Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Africa Okay, New shipping plan in the works!

Here is what we have decided to do and how we think we will have a business edge, and a better result.

We have the trophies from 35-50 hunters a year to ship. This can be several hundred either mounted or just dip and pack.

The Shipping and the Dip Pack is out of control as we know. Taxidermists want to do the taxidermy in RSA, not send the work overseas. So they crank up the cost of the dip pack to challenge the hunters to see that taxidermy is not that much more expensive and there is no dip fee when taxidermy is completed.

So we are going to buy, and establish our own dip pack operation. The investment will be fairly significant, but we may also be able to contract out the services done in our facility to a dip pack company. That's still a looming discussion/ decision.

It will drop the cost of the dip pack by 50% and decrease time to complete by 50% or more. We will also have the operation under our thumbs so to speak overseeing all that is involved. I may have to move back temporarily to organize all this.

Now the next piece of the puzzle is shipping. My Partner's exact words were F the shippers, I'm going to have a container dropped here and once it's full I will ship a whole container over by sea. No way we are playing this game with the air shipping companies any more.

Positive side here is cost reduction in a big way. In our preliminary research on the price we used an exact example from a recent air shipment and had the sea train quote it as part of a hypothetical container shipment. The cost for that single trophy shipment went from 1550 bucks to 280 bucks.

Negative side, the container must go to one port to be cleared. This means shipping across country in the USA however that should be easily absorbed in the far lower shipping charges over seas.

Possible delay in shipping trophies because we need a full container before we ship to save the money.

On the other hand, with the much faster dip pack time line there might be a break even time line.

We are also thinking this could grow for us with other outfitters using our facilities and shipping using our containers. Then the frequency of shipping would be much faster. The charges for us will be to pay our employees a great salary benefit package to hire professionals, but not to have a markup on our own customers. Just the cost to ship. Where it's a reasonable profit making operation comes from the other outfitters using available space in our containers. Not to mention having this as part of our business going forward will certainly increase the interest in the folks hunting with us.

If we do this it will be by container ship which is about 10days travel by sea. In the grand scheme of the time line 2 days flying or 10 days by sea is not much difference when the whole process is 6 months or so.

In anycase we are on this for solutions. I'm not throwing in the towel. We are a hunting operation, not a trophy prep and shipping business. However, I have the hunting part down pretty good. This might be the time to expand into a bigger operation which aids in the hunting business.

I think the more that YOU can control for your clients the better.

As someone that would like to hunt Africa at some point in the future, having better idea of prices ahead of time and knowing that I have one company to work with from start to finish would be a lot more reassuring since it would take out some of the unknowns.

JJ: Great idea and I wish you luck. From a client perspective, in 2011 I spent about $1000 to get 1 Zebra skin back to the US that showed up with numerous patches of slipped hair. We are still waiting for 2 zebra skins and 2 buffalo skulls from a hunt that was completed 7 Sept 2014. After paying about $1600 the shipment is still in Africa. Bromley Gameskin Tannery emailed on 7/6/2015:" Hi
The trophies have been with the freight agent for a while now.
They have been unable to send due the Reserve bank delaying in issuing Track a Hunt Safaris with the acquittal numbers. These have now been issued. I will ask the freight agent to contact you re the shipment.
Best regards
Tracey Swan"
Anything you can put together would be better than this. The bar has not been set very high.

JJ,

If I'm not mistaken, you only run hunts in RSA, where they don't have dangerous game (much).

Could you make some arrangement with other outfitters to ship lion, buff, and leopard trophies taken in Zimbabwe or Namibia, perhaps by transshipment to your facility in RSA?

I don't have an interest in making this a business. My intent is to use this service for my hunters in our camp. Then to get a container full offer space to other outfitters.

We can hunt all the big five. Our business zim bot and Moz. Just need to know what is needed.

I don't advertise these hunts because I get absolutely overwhelmed with tire kickers and time wasting conversations


When somebody is serious I'll take every second of time needed to sort it for them.

Sounds like it has potential. I hope the sea shippers don't latch on to Cecilmania.

JJ,

You're a ray of sunshine! I hope the endeavor works, and works well. I'd like to do a second safari at some point and after the discussion of cost, I had all but written it off.

JJ,
All the best of luck. We've been doing our homework on this for 2 years now, with it being planned for roll out this year. There are a lot of hidden variables that you will find as you go along. So much so, that it is still on hold.

All the best, hope you can make it happen.

Jim - Great idea. I hope it works out for both you and your hunters. Personally, I'm past the point of "taxidermy" in my hunting career. It's pictures only for me, but this is a great service for your hunters. Things like this are one of the reasons I always recommend your operation to fellow hunters.

Tom Z.

Thanks Everyone,

The Dip and Pack is easy, that's 90% sorted already.

The container is the bigger gamble. It's not an inexpensive proposition for us to take on. There is also the silly little things like where and for how long it sits in one place to have the temperature controlled, Can't have it sitting in the sun, and can't put it someplace were it will get rodent infestation. These kinds of things are all part of the whole picture. I need to be certain that once locked shut with crates full of hides and skins it's secure for months at a time. Another issue is the dates ships sail require containers to be staged in the shipping yard for a while before they load them on the boat. What is the situation with that sealed container sitting in the 90 deg sun for a month? I'm not saying this is the situation, just the kinds of questions still unanswered.

I'm not about to have 200 dip and pack trophies roasting in the blistering heat getting destroyed in a giant metal box.

Getting a container dropped off and picked up is easy, it's just money. So the saga continues, just know that I'm not sitting on my hands here crying about this. We are looking for another plan. Something will come from this. At a minimum a dip pack operation is going to become a reality.

JJ & KMG;
great idea, and I wish the best of success to you in your endeavors. With re: to the metal shipping containers and heat....have you ever thought of putting them in refridgerator(sp?) units, and using solar panels to supply the required energy to keep them cool? I know it would require a great deal of energy to freeze them and keep them frozen, but maybe you could put in something akin to a portable A/C unit to keep the containers cool and from cooking the hides/horns.
.....just an idea; you may have already thought of it.

Again, good luck......

The amount of solar power needed to run a compressor is unrealistic. The starting inrush is too high to be practical for the expense.

The container will be indoors when we have it. However when staged at the shipping yard is the concern. We will get a plan together

JJ is correct.
Solar is so far behind in Africa, it's not a viable option yet.

Another problem with solar is they would have to be all enclosed in a giant metal cage to prevent theft of any loose piece that could be taken off and stolen.

The cage would likely be more expensive then the contents! It's a sad situation in RSA that if it can be stolen, it will be.