The satellite antenna is a vital part of every system, and in our history we have shipped every size from 1 Meter to 11 meters and strangely the larger the antenna the easier it is to ship.

Take an example earlier this week. We had a brand new Prodelin 2.4M C-band antenna shipped from Prodelin in North Carolina to our office in Florida. What a shock when the trucker delivered it!

Because our oil exploration client in Africa was desperate for the system, and so we had no choice to accept the battered looking package. The good news was that there was only minimal damage to the reflector, and those few scrapes would not affect the antenna performance, and so we made a decision to accept the package and send it to our professional packing company to be re-packed for overseas shipment to Africa.

We don’t have the same problems with the large antennas because they ship in sealed containers, and as long as we pack them correctly they arrive at their destination without shipping damage. Come to think of it, even that statement is only partially true!

In June of last year we shipped an 11 meter Andrew antenna to a good client in Zimbabwe. Our clients normally give us feedback after receiving the equipment, but in this case a several months had passed and I had not heard from David about his antenna deployment. So I sent him a quick email asking him for an update and got a very short email back with the following link

http://www.seanews.com.tr/article/TURSHIP/HOTN/44866/

Apparently the delivery steamship followed a route that took it close to Somalia and I think that you can guess the rest. The ship the MSC Panama was hijacked and our eleven meter Andrew ended up hostage along with everything else on the ship.

We do try our best to ensure that shipping is trouble free, if it goes by air, or goes by ocean, but there are some factors that are out of our control.

We would like to offer some advice to our clients. When we ship the cartons or crates are in perfect condition and so when they arrive at the destination we ask our clients first to inspect the outside of the box, take photographs of any damage and then insist on making a note of the damage on the delivery manifest.

Exterior damage does not always mean that the contents have been damaged and in most cases they have not. On those few occasions that the contents are damaged, insurance will reject the claim unless some damage notation was placed on the manifest at the time that the delivery was accepted.

We ask our clients to contact us immediately upon receiving goods if they suspect that shipping damage has occurred.