#and then one of the purchases was on 'awaiting delivery to warehouse'

[thistaleisabloodyone]

The purchase of the new CyberHelix cards got cancelled, which is Frustrating because that's why I bought any cards today, but I did use the refund to go buy two new auctions. Still getting the basic versions of the two Riku cards, but the one with the shiny signature is a no-go 😩

[ayejayque]

The usefulness of managing inventories

Interlinked and overlapping functions exist in all businesses. The backbone of any business delivery function is logistics, supply chain management, and inventory management. That makes these functions as important to marketing managers as they are to financial controllers. Managing the inventory is a very vital task that gives you a complete picture of the supply chain. It is also reflected in the financial health as seen on the balance sheet. All organizations strive to keep an optimum inventory. That enables it to meet all its requirements. Over or under-inventory is avoided. It directly impacts the financial figures. Inventory is always on the move. Meticulous control through planning and review, and constant and careful watch on internal and external factors are essential requirements for managing the inventory. Most organizations have professionally qualified inventory planners. They constantly monitor, control, and review the inventory. They also interface and liaise with production, procurement, and finance departments. What actually is inventory Inventory is an idle stock of physical goods. These goods have a certain economic value. Organizations hold on to them in assorted forms. They are held because they await packaging, processing, alteration, use, or sale at some point in time in the future. The organizations that are involved in manufacturing, trading, selling, and servicing a certain product, hold stock of assorted physical resources. These resources are kept for future consumption and sale. Keeping inventory is a mandatory compulsion of businesses. Different businesses keep inventories for different reasons. The reasons could be speculative, functional, or even physical needs. Keeping in mind the points above, we reach the following verdicts with reference to inventory: - Production, manufacturing, and selling organizations have to hold an inventory in one form or another. - Inventory can be in a completely finished state or even in an incomplete or partially complete state. - Inventory is managed for future consumption, future sales, and future processing/value addition. - All resources held in the inventory have an economic value. They even count as assets of the business. The various kinds of inventory Materials inventory is a necessity at all stages and departments of an organization. A business concerned with manufacturing should hold an inventory comprising raw materials and consumables that are essential for production. Partially finished goods are also kept in the inventory. The finished goods are held in an inventory located at the plant, stores, and distribution hubs. Raw materials and finished goods that are in transit at different stages are also kept in the inventory. Goods that are finished are held by organizations at their stocking junctions or even with the dealers and warehouses, till the time they reach the market and then the end users. Other than raw materials and finished goods, organizations keep spare parts for servicing products in the inventory too. There is a designated place in the inventory warehouse for defective products, scrap, and defective parts provided these have an economic value and are part of the inventory records of the company. Kinds of inventory with respect to functions INPUT PROCESS OUTPUT Raw materials Work in process Finished goods Consumables required for processing. E.g.: fuel, stationary, bolts & nuts, etc. Required in manufacturing Partially completed production, in various stages, stored with various departments like production, WIP stores, QC, final assembly, paint shop, packing, outbound store, etc. Finished goods at distribution centers throughout the supply chain Maintenance items/consumables Production waste and scrap Finished goods in transit Packing materials Rejections and defectives Finished goods with stockiest and dealers Locally purchased items required for production Spare parts stocks & bought out items Defectives rejects and sales returns Repaired stock and parts Sales promotion & sample stocks Read the full article

[transformhubb]

Importance Of Data Architecture In The Age of Digital Transformation

Understanding and swiftly adjusting to the shifting behaviors and expectations of digital users are prerequisites for a successful digital engagement. They need data, analytics, and applications to adapt to real-time digital processing for their digital experiences, which calls for a next-generation enterprise digital data architecture.  

The gap between businesses that successfully use data and those that don't, according to our experience and deliverables in digital transformation services in Singapore, corresponds to a 1% margin boost for leaders. 

A business need is the capacity to quickly use cutting-edge technology to supply goods and services in previously impossible ways. On the other hand, any company that does not leverage integrated digital transformation solutions and new technology runs the danger of being irrelevant to modern consumers. 

Some of the most rapidly expanding global businesses are ‘born digital’, which implies that the power of digital is ingrained into the very fabric of their business strategies. Consumer expectations have been molded in several different ways by these and other cutting-edge businesses.  

It seems that customers have come to assume that by just clicking a few buttons, a cab will be at their location in a matter of minutes. Or that the entertainment service they select would suggest programs that they are most likely to appreciate. Or that the movie or other stuff they're seeking will be delivered instantaneously through social media networks. 

What technological elements support digital transformation, and what should you think about if you want to advance your company? The trendy, cutting-edge ones attract the greatest interest, and although you should invest in those that will offer you an advantage, it's equally critical to think about the data architecture required to support them. The crucial but sometimes disregarded component of digital transformation solutions is what can be referred to as data architecture. 

Data: Core of the Digital Transformation  

Let's take a look at how modern digital consumers purchase to better grasp the requirement for data sharing and analytics at high speed and scale. 

Imagine Sarah, an individual using a search engine or social media platform. She comes across an advertisement for something that’s on her mind. The advertisement directs her to an e-commerce website, where she may view the item that drew her attention while the site suggests further items that she might enjoy. She may verify the date of delivery to her address once she has chosen her selections and made her purchase. 

The website is completing her purchase by optimizing delivery routes and warehouses while she awaits her package. Her order is fulfilled, and the e-commerce website reviews her preferences to offer her more products, services, or discounts in the future. 

This type of purchase is made possible by the data that is practically examined in real-time. 

The data and search are optimized by many top digital transformation companies like TransformHub. Data architecture includes this as a key component. 

Real-time analytics and predictive modeling are used to provide suggestions. They retrieve information from several systems, including the user profile, purchase history, and the search terms being used in the current session. 

Customer’s delivery address and the locations of the warehouses are analyzed to determine the optimum delivery route and schedule, which optimizes order fulfillment. 

Digital transformation solutions have been realized by retailers that effectively meet consumer expectations and innovate consistently in marketing, design, distribution, support, and other areas. 

