On Tuesday, 3 June 2014, CHS traffic manager Elisabeth Palander – known as Iisa among her colleagues – received a phone call from our agent in France concerning an urgent delivery of electronics products.
This, of course, is quite normal in the everyday life of a logistics company, but in this case it soon dawned to Iisa that the delivery was from Finland to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso – a destination which usually comes up as the tricky question in a TV Quiz Show.
So… How should we proceed?
According to the CHS customer service promise, we shall tackle challenges, and “everything is possible” 24/7. Based on our school geography lessons, we can place the desired destination somewhere in Africa and a quick Google search helps to further focus Burkina Faso into the western Africa between Mali, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. As the delivery is urgent and it must be at the final destination on Friday, 6 June, a courier is needed from the start. After a quick check at the CHS office, we find that Tero Kalatie could leave without delay. Somebody comments that a certificate of appropriate vaccinations will be needed to enter Burkina Faso. Tero is urged to go immediately to a health centre.
Iisa contacts the dispatcher of the goods which turns out to be a big international electronics company. Finding the right contact person in a sizable organisation takes some effort, but is necessary, as the information at hand at this point is insufficient. However, she quite quickly finds out that the goods must be transported as hand luggage. This poses a challenge, as contrary to initial information, the weight of the consignment has changed from 5 kilos to 33 kilos and the capacity with packaging is 0.5 cubic metres. It is concluded that Tero will be able to transport the goods as hand luggage if he travels light otherwise. In the meantime, a check has been made that the consignment needs an export permit from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Finland.
All the necessary documents from the dispatcher and from the official bodies involved are at the CHS office in the morning of Friday, 6 June. The only thing missing now is the Customs permit for the transportation. We now find out that the vaccine for yellow fever becomes effective only after a week from the moment of vaccination and this must be proven upon entering Ouagadougou. This means that Tero, who received the vaccine only three days before, will not be able to travel to Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso – nor can anyone else from CHS. A quick contact is made with our agent in France and a mutual decision is taken that Tero will deliver the goods to this agent in Paris, who will take it and deliver further. A flight from Helsinki to Paris is booked for Tero. According to the schedule, the flight will depart in the afternoon and is due in Paris early in the same evening.
An hour before the flight the Customs permit for the transportation arrives. Tero carries the consignment of 33 kilos and 0.5 cubic metres to the check-in counter. The flight arrives on time at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Finnair has sent someone to meet Tero. This person is unable to carry the consignment alone, and Tero helps him to deliver the package to the office of the CHS agent in Paris – the poor bloke was quite exhausted even from carrying the consignment together with Tero. He, however, saw Tero close to midnight to his hotel, where he had to kill time waiting for his return flight to Helsinki. Paris was namely quite “closed” due to the 70th anniversary celebration of the Battle of Normandy. But all is well that ends well – the requested delivery was successfully accomplished as planned.
Kaikki tarvittavat paperit tavarantoimittajalta ja viranomaisilta ovat meillä perjantaiaamuna 6.6. Enää puuttuu tullin lupa kuljetukselle. Tässä vaiheessa käy ilmi, että keltakuumerokote astuu voimaan vasta viikon päästä rokotuksen antamisesta ja tämä pitää todistaa Ouagadougouhun saavuttaessa. Tero ei siis voikaan lähteä Ouagadougouhun Burkina Fasoon – eikä kukaan muukaan CHS:stä. Otetaan pikainen yhteys edustajaamme Ranskassa ja sovitaan, että Tero tuo lähetyksen edustajalle Pariisiin, joka ottaa sen vastaan ja toimittaa eteenpäin. Varataan lennot Terolle. Lento Helsingistä Pariisiin lähtee iltapäivällä ja on perillä ajoissa alkuillasta.
Tuntia ennen koneen lähtöä saamme tullilta luvan kuljetukseen.
Tero kantaa itse lähetyksen (jonka mitat ovat siis 33 kg ja 0,5 m3) lähtöselvitystiskille. Lento saapuu ajoissa Pariisin Charles de Gaulle -kentälle. Finnair oli lähettänyt kaverin vastaanottamaan Teroa. Tämä tarvitsi kuriirimme apua paketin toimittamisessa edustajamme toimistoon Pariisissa – oli kuulemma ”aivan hapoilla” yhteiskantamisestakin. Ystävällisesti hän kuitenkin toimitti Teron iltamyöhällä hotelliin, missä tämä joutui odottelemaan seuraavana päivänä paluulennon lähtöä, sillä Pariisissa oli kaikki kiinni, kun vietettiin Normandian maihinnousun 70-vuotismuistopäivää. Tavaran toimitus onnistui kuitenkin suunnitelmien mukaan.
Ja tarina jatkuu… Seuraavalle viikolle on kirjattu samalta toimittajalta samalle vastaanottajalle Burkina Fasossa uusia lähetyksiä.
CHS – everything is possible
Contact Us
Call us or send an email.
We will help you find the best solutions for your logistics.