News

LM2 Online news for December

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat!

This year it may have to be goose because of the apparent shortage of turkeys after the bird flu outbreak in Norfolk. So if you’re after a turkey come the 25th make sure you get your order in nice and early, the same goes for your transport needs. As Christmas approaches a kind of fever descends over our industry with everyone desperately trying to get their stuff everywhere at once. If you have goods that need to be shipped before Christmas please make sure you allow enough time. Call us if you have a specific need. The closer it gets to Christmas and the New Year period the more expensive things tend to get as capacity gets squeezed. We’re available all over the Christmas period with the exception of Christmas Day itself and will try to help with anything you need.

Fuel Surcharges

The cost of fuel continues to go up and up and this is having a direct impact on pricing. As an example the fuel surcharge has shown the following increases for airfreight:

Up to 30th November 46p per kilo
From 1st December 49p per kilo
From 8th December 53p per kilo

Road hauliers are also adjusting their fuel surcharges on a regular basis. Please bear this in mind when getting a quote from us or from any other transport company. In reality the quote will only be valid for that day and you may want to uplift your cost to your customer to cover any rises in the price of fuel. This seems to be a situation that is going to be with us for a while but if there are any developments, we’ll let you know.

LM2 and the environment

Like most companies these days we are aware of the impact that our activities could have on the wider environment. Just by the way we’re set up we are a low impact organisation but we thought we’d let you know what we do to keep it to a minimum.

Both of us work from home which means we don’t need to commute to an office and pump any CO2 in to the atmosphere.

Our offices are equipped with energy saving light bulbs.

Our computers get turned off in the evening when we finish for the day and aren’t left on standby.

We subcontract all our work to existing vehicle and fleet owners so that we don’t need to add to the number of vehicles on the road.

The vast majority of the freight that we place is consolidated so utilises existing services and doesn’t add to traffic numbers.

It may not seem like much but, like Tesco, we think that ‘every little helps’.

Public Holidays

As we approach the Christmas season it’s probably wise to know who will be open to receive your goods if you need to send them. The list below isn’t exhaustive by any means and if you are sending to a country not on the list call us and we’ll check it for you.

December 2007

6th Independence Day: Finland
8th Immaculate Conception: Austria, Italy, Portugal, Spain
24th Emperors Birthday: Japan
24th Christmas Eve: Denmark
25th Christmas Day: All EU, USA, Canada, Australia, Christian countries.
26th Boxing Day: Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Holland, Sweden, Ireland

January 2008

1st New Years Day: Worldwide
7th Epiphany: Austria, Finland, Greece, Italy, Spain, Sweden
8th Coming of Age Day: Japan
15th Martin Luther King Day: USA

Aircraft Engineering funnies:

After every flight, Qantas pilots fill out a form, called a “gripe sheet,” which tells mechanics about problems with the aircraft. The mechanics correct the problems, document their repairs on the form, and then pilots review the gripe sheets before the next flight. Never let it be said that ground crews lack a sense of humor.

Here are some actual maintenance complaints submitted by Qantas’ pilots (marked with a P) and the solutions recorded (marked with an S) by maintenance engineers.

By the way, Qantas is the only major airline that has never had an accident. Enjoy!

P: Left inside main tire almost needs replacement.
S: Almost replaced left inside main tire.
P: Test flight OK, except auto-land very rough.
S: Auto-land not installed on this aircraft.
P: Something loose in cockpit.
S: Something tightened in cockpit.
P: Dead bugs on windshield.
S: Live bugs on back-order.
P: Autopilot in altitude-hold mode produces a 200 feet per minute descent.
S: Cannot reproduce problem on ground.
P: Evidence of leak on right main landing gear.
S: Evidence removed.
P: DME volume unbelievably loud.
S: DME volume set to more believable level.
P: Friction locks cause throttle levers to stick.
S: That’s what they’re for.
P: IFF inoperative.
S: IFF always inoperative in OFF mode.
P: Suspected crack in windshield.
S: Suspect you’re right.
P: Number 3 engine missing.
S: Engine found on right wing after brief search.
P: Aircraft handles funny.
S: Aircraft warned to straighten up, fly right, and be serious.
P: Target radar hums.
S: Reprogrammed target radar with lyrics.
P: Mouse in cockpit.
S: Cat installed.
And the best one for last...
P: Noise coming from under instrument panel. Sounds like a midget pounding on something with a hammer.
S: Took hammer away from midget.