This transformation is based on scalable, linked, and smart models. Some established companies have effectively adapted by implementing an omnichannel strategy and combining physical and digital procedures.  

This physical and digital integration now encompasses marketing and supply chain management procedures in addition to sales channels. A smart strategy used by many companies offering digital transformation services in Singapore.  

Digital Architecture Framework & Its Significance 

There are two key elements that digital architecture must consider. 1. Digital engagement

The first is that platforms are used in digital interaction. For iOS and Android, mobile apps are created. Alexa, Cortana, Google Assistant, and Siri are used in the development of digital assistants. Standards, SDKs, and development guidelines specific to these platforms must be followed.  

To improve the client experience, they also provide tools that may be used, such as maps, auto-dialing phone numbers, language vocabularies, and others. To keep digital engagement apps up to date, these platforms also have continual requirements and adjustments. 2. Users

The second is that consumers and other digitally active users expect all channels, regardless of the channel they use, to have the same knowledge about them and to work consistently. This affects a data architecture in the following ways: 

To ensure that information about a consumer is accessible to all the digital platforms, the data must be separated from each one of them. 

To have a comprehensive history of a customer's interactions available whenever required, data will need to be collected from a digital platform. 

Real-time interactions will be driven by digital events started by customers. 

Instead of the transaction or report data requirements of an application or data mart, interactions are little, bite-sized chunks of data. 

New digital interactions will be formed as platforms develop; therefore, a digital data architecture must be flexible and quick to adapt as well. 

Guidelines For Implementing Digital Data Architecture 

An event-responsive, digital data architecture grows through a continuous series of initiatives, unlike a data warehouse or data mart. For a few reasons, this may be done without requiring a data architecture to begin work. 

The accepted practice for digital and cloud-based computing has developed as containers and APIs utilizing Docker and Kubernetes. 

The consumer of event-responsive data is liberated from exploring data structures, thanks to APIs for data interactions, which decouple data structures from data consumption. 

For event-responsive data, using data objects rather than data tables offers flexibility, meaning that adding new data items and data pieces does not affect previously developed API services. 

The instructions for putting into practice a digital architecture and event-responsive data, project by project, are as follows: 1. Ensure that jobs are finished swiftly:

Digital platforms and consumers' preferences and habits change often, making digital interaction unstable. In response, projects adopt new digital interactions and must be finished rapidly. 2. Create an efficient user interface:

To engage people, digital platforms must have a well-designed user experience. The data that each event requires is also identified by the user experience. 3. Define the APIs and their data content:

When an event interacts with the event-responsive data repository via an API, it produces or consumes data. Designing data objects and their data content is based on this. 4. Control the APIs' data content:

Data objects, connections between them, and data pieces that are new to the event-responsive data repository can go through governance before they are physically in place or utilized since the APIs are a result of the user experience design.  5. Fill up the data repository for events:

Only add data objects and data components to the event-responsive data repository that support defined APIs and have been completely approved by this before-the-fact governance procedure, such as customer data for a new digital engagement platform. 6. Deliver data components to processing systems:

Existing processing systems must be informed when new data objects or modified data are added by digital events to the event-responsive data repository: 

Both batch processing systems and near real-time systems may be supported by providing these as a data stream utilizing the pub-sub pattern. 

To ensure a consistent view of corporate data from origination to delivery, the new or modified data objects should comprise the stream's content. 

Repeat this procedure for each project that follows. Because the only requirements are the ability to build APIs, regulate data content, and fill the event-responsive data repository with whatever data is necessary for a project to operate, projects may also be run concurrently. 

Creating The Right Data Architecture 

Organizations may innovate with business models and shorten time-to-market because of the power, speed, and flexibility that a cloud environment offers. Without cloud technology, digital transformation is almost unimaginable. It is no longer just up to the IT department to decide how to implement these; CXOs are now debating this as a strategic business mandate. 

High-speed data analytics and the capacity to handle bigger amounts of data are made possible by cloud engineering services and data analytics consulting services that provides computing power in the cloud. Utilizing cloud services helps you save costs and increase company agility by enabling you to scale up or down your infrastructure and processing capacity as needed. M 

Minimizing capital cost, application deployment, processing power, and storage capacity become on-demand and essentially pay-as-you-use resources. The ability to deploy system resources as needed and distribute data among many processes is made possible by the cloud environment. 

Some of your databases and apps may already be in the cloud, while others may need to be transferred as part of your digital transformation plan. Data synchronization must be planned and maintained if you're employing both on-premises and cloud infrastructure. 

Your data architecture could be built on a public, private, or hybrid cloud. Private clouds are more affordable for larger firms, whereas public clouds often perform better for smaller companies. 

Nowadays, many businesses use a hybrid cloud strategy that combines their private cloud with many public cloud service providers. AWS, Google, Azure, and other service providers might be utilized for particular services. 

Let’s Connect 

You can confidently embrace the best digital transformation solutions and continually develop your business models with the correct data architecture in place. 

To create a tailored digital transformation roadmap and data architecture based on your current assets and future ambitions, get in touch with the experts at TransformHub. 

[wellhellotragic]

Dead in the Water (1/2)

You guys!!! It’s here! It’s our @csrolereversal drop date and I’m so excited for you all to see the amazing art @clockadile created for this event. Everyone, please go to her page, check out this amazeball painting, and send her all of the love that she deserves because this fic would never have existed without her! She is just such a wonderful person and I feel so honored that I got to make words in an effort to bring her art to life in a different way. I hope that I’ve done it, and her, justice and that you guys enjoy this. Shout out to @darkcolinodonorgasm for pulling this event together and to everyone in the rolereversal discord chat. It truly has been such a wonderful event and everyone has been so amazingly supportive of one another, so thank you all for being so awesome! Also tagging @cshalloweek​ even though my theme doesn’t completely match the day.

Summary:

Killian Jones may have just had the worst year of his life. The loss of his hand, of his career, and of his pride were almost more than he could take. In a bid to reclaim his life, Killian decided it was time to face his fears, and get back on the metaphorical horse, or in his case, back on the water. Only, the purchase of a haunted second-hand boat may just come at the cost of his sanity.

