What Can I Say?
I talked with Steve Fithian this morning after I had sent him the latest update from yesterday. The new latest schedule did not bear any resemblance to what he had been told by YachtPath. I asked if he would be so kind as to look into this and report back what YachtPath said today.
Steve did call and related that this vessel, the Da Qiang, is “the one”, it is one they have had scheduled all along and would definitely go and my boat would definitely be on it. After it leaves South America, it has a stop in Tampa and then on to Port Everglades. Steve has been great in going the extra mile to use his sources to help get to the truth.
Later this morning, I called Dennis Cummings, the president of YachtPath, as he had never called me back as he had promised, in writing, for the past two days. His reason why he did not “call back within the hour” is he had “Nothing to say”. Whatever!
The story Dennis is telling today is that the Da Qiang is anchored outside the Port of Guayaquil, Ecuador, which I knew, and where the boat has been anchored for the last week.
Da Qiang Swinging on Her Anchor
Apparently there is some problem with the letter of credit and it will not unload its cargo until that is resolved. Then it goes to Honduras to make a pickup and then direct to Port Everglades.
I see many holes in this plan. First, they are working on an extension of their pick-up schedule. If that gets cancelled due to the delay, then they will not come to Port Everglades. The latest date of December 26th is in serious jeopardy since, by my calculation, the boat would have to leave Guayaquil today to make it to Port Everglades by the 26th; and the plan assumes no delays.
So Dennis’ last promise is that he would do some calculations and see what the likely transit time is and send that to me. (Of course, I have already done this in advance, so I know the answer.) He would also send the latest update when he gets it from the shipping company.
Of course, I fully expect that none of this will happen. It if does, it would be a first.