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Track Your Boxes

Times & Bureaucracies of container arrival and release in Israel:
1 - Date Of Arrival, Port Ashdod means anytime within that date (24 hours) the ship will dock at Ashdod port.
     "Arrival at Port Ashdod" sometimes means that it lands at Port Chaifa, and is then transported to Port Ashdod by frieght train.
2 - Then container has to be unloaded, (anywhere from 5 hours to 2 days).
3 - If ship lands at Port Chaifa, container gets loaded onto freight train, (they usually wait till they fill up train, then it leaves for Port Ashdod - 4 hours to 2 days).
4 - Arrival in Port Ashdod, shipped to delegated warehouse, (a few hours) where it is then entered into computer, and customs broker can then start 'working' on it.
5 - Customes broker sends all documents to meches, and waits for an answer as to how meches would like to proceed. Meches' choices:
           a - free it immediately,
           b - spot check it, (they remove between 100-200 boxes, check most of them - if all OK, return them to the container & 'free' it)
           c - check most of the boxes
           d - x-ray container
           e - d & b
      Any of the above can take between 1 to 5 business days to release the container.
6 - Container is released, transport to Yerushalayim is sought (depending on time of day of release, availability of truck, etc. (6 to 8 hours)PM

Receivers should call our hotline @ 054-686-8705 on May 7 (shipment #95 that left NY on March 22) after 5:00 PM for instructions

It is the responsibility of the RECEIVER to find out the pick-up date and time.

As of:	Information
Erev Yom Tov Sunday	Container was processed, meches and port fees paid for yesterday. Meches ordered the container to be checked on Monday. Checked means entirely emptied, and they decide how many boxes to open. Inspection moved to Tuesday. Check back with us on Tuesday night (after 5:00 PM) for an update.
Tuesday Wednesday	Inspection showed multiple "illegal" items. Container was moved to an area where meches will empty the entire container and probably open every box for closer inspection, taking place on Wed. morning. Drove to Ashdod port a second time. Arrived ahead of time. Was told inspection will first take place on Sunday.
Sunday Night Tuesday	Spent the entire day at Ashdod port (third time) as meches removed every single box, opened every one of them, and removed "smugled" items. Then they returned all boxes back into the container (minus the "smugled" items). The container is now "seized" untill the uper offices decides how and what to do. The inspector said: no explosives, no drugs, but you were autherised to bring in only clothing. The expenses are now in the thousands. Lets try again on Tuesday, BEH thing will work itself out. All day long with paperwork going back and forth. They said that I'll probably get some kind of answer Wed morning/afternoon. Try again Wed night. Daven!
Wed Thurs	Just an email to wait till Thursday. Filled a form to allow them to destroy the 'illegal' items. As if they need my permission! We'll see what happens on Sunday. Daven!!!
Sun	Same form had to be emailed again. Won't happen today.
Mon	Emailed another form at 9:00 AM. Got back an answer at 3:45. Seems they can only do one step per day. In the meantime it's costing NIS 550/day for container storage.

Location	Alleyway behind Rechov Sorotzkin 9

	Drivers may call 054-686-8705 for directions after 1:00 PM on Pick-Up day. (but PLEASE don't call to ask "how many boxes", "what color are my boxes" etc, check that out with your SENDER)
	Please note: To avoid local residents complaining, and to prevent us paying a hefty municipal fine (440 Shekel/box) left on location , a gemach will pick up all boxes left over, after 9:30 PM, and it's theirs to keep. And NO, we cannot give anyone the location or phone number of the gemach. He was bothered too many times and at all hours. HIS conditions. Please don't ask me to break my promise to him. Without his service it would be impossible for me to unload the container at this very convenient (for all) location. Solution: Pick up your boxes on time!





	Dear Chaverim, we have in our data base 1398 email addresses of SENDERS, but only 375 RECEIVERS (and about 20% of these are inaccurate). PLEASE, get ahold of your RECEIVERS’ email addresses so we can inform them of incoming containers. Thanks













	Unfortunately, we were caught with illegal contents in a few boxes. The nezek right now stands at a little over of $1,300.00. We were lucky to have a good customs broker, who brokered a deal with the people in meches. (What saved us was showing them the contract everyone has to sign). Instead of confiscating the entire container and filing criminal charges against me, the seven boxes were removed and we paid 'only' the charge of destroying the contents, and their 'checking' costs, in addition to their administrative fees. Add to this the port fees at $120/day, and putting us on their 'to-be-checked' list! How does anyone have the chutzpa to endanger an entire lift? What heter does he have? As of this writing, (with our Rav's blessing) they are being sued in small claims court. The situation could've spiralled to about $ 30,000.00!!! Plus the cost of a criminal lawyer. We accepted a brokered p'shara of $2,500. Would you like to pay that amount? Costumer # 1071 had six boxes of illegal items (shoes, slippers), and costumer #1020 one box (meds). New member of the club: Costumer # 1074, 2 boxes (shoes, food, cell phone, meds, dentistry items, candies). Then again 1 box (mobile phones, chametz, meds,etc)!


	New New WhatsApp Service New New To improve our service, we are starting a WhatsApp broadcast system to keep you informed of container drop-offs and/or pick-ups. To join: 1 - Add Minchas Shlomo to your contact list, 2 – Use phone number +1-917-657-4200 (include the +1), 3 – Send us an email stating that you wish to join and your customer number (if you know it). Specify if you are a - SHIPPER (U.S.) or, b- RECEIVER (Israel). *You cannot be in both groups.* PLEASE, DO NOT use this WhatsApp to contact us, ever. Anyone who does will be removed from our broadcast list and blocked. If you need to communicate with us, please call or email. This communication system works in ONE DIRECTION only. We hope to better serve you with this new service.

	Estimated Future Container Drop-off dates (Sunday - Boro Park): June 21 Please check back. Always subject to change. ALWAYS recheck 1-2 weeks before date.