“The sea is like a cruel mistress. You can love her, you can hate her, but you can never trust her.” - author unknown

Rating: M (foul language sprinkled in and some adult themes)

Also on AO3

“Mayday! Mayday!”

Nothing.

“Please, is anyone out there?” The faint words were met with radio silence. The only noise a high pitched whining from what was likely a busted eardrum. Weak and dizzy, blood continued to drip into the water filling the cabin. The once brown floor now covered in pink.

Searing pain, a sinking boat, and all hope lost. There was little to do but wait. Wait for the inevitable. There was nowhere to go, no reason to have hope. Climbing to higher ground had been a struggle, and pointless as the vessel continued to dip lower and lower into the icy water.

That night, prayers went unanswered. The heavens laughed as they flashed their pearly white teeth and the crackle of a thousand laughs filled the air. The rain continued to fall all around.

There was nothing to do but wait until the water finally claimed her prize. Until the sea took it’s claim. Until the world went black.

***

It was unseasonably hot in Boston. Granted, summertime was hardly a perfect oasis in the northeast on a usual year, but that July had seen it’s hottest temperatures in over sixty years, and the city had been a sweltering mess. The usually pristine buildings along Freedom Trail were littered with blinding metal as each window had suddenly become occupied with ac units overnight. There had even been rolling blackouts as the power company struggled to keep up with the city’s demands.

Why Ariel’s Antiquities had insisted on holding their event outdoors was a mystery to Killian. Women and men dressed in their best, hoping that fancy clothes would somehow insinuate that they had money and could easily out bid their competitors. Unfortunately for them, their power suits became far less intimidating by the minute as sweat lines began to appear sometime just before ten. As the hours drifted on, people became puddles, their shoes sticking to the sidewalks.

Killian found himself near constantly tugging on the collar of his shirt, peeling it away from his sticky skin. Unlike him, his brother had refused to undo the top two buttons on his shirt and seemed even more miserable, if that were somehow possible.

The two men had been sniping at each other for the better part of the morning, and now with the sun at full intensity above them, they’d resorted to silence as they milled their way through lot after lot. The auction advertisement Killian had seen online seemed to have mostly a mishmash of memorabilia and collectables, with a few actual antiquities mixed in.

But unlike the other bidders, the two men weren’t there for random knick knacks. There was one specific item that had caught his eye on the online inventory. A tiny thumbnail the only indication of its existence and he could only hope that it hadn’t been from a previous auction.

For over an hour, Killian traipsed through the old fair grounds, Liam in tow behind him, searching with no luck.

“Killian, I hate to be the one to say this, but it’s not here. We’ve been to every lot and it’s just garbage.” He turned to see his brother giving him a look of pity, infuriating his very being. “Perhaps this is a sign.”

“A sign of what? False advertising?”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it. I just-” Liam took a deep breath, pushing the air out on an audible huff. “I just worry about you.”

With that, all of the anger and frustration from the day left Killian’s body. He couldn’t be mad at Liam any more, not when he knew it was true. When he still had memories of waking in the hospital, of seeing Liam’s eyes red and puffy from tears. It was the first time he’d seen his brother cry since their mother had passed years before.

“Liam, this is something I need to do. I need to prove to myself that I can get back out there. I can’t let this cripple me for the rest of my life.”

His choice of words hadn’t meant to convey the irony, but as his brother glanced down at the metal and leather covering his wrist, Killian couldn’t help but notice the cruelty of the universe. That even the most benign of words could cause such pain, even a year later. How even thinking about that day caused his missing hand to throb in pain.

“Killian, you are one of the strongest people I know. You don’t have anything to prove. Not to me or anyone else.”

Gone were the days where Liam teased him and called him little brother. Now, he was lucky if Liam said anything cheeky around him at all. And while he didn’t have anything to prove to anyone else, the truth was that he needed to show his brother that he wasn’t broken. Not anymore. That he didn’t need to be coddled like a wounded duck.

Before he could respond though, a glimmer caught his eye from a passing bidder’s reflective earrings, causing him to whip his head to the left. And there, tucked behind an old telephone booth, 2 huge entertainment centers, and a large canopy bed, there it was. There she was.

He didn’t wait for his brother, his jogging nearly breaking into a full stride. She was hard to see, tucked away behind items too heavy to move, but even in his limited view he could see that she was battered and bruised. Still, Killian knew that with a little sweat equity, she could be a marvel. He let his hand run down the fiberglass, feeling the strength of the hull, despite the hole in her port side. A gaping wound about the size of a bowling ball.

She was damaged, just as he was, but together they’d mend each other. He was sure of it.

“That’s it? That’s the boat you brought us all the way out here for?” Killian could only smile to himself. “Brother, she’s a mess. Where’s the mainmast? And did you see that hole? There’s no telling what kind of dry rot is on the inside.”

“Yes. I know she’s not much to look at right now, but-”

“No. You can’t be serious. She’s better off torn apart for scraps.”

Killian couldn’t explain to his brother the draw that he felt. He’d been searching auction houses for months. All of the boats he’d seen were either grossly overpriced, or faced the Goldilocks conundrum. Too small. Too big. But this one, it was just right. From the instant he’d seen that tiny thumbnail picture on his laptop screen, he’d felt it deep within his gut. He was meant for that boat, just as she was meant for him.

“And what kind of name is Jewel of the Real?”

“Realm.”

“Excuse me?”

“It’s Jewel of the Realm.”

Killian’s hand brushed over the faded wood, tracing the faintest outline of where an ‘M’ used to reside.

The rest of their time there was a bit of a blur for Killian. Liam trying his best to talk him out of buying The Jewel as people threw their paddles up in the air, capturing the trinkets on the stage. Killian fighting with a man two rows ahead of him for the winning bid, going over the maximum price he’d set in his head. Giving the auction house the delivery address, ignoring the way his brother huffed as Killian wrote them a check.

