fire extinguisher and bottle of brake fluid!
Sometimes wandering around in another country's "everyday" shops is a good adventure in and of itself - my personal fav is the grocery store.
ReplyDeleteNice to see you looking on the bright side of things when bureaucrats are trying really hard to bring you down!