From: Witold Grzymala-Busse (wbusse@ips-networking.com)
Date: Wed Jan 14 2004 - 12:55:53 PST
I am sure many of us have looked at the govliquidation website and lusted
after the M-939 series trucks from Hawaii going for nothing or next to
nothing. I did and one foolish day last year in June I bought a m-923a1 for
$295.00, at first I was shocked and I had no idea on how to get it back to
CONUS. Here is my story:
Things heated up in October when I got a call from the site saying they
would reposes my truck if I did not get it moved out. So I started research
the topic. There are only two companies that ship goods to and from Hawaii
to CONUS, partly I am sure because on the Jones Act (unsure of the name).
This act mandates that shipping between states is done only by American
companies by American crews with American ships. The two companies are
Madson and Horizons. Getting a quote from them is pretty straight forward
and does not take a lot of time. They ask you the commodity type and the
size of a container you need. You can have them load you container but that
is expensive. Basically you have two options- Containers and Flat racks.
Looking at the Containers there are two lengths 20 foot and 40 foot, then
there are the heights - either 8' or a high cube 9'6".
Because of the M-939 size a flat rack is the only option. But there is a
problem. Container ships have standardized holds, this means that
everything needs to fit into a 8 foot wide, 40 or 20 foot long foot print
and the combined height of the container- flat rack with truck should not be
taller than 8'. On a flat rack you max height of the cargo is 6'7" If you
look at a M-939 with super singles that is a daunting task, here are some
of the things that need to be taken off, cab top, tires, air intake,
exhaust, spare tire holder and then the truck will pass the height. BTW,
the width is an inch over 8' so you hope the dock workers look the other
way. Because if the cargo is deemed to large for the cargo hold of a
container ship, it can be classified as conventional cargo and the cost of
transport doubles. When you go get your rate, remember this, different
commodities have different costs of transport, i.e. a running truck costs
more than a non-running parts truck vs. a farm implement. Of the two
companies I found Horizons cheaper by about $800 and also more flexible.
Once you get a quote you like, you will need a shipping number that is given
to you (I forgot the official name for this number). This number is used by
your trucking company to pick up your flat rack or container and drop it off
somewhere where you can load your truck. I used a wrecker company on hawaii
(No name mentioned - I was very unsatisfied with there service) to pick up
my truck and they subcontracted the trucking for me. (Loading the truck at
the pear is very expensive, this way is cheaper). Finally the truck is
dropped of the port and within two weeks it is in CONUS, either in Oakland
CA or Tacoma WA.
A note on flat racks and containers. If you get a containers, you can have
it shipped by rail to a rail junction in CONUS for very little, a flat rack
stays at the port! I got a hold of Platt and Associates out of Utah as the
truck broker and they a trucker to pick up my truck and ship it to KS, (Try
to get a LTL, less than load, rate!). The guys at Platt were excellent as
were the Horizons people at Oakland, (I had several problems with unload my
truck in Oakland) And finally my truck came to KS last Thursday.
Overall, the truck is rusty. Rust is found everywhere, I think because of
the salty air in Hawaii, however it is a great project vehicles, it is
complete and should be a fun project. One of the things that it had is the
SLAVE CABLE for jumping trucks!! as well as all the tools that come with the
truck. This summer will be a busy summer for me getting this vehicle
running.
If I had to do it over, I probably would do it again, however there are
some things I would change, I would not use the same towing company, the
towing company I used to remove the truck from the base and load it on the
rack, lied or misinformed me many times, for instance, they never dropped
the shaft like they said they would nor were the load binders and chains
new, that I had to pay for to secure the truck to the flat rack. Finally
the dimensions of the truck where not below 6'7" height wise, it is a small
miracle that I did not pay extra for shipping.
If anybody else bought a truck in Hawaii and want to get it back to CONUS
and needs help just drop me a line, I did it and it was a lot of very
stressful fun!
WGB
P.S. The shipping was many times more expensive than the truck itself!!!
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