But none of that mattered, because in the end, she was his. The auction house delivered her a few days after his check cleared. The address he’d given them was for a warehouse another expat had told him about. Cheap monthly rates and all of that. What Will Scarlet had neglected to mention was that the warehouse was actually an abandoned building in a rather questionable part of town. Killian never should have trusted the man with a deposit sight unseen. The building lacked windows or doors, and Killian immediately knew he’d been had by the huxter.

He’d scrambled to find another place to fix up the Jewel. The drydocks at the marina were expensive and lacked space for him to spread out with tools, not to mention the absence of privacy while he worked. It was bad enough that people stared at his hook while he was picking up food from the local pub or out with Liam and his wife. He’d be damned if he was going to have people watch him work on a boat one handed. He even considered trying to work out of his friend, Robin’s, garage but the thirty two foot boat simply wouldn’t fit. No matter how imaginative he got with his sketches.

In the end, it was the most unlikely of allies that came to his rescue. The last man he ever expected to aid him with the Jewel. Liam owned a shipping company, specializing in European imports, with English ales and German lagers making up the bulk of his business. The main office was based in downtown Boston, but there was also a small warehouse down by the port where items were stored as they awaited inspection. His brother, still not happy with his decision made him an offer anyway. Come to work at Jones Shipping Monday through Friday, and he’d have the warehouse all to himself in the evenings and on weekends to work on the “abomination.”

Killian accepted begrudgingly. He wasn’t necessarily in need of a salary. He had the monthly stipends from the Navy to live on, the only benefit of losing his left hand, and the idea of becoming a corporate stooge maddened him to no end. He’d already sold his soul once, and they spit him back out once they deemed him of no further use. He wasn’t quite ready to lose the rest of himself to a full time day job pushing paperwork, schmoozing potential clients, and taking orders from Liam. But the perk of Liam’s harbor warehouse was too great to pass up.

So he took the job. He started on a Monday and the boat was delivered on the following Tuesday. Liam had neglected to mention his need for a key, so after driving across town, Killian ended up having to turn around without seeing her. The next day he’d nearly ripped into Liam when he saw him, but seeing three other men in suits sitting in front of Liam’s desk made him rethink his anger. Or at least rethink giving his brother a piece of his mind at work in front of people he’d only ever met at staff parties. He’d already had to deal with stares and questions from a rather bold intern. The stress from his own self-consciousness only amplified his frustration with Liam.

He finally got the key from Liam later that afternoon, along with another gift that he wasn’t particularly fond off. One that actually left him offended. One that he threw back in his brother’s face as he stormed out of his office, not caring one bit what anyone thought of him. Not when his brother obviously thought so little.

He was too upset to even go check on The Jewel at that point, choosing to head to a pub near the harbor instead. The Rusty Anchor was a fan favorite for expats. It’s where he’d met Scarlet, which unfortunately didn’t actually say much about the place. He’d met a few good blokes there as well though, like the bartender Robin. They’d become friends in a grief counseling group. It was mandated for Killian, but optional for the other man who was grieving his wife. Listening to Robin talk at their monthly meetings had helped put Killian’s loss into perspective. Suddenly his missing hand didn’t seem so catastrophic.

Robin had invited him to the pub knowing Killian was new in town with few friends, and the two men had formed a bond in the months since. In a way, he felt closer to the man than he did to Liam. Like he could tell him anything without the brotherly judgment that always radiated from the elder Jones.

After a few pints and a good talk with Robin, Killian had calmed. Liam was still a moron, but that wasn’t on him. And as Robin said, he just had to continue to remind himself that the only reason he was even working for his brother was so that he could fix up the Jewel. As soon as she was sea worthy, he could leave his job without breaking his word to Liam.

In a slightly better mood, he headed a few streets over to the warehouse, ready to take a full inventory of all of the repairs she’d need. The hole in the hull was obvious, as well as new paint all over, and she needed a new mast and sails, but there was always the concern of dry rot. That was the biggest worry. Having to replace every plank of wood and all of the fiberglass on the boat would defeat the entire purpose of restoring her.

Not to mention the difficulties he’d face using his hook. He was more than proficient with it for everyday use after eight months of practice, but some things still tested his limits. As he walked up to the warehouse, thinking about how he’d hoist the sails on without tearing them, he was completely lost in thought, oblivious to the man standing next to his boat. He was more than a little embarrassed by the shriek that escaped from his lips, but upon realizing that it was Liam there waiting for him, his distress turned to anger again. Especially when he saw the box from earlier on a nearby table.

“Killian, before you say anything, it’s not what you think. I never meant to imply-”

“What? That I’m a freak. That I’ll scare away all of the clients?”

“Actually, it was quite the opposite. I got it for you.” Killian looked down, unable to meet his brother’s gaze. “What? You don’t think I see you? The way you shrink in on yourself when you’re out with Elsa and me?”

Liam had him there.

“Look, Killian. I just thought that maybe it would help you to feel more comfortable. I never meant to insinuate anything by it.”

Perhaps he had overreacted. In his mind’s eye, it was just the cherry on top of a horrible year. The whole world judged him. Wasn’t it only a matter of time before his brother saw him as a disfigured beast as well? Except, that wasn’t what happened. He’d made a snap judgement, and thought the worst of Liam in the process.

“You’re right. I... it’s harder than I expected it to be sometimes. I thought,” he had to fight to keep his emotions in check as he remembered those first few weeks in the hospital. How he’d lost more than just his hand. “I thought it would be easier than this.”

“And I’m sorry that I didn’t handle it in a more sensitive way. I think I was just so excited to show it to you that I assumed you’d be just as enthusiastic. Obviously, it’s not all that functional, but it’s remarkably realistic and Elsa and I just thought it would make you more comfortable dealing with clients.”

Killian laughed to himself. A sad little thing. It was very realistic in a way that nauseated him when he first opened the box. Even now, as he walked over to it and lifted the top, he couldn’t help the catch in his throat. The prosthetic hand looked incredibly realistic, right down to the synthetic hair on the back of the silicone. There was a metal clip that popped into place in his arm sleeve and a metal wire that hooked into his shoulder strap, just like with his hook that allowed some slight mobility in the hand. It opened and closed, allowing him to grab objects if he needed to, but it wasn’t nearly as advanced as the mechanical hands he’d seen in the clinic. Although this one probably didn’t cost the same as Liam’s house either like the mechanical ones, which was a plus.

