Cargo crisis: 85 days and still counting

DUBAI: A cargo company customer is miffed as her personal stuff meant for a fiesta in her hometown remained undelivered more than 85 days after it was picked up in Dubai.

Irene Manlapaz, a Dubai Media City staff, said freight forwarder Dagupan Cargo collected her package on May 2 and promised to deliver it within 45 days (around June 17) to her house in Apalit town, Pampanga, Philippines.

Numerous phone calls and e-mails to the company yielded nothing, she said.

On leave

On June 24, the forwarder promised Manlapaz, who by then was in the Philippines on leave, that the cargo would be delivered on June 30. Manlapaz postponed her flight back to Dubai by two days to July 2 in order to receive the shipment.

Still, there was no delivery.

"I wonder where it is right now," said Manlapaz, who flew back to Dubai. "When I called again to check on the cargo's status, they said they will make sure that the cargo will be delivered on July 11."

But when she called the company on July 11, they told her to wait another week. On July 18, a Dubai agent of Dagupan told her the cargo was with Manila Customs. "When I followed up the same issue with the agent [in Manila], they said they were waiting for their (Dagupan Cargo) advice to have the package released as there was an issue over an unpaid balance."

Company response

Ed Aningbatan, owner of Dagupan Cargo, said two of their container vans (No 299 and 230) were delayed "due to circumstances beyond our control. The ship carrying our two containers left Dubai a week late because the shipping company waited for more cargo to be loaded to avert losses," said Aningbatan. He said customs had released the cargo on July 26 and deliveries were to start from July 27, adding that Manlapaz's box would be delivered "before the end of this week".