Ok. Got my 4.5 hours of sleep. Time to get up and go to work. Hmm, the challenge of the day ??? what shall it be?  Oh yeah, the shipment of household goods to Indonesia ... the last really big hurdle over the next couple of weeks.  Ok, here's the issue.

Entitlement Leaving Angola - Entitlement is 4 LDN crates (crates that can fit on a plane).  That is equivalent to a TOTAL volume of approx 7ft x 7ft x 7ft - weight 2000-2600 pounds.  Method of shipment - Air.

Entitlement Arriving in Indonesia - Entitlement is a 40 ft container .... that is something about 7ft x 7 ft x 40 ft ..... or notionally 6 times the volume leaving Angola.  Method of shipment - Ocean.

Also, for Indonesia (because ocean freight is so slow ... and I won't see that shipment until probably November or December) I am entitled to four dish boxes of 10 cu ft each; which is an approx +15% when compared to the 4 LDNs.  Method of shipment - Air.

Seems our company's "Center of Excellence" (CoE) is really struggling with this.  They've "only" had 6 weeks to figure out that the "answer" is .... air cargo my 4 boxes, air freight my 4 LDNs, and ocean freight my stuff that is sitting in storage in the US (some since 2000, some since 2002) ... all of which will be far less than the 40 ft container limit.

What did they do after 6 weeks of pondering?  They authorized only the 4 LDNs.  Now, I don't know about you folks, but just think about putting everything 4 people own in 7ft x 7ft x 7ft ... that's not much space and means that we pretty much have to throw away / give away / sell >50% of everything we have here in Angola.

I am scrambling to find "reasonable" people in the company, and think I have found an ally in Houston.  They say they are working the problem with the Singapore office ... but it will be "behind the scenes" and like a "black box" for a few days.  I can manage the silence ... I just hope they give me an answer soon.

Here's the "ugh" kicker.  They expect me to finalize and send to them ASAP a detailed inventory valuation list so they can take out the insurance .... I've basically done that assuming certain things ... but it is pretty had to finalize the list if they can't tell me what I can take .... think about:  "Sir, tell me exactly what you have in your boxes".  "Madam, tell me how many boxes I have and then I will tel you what is in them".  "Sir, no, I need to know right now what you have ... and while you are doing that I will think about whether or not you can have 4 LDNs, 4 boxes, and one 40 ft container ... or some combination thereof"

Ah the joys of working for one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world ....