He lifted it from the box, testing the weight of it. It was slightly heavier than his hook, something that would take some getting used to. It was also probably going to end up being longer when all was said and done. Wearing suits might be a problem. He’d have to wait until he got home to check.

Liam, for his part, didn’t seem to want to make it any bigger of a deal than he already had. Instead, he changed the subject back towards The Jewel.

“Do you want the good news or the bad first?”

He’d already had a hard enough day. He didn’t need the bad news at all, much less first.

“The good.”

“Well, she’s not a total loss. I’ve been checking her over, and the bulk of the damage seems to be located here, in the hull where this hole is. The fiberglass is badly splintered around it. I’ve been trying to work out what exactly could have caused it, but aside from an act of Poseidon himself, it makes no sense. Whatever made the hole, it came from the inside of the boat. The furniture inside the cabin is also ruined. Smashed to pieces or rotted away. But the rudder and keel are still in perfect shape.”

Killian leaned in closer, allowing his hand to move along the edges of the hole. Liam was right. The edges was splintered towards the outside of the boat, and the fiberglass around it was all badly cracked. The auction house had sent him home with documents explaining that the ship had been docked at the marina and it had been hit by some object during a storm. They’d clearly been mistaken.

“And the rest of her? What shape does she seem to be in?”

“Well, the wood planks on the deck could use a good sanding, but if you’re just talking about integrity, I think she’ll hold up just fine.” Killian and Liam both climbed the ladder Liam had set up, allowing him his first good look at her. “You know about the mast and roping already. A full redo on both of those. But come look at this!”

Killian followed, letting his hand glide upon the metal railing. For the first time, it felt real. Look at this! It’s the original certificate showing the builder. You realize what this means don’t you?”

“That you’re excited she’s older than you are?”

“No! She’s vintage Killian! Once we fix her up, you can sell her for twice what you paid for her! Well done little brother.”

Killian took a deep breath, already out of patience with his brother for the day.

“Liam, I see three things wrong with what you’ve just said. First, it’s younger brother. Second, when exactly did this become a joint endeavor? Just a week ago you thought the very idea of my purchasing her was the single greatest mistake of my life. Thirdly, and listen closely Liam because I’m not going to say this again, I am not selling this boat.”

“Well you are my little brother. And I’m just trying to protect you. Why do you think I worry and watch after you so much?”

“You don’t need to worry about me!”

“Well apparently I do!” There was something about the way Liam’s voice, the way it broke as he screamed the words that tugged at Killian’s heart. “You almost died! I waited and waited while they searched for your body, sure that there was no way you’d survived that storm. And then I waited and waited again at your bedside in the hospital, praying to God that he didn’t take you away from me like he had mother. So don’t you dare tell me that I can’t or shouldn’t worry about you!”

Killian had to will back the tears threatening to fall from his eyes. He knew that Liam had been at his bedside in the hospital, but he had never thought of what it must have been like for him getting the call that his brother was lost at sea in a storm. He spent a great deal of time clinging to some wreckage, just trying to stay afloat as the waves crashed over his head, and his body plummeted over and over for what felt like years. Once the storm had passed, he found a piece of the destroyed ship large enough for him to crawl on top of and he let the exhaustion take over. When he woke again it was to intense agony in the hospital ICU.

“Liam, I’m not out there anymore. I’m not adrift at sea anymore. I’m here, and I’m fine.”

“But you aren’t. You aren’t here. You say you are, but I think a part of you died out there that day, and I-” Liam gave up all pretense of hiding, letting the tears flow free, “I think part of you wants to get lost again. Why else are you so intent of fixing up this boat?”

“That’s what you think? That I want to put in all of this work just to go out and vanish into the ocean? Liam, I’m doing this to prove to myself that I can. Because the idea of going back out there sends a bolt of terror through my spine right to my very core. I need to show myself that it was just a freak accident. To get back up on that proverbial horse.”

Liam said nothing, just walked back down to the stern of the boat and down the ladder, walking straight out of the warehouse, leaving Killian alone with the guilt of everything he’d put his brother through. Even as children he was always managing to get into trouble, and poor Liam had always been the one to pick up after him. As he heard Liam’s car start up from the open warehouse door, he couldn’t help but wonder how much more Liam had left in him.

If it weren’t for the fact that he had work at eight in the morning, he very likely would have found himself back at Robin’s, downing a full bottle of rum all on his own. As it stood, he had a debt to Liam, far more than for the agreement he’d made for the warehouse space. He owed his brother everything, and though he couldn’t give Liam the one thing he wanted most, he could give him everything else. He could be the prodigal son in a way. Arrive to work everyday in nice clothes, rubbing elbows with Boston’s elite.

So instead of heading back to Robin’s he went down into the ship’s cabin. The space was small, not that he expected much. The boat was only thirty two feet long, and not that tall. There was enough space for a small kitchenette with a tiny sink and grill top. Across from that stood what should have been a small dinette area. Where a table and bench seat should have been was nothing but wood scraps and moldy torn fabric.

He nearly gagged when he opened the door to the tiny lavatory. The toilet was covered in black mold, or what he hoped was mold as nothing else seemed like an attractive option. And then he went to the bedroom area up at the front of the boat. He wasn’t quite sure what to expect, knowing that the hole was in that area. What he found was nothing though. The bed and mattress had been removed, as well as the padding in the seat next to it. The wood forming the cabinets and closet had been torn out as well, leaving behind only the impressions of where they once fit in.

It was evident that the Jewel needed work when he bought her. And he knew that had he known at the time just how much work she needed at the auction house, he likely still would have bought her. But as he stood there, in the torn apart interior, he couldn’t help but feel scammed by Ariel’s Antiquities. They’d purposefully positioned her in a way that no one could see just what shape she was truly in.

