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<\/a>Completely out of nowhere one of Steve\u2019s emails was answered by a man called Richard Dexter at Bluefreight, an Australian based International Freight Forwarder. Richard explains, \u201cSteve found the Bluefreight website on an internet search and approached us to assist on the Australia to New Zealand leg. I responded by advising him that we were members of a network of like-minded forwarders, called Globalink, and our members could assist globally. I then offered to become the logistics planner and the point of contact with our global members\u201d. The rest as we say, is history. Richard Dexter\u2019s intervention had single handedly brought the expedition back on track and removed shipping as a \u201cshowstopper\u201d.<\/p>\nRichard, who has 13 years experience in importing and exporting wanted to help out for two reasons as he explains; Firstly, \u201cI have been personally affected by cancer through my sister and secondly, knowing logistics and various countries import and export idiosyncrasies as I do. I could foretell some disasters waiting to happen, so I figured that with my global connections we could make the journey a little less stressful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Richard, you are not wrong! Just to put the complexity of the job in hand into context, at the time of writing, the Pacific crossing was only confirmed yesterday, and the Atlantic crossing remains unconfirmed. This situation is entirely normal in the world of shipping but imagine the problems for Steve trying to organise this on the road, as opposed to Richard project managing, it would have been impossible. The amount of time, the effort and money that Richard and Bluefreight\/Globalink have saved FTFE by giving their time and expertise is staggering.<\/p>\n
In addition to the actual shipping routes and times, I must mention the protocol on arrival at the various ports. This was something that we were all unaware of and are entirely reliant on Richard to hand hold us through the entire process. We can\u2019t just arrive at a port, drive Martha into a crate and shut the door! Job done! Steve explains, \u201cThere\u00a0are a whole host of procedures including steam cleaning, a period quarantine, packing, organising a crane to do the lifting, and we haven\u2019t even mentioned the mountains of paperwork\u00a0involved. Three days should do it\u2026\u2026we hope!\u201d In under a month we\u2019ll experience this for the first time when we ship from Singapore to Perth.<\/p>\n
From Richard\u2019s initial reply his involvement has certainly snowballed, to put it mildly, quite possibly due to Steve\u2019s enthusiasm and persuasion. Richard adds, \u201cSteve is a real character and certainly and adventurous one. It was more the cause that impressed me as much as the attempt at a Guinness Book of Records entry, although I can\u2019t see anyone else attempting this journey in a fire engine.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/a>As mentioned above, Richard arranged Globalink\u2019s participation with the CEO Bill Siemens. He introduced FTFE at the last Globalink Annual Conference in Phuket and enlisted members in the countries that FTFE is travelling through to help with border crossings and customs etc. Richard adds, \u201cSandy Bedi at Jet was extremely helpful and critical to the success of the opening stages, particularly with border crossing assistance on Stages 1 and 2.\u201d This has been of fundamental importance to date as the expedition would still be sitting at the Russian border! Richard continues, \u201cthe interesting part was the willingness of the Globalink members wanting to pitch in profit free to assist, and a huge thank you must be provided to the shipping line, NAPA Service and their agency, Partner Shipping Global for providing free transport and berths for the Australia\/NZ and NZ\/USA legs\u201d. Globalink have also donated USD2000 to FTFE on top of everything else.<\/p>\n Richard has gone on to arrange shipping from Singapore to Australia, Australia to New Zealand, New Zealand to USA and USA to Morocco. He is writing about FTFE in each issue of Bluefreight\u2019s newsletter keeping his clients\/agents\/associated parties in the loop, as well as updating his own website with Steve\u2019s http:\/\/www.bluefreight.com\/AnnouncementRetrieve.aspx?ID=38135<\/a> Richard is based out of Melbourne and he is also running a media campaign in Australia and some fund raising events in Adelaide and Melbourne, amazing.<\/p>\n Finally, Steve likes to run a tight ship (excuse the pun), \u201cnot in an OCD way, I just want to make sure I have covered everything\u201d adds Steve. To this end Steve points out that Richard has been so incredibly patient dealing with his numerous questions often beginning with, \u201cjust one more question\u201d, \u201cno seriously this is the last question\u201d. I asked Richard what he thought of Steve and whether he could pull it off. \u201cBrave, a little crazy and I am envious, although I would have picked a better vehicle that wouldn\u2019t require constant chiropractic work on a daily basis\u201d, says Richard. He goes on to say, \u201cI think he has covered the hardest parts of the journey now, in terms of terrain, although parts of\u00a0Asia will be tough, Australia, NZ and USA will be a Sunday drive in comparison.\u201d<\/p>\n Bluefreight and Jet are both members of the Globalink network. www.glnk.com<\/a> www.jet-intl.com<\/a> www.bluefreight.com<\/a><\/p>\n Paul Barham<\/p>\n