Christmas is coming !

Its December 1st and it's time to make a start - we'll be breaking up on the 24th and it's only around the corner. Meantime we have our seasonal lorry fully loaded and revving up. We look forward to seeing all of our clients over the next few weeks to wish them a happy Christmas and good luck for 2012.

Thanks to Izzy for the hours it must have taken to make this advent calender, every year something different and imaginative (and full of sweets).

Our office will be closed on December 26th and 27th and again on January 2nd otherwise we are fully operational.

Thanks again to everyone for your support in making 2011 such a success and we wish you all the best for 2012

The team
Eclipse worldwide Ltd

Top of the league

KETTERING ISE LODGE 3 KISLINGBURY 1

Eclipse Sponsored Ise Lodge Under 18s started the season with a win against a strong Kislingbury United team. The first 20mins was dominated by Ise and they were rewarded with a goal after full back Ryan Buckingham was fouled just outside the Kislinbury area, the resulting free kick found centre back Dean Houghton who drilled the ball home from 6 yards. Ise then lost concentration and conceded an equaliser 10 mins later, this spurred Kislingbury on and they were unlucky not to go in at half time leading after fine saves by Ise keeper Dec Oliver, a goal line clearance by Ryan Buckingham and a goal ruled out for offside. The 2^nd half was controlled by Ise and they took the lead on 65mins when Ashley Newman lobbed the keeper from 12 yards, Kislingbury should have scored 5 mins later when the forward was put through but keeper Dec Oliver raced off his line to block the shot,  Ise continued to press forward and in the 80^th min forward Steve Bright cut inside from the right to shoot low past the keeper to seal the win.

General Average - Hit Below The Waterline

I’m not trying to sell you insurance (although we’d be delighted to) I’m just happy to know that you have this aspect covered. I’ve been moving cargo for so long now – long enough to know there’s always the risk of being caught out. Everyone has heard of pilferage, accidental damage, lorry theft, water damage and so on. Something happens to your goods and you have insurance so you are covered.

Some people weigh up the costs of insurance over a given period compared to losses (particularly on robust/low value cargo) and decide it is cheaper to take, hopefully rare, hits.

Transporting cargo has always been viewed as a venture and all cargo owners with goods on a ship are partners in that venture. You share the risks.

An unseen torpedo that can sink your own venture is “General average” – even if your owngoods arrive intact and safe.  Say the ship ran aground or cargo was jettisoned in a storm then the ship owners can declare General Average and you, as party to the venture will be expected to contribute to the losses equally with everyone else.

Believe me - it doesn’t seem fair but it happens. “All risks” insurance covers you for a lot more than you may think.

Need I go on………………..

David Hall

Email enquiries - 100% response from Eclipse

Just read an article in our trade press saying many consolidators and shipping lines just don’t respond to email enquiries and yet if you ring them many now ask you to put your enquiry on an email in the first place, so you can’t win.

We’re no old reactionaries over here at Eclipse but we suspect this may be true and understand it’s massively frustrating if you can’t be sure you’ll get a reply and even worse if it makes you feel like your enquiry isn’t being treated as seriously as it should be. We embrace modern technology as much as any other forwarder in our industry but in our book good old fashioned personal service still has it’s place in business The difference between us and our competitors who leave you hanging in the ‘electronic’ air is, that all of our incoming email enquiries are read and acted on. You’ll never get a message telling you, “I’m on holiday right now so nobody will read your email for two weeks…” and you’ll never find yourself wondering why Eclipse didn't got back to you. We know it’s a fiercely competitive world out there and if someone takes the trouble to email us about something then we’re not going to pass up the opportunity to discuss it with them. We’ll get back to you.   

Tony Fitzgerald