Repairing her would take longer than anticipated, which only meant more time working for Liam. Exhausted, Killia headed back to his one bedroom apartment, crashing nearly the moment his head hit the pillow. The next morning, he rose well before the sun, even without the use of an alarm. Apparently you could take the man out of the navy, but not the navy out of the man.

After a nice run, Killian readied himself for the day by showering. Once dry, Killian placed his sleeve over his stump, followed by the hook he’d become so used to. He then picked out one of his better suits, not that he had all that many to choose from, dressed, combed his hair, and stepped back to take stock of himself in the mirror. It wasn’t a look he was used to. In fact, the last time he’d been dressed in such a way had been his mother’s funeral. He was still a teenager, Liam barely an adult himself, wearing suits they hadn’t yet grown in to.

Not wishing to dwell on that thought any longer, he headed for the door, grabbing his keys from the bowl on the side table.

And that’s when he saw it. The gift that Liam had given him the day before. His brother had left it in the warehouse in his haste to escape, and Killian had grabbed it on his way out, still not sure how he felt about it. He’d never really intended to wear it, not for everyday office use at least, but as he stood there in his suit, feeling completely uncomfortable and out of place, he decided to, just for once, do something for Liam.

It took him a few minutes to undress, removing his suit jacket and dress shirt so that he could disconnect his hook from the shoulder strap. The hand felt clunky on his arm, and it was difficult to get it through his sleeves, but in time he managed.

The drive to Liam’s, and now his office, wasn’t a long one, but at seven in the morning, it may as well have been a full county away. The traffic was horrible, not something he’d become accustomed to driving in. He’d always avoided rush hour like the plague, and now it would be a part of his daily routine. He also found that the hand was difficult to use. Because of his sitting position, it wouldn’t quite clamp shut around the steering wheel the way his hook would have.

By the time he arrived, he was over ten minutes late, and the morning staff meeting had already started. He did his best to sneak in, sitting at the back of the room, hoping to go unnoticed by Liam, but because the world was already against him that day, he failed.

Liam called him up to the front of the room, officially introducing him to everyone as the new head of client relations. Killian gave an awkward wave and that was it. He’d been inducted into the company, and day after day, week after week, he sat at a desk, working up contracts, researching possible leads. His nights were often spent at dinners, flirting with wives and schmoozing husbands into signing with Liam’s company. He hated it, and more still, he hated how little time he had for repairs on the Jewel.

Repairing the hull had been easy. He sent off for a patch kit, a misleading name considering the size of the hole to be touched up. After carefully cutting away the excess damaged fiberglass and setting the patch in place, he waited for the epoxy to harden, sanding down the excess so it was smooth. Aside from the lack of paint, she looked good as new. The hardest part had been placing everything where it needed to go with just one hand.

He soon realized just how difficult repairing the rest of the boat would be. The entryway to the Jewel was narrow, hardly wide enough for one person to enter at a time. He’d never be able to get fully assembled furniture and cabinets in. So slowly, he brought in all of the material, piece by piece. It took time, considering he’d had to carry all of the materials from the parking lot down the dock, and onto the ship. It was exhausting work, and there was still the matter of assembly. It took him weeks to get everything cut just to size, and assembly space had become a real issue after the new bench and table had been installed. Finding a place to store the cabinetry wood had almost broken him. The boat had almost broken him.

But he persevered. Slowly the cabinets came together. The bedroom in the bow of the boat found itself with a bed and a small closet, and the bathroom got a shiny new toilet. After two months, he’d finally finished the interior of the boat. All that stood in his way from land and sea was a new mast, the part Killian had been dreading most.

It was the very first thing Killian had ordered after he’d purchased The Jewel, but as with any special order, it had taken over a month to arrive, and then when it did, it wasn’t even the right size. He and Robin had spent the better part of a day trying to make it work, to somehow force the new mast into place, huffing and puffing at the weight. Hours later, Killian finally admitted defeat, and with shaky arms sent the company a firmly worded email chastising them for their incompetence.

Two full months and one paint job later, a new one arrived. Robin was unable to help him again though. Setting his pride aside, Killian was forced to ask for help. He and his brother’s relationship had soured. It wasn’t that there was ill will between the brothers, but there was a small bit of resentment on Killian’s part. Sometimes it seemed as if Liam was giving him extra work and setting extra meetings for the sole purpose of stalling his repairs. Some of the clients that Liam set him up with were too small to even have shipping needs.

We just want to make sure that they keep us in mind incase the expand Killian. You have to always be selling Killian. It’s called networking Killian.

He’d had enough. Eventually he’d declined enough of Liam’s offers to spend time together on the weekends that Liam had stopped inviting him over. The brothers discussed business needs, but outside of the office, they may aswell have not even have been related. Killian did feel bad. His brother was the only family he had left after all, but there was just the matter of his pride. He’d had so many arguments with Liam in his mind that he couldn’t remember which conversations were real, and which were made up. He just knew that he was right in all of them.

Which is why it was so hard for him to turn to Liam for his help. Unfortunately, the mast weighed a few hundred pounds and while the dock, where the boat finally resided, had a crane to help them move it in place, someone still needed to help him slide it into place and hold it steady as he secured it to the boat. The dock had a firm policy on not helping with certain repairs. They didn’t want to be held liable for any damages or injuries that occurred as a result of human error.

Asking Liam for help had been hard. It took him full two days of building up the courage. He’d nearly walked into Liam’s office three times before turning around at the last minute. Finally, he just had to man up. To his surprise, Liam agreed without much opinion on the matter, and that weekend the two brothers finally made up as they struggled together to install the mast. They tried seating it in place, but despite their best efforts, it was slightly off, leaning just a degree or two. While most people might have shrugged it off, both of the Jones boys were determined to get it in straight.

