Good news at last! We have the Poki and Zikit back.
The events of the last few days have been quite hectic. After many frantic emails and phone calls between us and OneLogix, the what seemed like a never ending saga with SARS/Customs was finally resolved. Yesterday morning we went to OneLogic’s office and waited while one of their employees, Wesley, went for a face to face meeting with someone in SARS/Customs and finally sorted out the system issue, which had been blocking our clearance.
OneLogix agreed to pay the shipping line so they would release our container and later sent us an invoice for Rand109,928.08 (£4,780) (NZ$10,000). The bulk of this is for “Detention Fees” or Demurrage. This is the cost charged by the shipping company for the time the container overstays in their depot.
As the overstay was not of our causing and OneLogix has dozens of emails with SARS/Customs showing we could not remove the vehicles, due to circumstances entirely beyond our control, OneLogix is asking the shipping company for leniency and to waive some of the charges. We will wait and see. However, our impressions of CMA CGM are far from favourable, so we are not holding our breath.
OneLogix advised we would be able to pick up the vehicles this morning and that we should await a call from them to advise at what time. We didn’t sleep very well due to nervous anticipation. Being advised to be at the depot at 1100, we set off in good spirits.
The Depot Manager authorised the cutting of the container seal and we pushed Poki out. The booster quickly started the battery and Adam also managed to get Zikit started. Adam had been liaising with an insurance company for cover for both vehicles throughout Southern Africa. After a phone call with them we had the insurance in place and set off back to Key Largo.
All isn’t quite perfect, though, as once we got back here and tried to start Poki again, the battery was still not fully charged. It looks as if we may have to replace the battery.
What next?
The plan now is to spend the weekend cleaning and reorganising the vehicles and their contents. On Monday we will take them to a Land Rover specialist for servicing and some maintenance issues. This will take 2 or 3 days (we hope). We have renewed our apartment rental until next Friday morning when we intend to leave here, heading south down the Wild Coast.
Monkey invasion at Key Largo.
Dennis has borrowed one of Adam’s two C-Tech chargers and we hope the battery will be restored overnight.
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Good news that you can finally move on. Good luck with your plans going forward!
Hi Caroline. It’s such a relief to have them back! Would love to set off now, but have to wait for servicing and maintenance. Once we get back on the road, hopefully Friday, will return to regular updates. xx
Finally some good news. Unfortunately, if the 12V battery has been sitting empty for a while then you may struggle to resurrect it.
Hi! John, yes, its a new battery too but am hoping the C-Tec will recover it sufficiently for the next leg. It’s such a joy to drive Poki again. The frustration and yes, some anger has melted away and this time next week we should be happily on our way again. Jen’s going to miss Wimbledon live on TV..:). Meanwhile the Ashes, Tudors and other YouTube travelers continue entertain us.
Dennis.
At the risk of telling grandma how to suck eggs – Calcium batteries which most now are – won’t charge properly from driving and will only charge fully from flat with the charger set to the CA mode
Hi Lindsay. So true but our CTEK charger has recovered to full.
I should have disconnected the battery when loading into the container but figured, from shipping company schedule, it would only be a couple of weeks. Yeah right!!!!