To the chagrin of the crane worker, they demanded he raise it back up so they could check to make sure the surface was level. Nothing seemed off to the naked eye, but again, the mast wouldn’t sit straight. After one final raising, Killian stuck his hand in the seat, trying to feel if there was bubbling or warping in the wood, and to his surprise, he felt something cold and smoothe, not at all like the wood plank he’d expected. After some fiddling, he was able to loosen the object enough to pull it from its hiding place. It was small, so small he wasn’t surprised that anyone at the auction house had missed it.

Liam, for his part hadn’t said much, but Killian could tell by the way Liam was breathing that his brother was annoyed, not with him but with the delay, and ready to finish working. Killian threw the gold piece in his pocket and together, he and Liam finished installing the mast and all of the rigging lines. Afterwards they went for drinks at Robin’s bar, a place Liam had never been before. They shared a few beers, caught up on all of the things they’d missed in the past few months, and each departed like it was no big deal, both ready for a good night’s sleep.

Killian had hoped to crawl into bed and fall straight asleep, but for some reason, as he laid there, his brain seemed to kick into overdrive. It started with thoughts of how he’d have to map out the currents and winds in the boston area before he could ship out. Before long though, all he could think about was work. He’d planned on leaving Liam’s company as soon as he was done, and while he hated some aspects of the job, he did like the structure it provided him with. It forced him to get back into the world again, something he hadn’t realized that he needed to do until Liam tricked him into it.

Unable to sleep, Killian got up to clean, something that usually relaxed him. He started with the dishes, washing and drying them all by hand before moving on to tend to his laundry. Most of his suit items were dry clean only, but his weekend clothes were soaked with sweat and best washed sooner rather than later. Checking all of the pockets and making sure everything was right-side out, he threw items in the washer one by one until he got to the jeans he’d been wearing that day. He’d managed to completely forget about the trinket he’d found on the boat, until just then.

He finished sorting his clothes and started the machine up before heading back into his bedroom, turning on the nightstand table lamp as he crawled back under the sheets. He let the metal turn in his fingers, inspecting the perfectly polished gold. It was a small locket with a bird etched onto one side. There wasn’t an engraving to go with it and told him nothing about the person who’d lost it. The chain that it was attached to was short and the links where tiny, meaning it likely belonged to a woman, but that was all he was able to gather. He continued to turn the locket, just feeling the weight of it in his hand, the surprising warmth of it, when his finger caught on a hidden clasp and the locket snapped open.

It wasn’t what he’d expected. Most women’s lockets contained tiny photographs, but the inside of this one held a small compass. The opposite side featured an engraving, but it didn’t have any names. It simple read: So you always find your way.

He should have wanted to search for the owner, to return what was probably a meaningful gift. There were plenty of news stories all the time about people helping to reunite lost items and owners. The soldier who had his purple heart stolen. The bride that lost her wedding ring on a beach vacation. They were always happy endings, and he knew that the locket didn’t belong to him, but for some reason, he just felt a call to it. Like he also needed it to help him find his way. So he kept it, slipping it on over his own head, having to pull it past his ears. He fell fast asleep soon after.

The next week at work had been grueling. Liam had lined up three dinners for him, one of them with a very sexually aggressive woman that ran a dog breeding company. Apparently there was a high demand for designer dogs and people were willing to pay high prices to have them shipped over the water during the summer and winter seasons when airlines restricted their pet travel policies. He’d had to pry her off of him at the end of the evening, promising he’d call her soon. A complete lie.

The whole encounter had left him feeling dirty. He hadn’t even so much as looked at a woman since his accident, not really, and he just wasn’t ready to move forward in a romantic capacity, even just a physical one. Not after having his heart shattered before. The woman in question wasn’t even interested in him. Not as anything more than a gigalo.

The weekend couldn’t have arrived fast enough. He just needed to get out of town. To get away from everyone, from his responsibilities. He was ready to hit the water and shed the ghosts he carried around with him. He’d planned meticulously. There were charts filling half of his closet and he’d popped by the Tuesday before to fill the kitchenette with snacks for his inaugural trip. He didn’t have a refrigerator yet so he’d done his best to stick with ready to assemble meals. Nothing big, just some bread and jams. A few tea bags and bottled water in case it got cold out on the water.

The plan had been to set sail just as the sun was rising that Saturday. To greet the new day on the water, but for some reason his alarm hadn’t sounded that morning, and for the first time since he’d joined the navy, he overslept. By the time he made it down to the docks it was just after ten, and the area was filled with people. Families going out on day trips. Tour groups trying to enjoy the last few weeks before the winter season. Before everyone would have to winterize their boats and leave them stored away until spring.

He was lost in his thoughts as he walked along the wood planks at the docks, past other ships, nearly tripping on a rope that someone has carelessly left out. Cursing under his breath, collecting himself from the slight embarrassment of it all, he glanced back at The Jewel. It was hard to see with the sun reflecting back on the water, but for just a few seconds, he could have sworn that he saw a shadow moving along her port side. There was a person on his boat.

It wasn’t unheard of, finding a vagrant living on an unused boat, or some random person lost and on the wrong ship. The Jewel had a very specific and unique paint job though. Mistaking her for any other vessel on the harbor would have been impossible. And he’d been there only a few nights before. He would have seen signs of a stowaway using her for shelter.

That could only mean that whoever was aboard his boat was looking for trouble, and after the morning he’d had, he was more than willing to give it to them. Swearing to himself, he picked up his pace, ready to give the trespasser a piece of his mind, but when he finally made it to The Jewel, she was empty. Thinking perhaps they’d gone below deck, he crept down the narrow stairs, doing his best to avoid making noise. There was no one though. She was empty. Just a trick of the mind.

Feeling foolish, Killian reemerged, on the deck, ready to give all of the lines one final check before setting sail when he heard a noise, a creaky wooden plank from down below. This time he ran, not giving a damn if the person knew he was coming or not. He was ready to find whoever was hiding.

Once again though, he came up empty. Even after searching in all of the cupboards and storage spaces under the kitchen bench and his bed. He checked all of the closets, but there was no one. He was all alone.

It was just in his head. Not surprising considering what a huge step he was about to take. The idea of going back on the water leaving him with an uneasy queasy feeling in his gut. Which was also the exact reason that he needed to do it. Why he’d tried to stress to Liam the importance of buying The Jewel.

He needed to conquer his fear. Even if his brain tried to scare him out of it. Because that’s all it was. A shadow from a person on a boat near his. An old creaky boat groaning from the change in humidity. It was all in his head, and it needed to stay there.

More determined than ever, Killian went back upstairs, ready to set sail, distraction free, but when he emerged from the cabin, he was met once again with an odd sensation. A feeling of being watched.

“Permission to come aboard?”

“Bloody hell, Liam? How long have you been here?”

“Not long.”

And there it was. His older brother, his protector, playing games with his head to place doubt. Liam had done more than his fair share of things to delay the boat becoming ready, but to actually try to scare him away was just too much.

“What the hell’s wrong with you?”

“Come again now?”

“I’m talking about you playing games with my head, trying to frighten me away from taking my boat out. You’ve made it very clear that this wasn’t something you wanted me to do, but this is a new form of low, Laim.”

He was furious.

“Killian, I assure you, I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ve only just arrived.”

He watched the elder Jones, the way his brow furrowed. Liam may have been a great many things to Killian, but he’d never known his brother as a liar.

“Then what are you doing here?”

“I’ve actually come bearing a gift.”

It was only then that Killian noticed the neatly wrapped bundle in Liam’s left hand. Liam didn’t ask permission again, choosing to come aboard The Jewel to hand the gift to Killian. He felt more than a little guilty for accepting it, especially after having just yelled at his brother, but Liam was insistent.

Carefully he peeled back the wrapping paper, careful not to tear it, lest he find paper scraps for weeks to come blown into every nook and cranky. Inside, he found a book, an old one by the look of it.

“It’s a first edition. Took some time to track down or I would have had it to you sooner.”

The significance of Liam’s thoughtfulness was evident. It was a first edition of Peter Pan. The book their mother used to read to them nightly. Each time she finished, Killian would beg her to start again from the beginning. It was the thing that first ignited his love for the sea.

“Thank you, Liam. This means more than you know.”

Liam just gave him a nod, understanding the emotional weight they both held in that moment.

“I, uh, guess you haven’t checked the stern of the boat just yet?”

It was on his list. First the ropes, then a walk around above deck to ensure everything was properly secured, before walking around the dock to check that everything was good on the exterior.

Intrigued, Killian climbed down from the boat and walked around to the back side of The Jewel. But what he found was that she’d been renamed.

“The Jolly Roger?”

“I very specifically remember you telling mum and me that when you grew up, you were going to own a huge ship, and you were going to name her The Jolly Roger-”

“Just like Captain Hook.”

He’d completely forgotten. As a small eight year old, he was determined that one day he’d own a pirate ship. That he’d sail the seven seas taking whatever he wanted from whoever he wanted. Probably in part because he was sick of getting Liam’s hand me downs.

“I hope you don’t mind. I know she’s not exactly what child Killian had in mind, but you’ve done exactly what you said you were going to do. And I know I’ve been a prick about this entire thing, so I wanted to do something to make up for it. To show you that I really am in your corner.”

Killian was touched. It was possibly the first time his brother had apologized to him since before their mother died. Even then, it was probably the first time he’d ever done it without being scolded into it.

“Thank you, brother.”

There’s one final thing. Last night, Robin and I came out here and installed a motor on the back.” Killian was about to say something, but Liam barreled on. “I know. But I just want to keep you safe. If you should find yourself without wind, you’ll still have a way to get back to shore.”

“Marvelous.” His annoyance only slightly tempered by Liam’s attempt at a kind gesture.

From his inside coat pocket, Liam produced a manual for the motor. ‘A guide to your new Stern Mounted Electronic Engine.’ He had to give it to Liam. He’d thought of everything. Even a Mr. SMEE.

Together, he and Liam set about getting The Jolly ready. After checking everything over twice, they finally set out, both men trying not to hold their breath as the docks become smaller and smaller. After about thirty minutes, they were able to relax, realizing that the ship hadn’t yet sunk, and likely wouldn’t anytime soon.

The trip was relaxing for the most part. The brothers argued still, as Killian realized that Liam had completely rearranged all of the food in the kitchenette. It wasn’t surprising and he’d seen Liam do it at his house, whenever Elsa would just quickly throw things back in the pantry. But what did shock him was how Liam adamantly denied it, even though Killian knew he’d left the tea bags in the cupboard above the tiny stove top, not under the sink. And the chips had been moved as well as other items. Still though, Liam swore he hadn’t touched them.

Killian eventually let it go, finding it not worth bickering over anymore than they already had. The real fist-to-cuffs came at the end of the day, as the two men had already redocked and were setting the boat back to rights. Liam had grabbed the trash and told Killian that he was going to take it all to the dumpster in the parking lot while Killian secured all of the sails.

Liam couldn’t have been gone for more than a minute when Killian stood to turn and move on to the other sail when he slipped and fell flat on his back. It hurt more than he wanted to admit, and in his haste to stop himself from falling, he’d somehow managed to catch his hook in the jib sail, tearing it as he fell.

Killian took a moment to compose himself, waiting for the sting of hitting his back on the rail to subside. He must have taken longer than he realized, because by the time he sat back up he heard Liam call his name and scramble across the boat to check on him.

Killian assured him that he was fine, or that he would be as Liam helped him back up. Careful of his steps, he turned to see just what exactly he’d slipped on when he caught sight of small water puddles in the shape of shoe prints. Absolutely sure that Liam had made them somehow, the two brothers had it out, causing Liam to storm away in a huff once more.

Killian stayed long enough to dry all of the water and to watch the sunset over the horizon before heading back to his place to grab a much needed ice pack. His back was still sore two hours later, so he opted for a shower instead hoping that the warm water might help soothe the muscles.

Slowly he undressed, trying not to twist or bend too much. Catching just a glimpse of himself in the mirror are he removed the small gold locket he’d found, he caught sight of his red cheeks, realising that even in October, he’d still managed to get a bit too much sun.

Getting to sleep had been tough. It was only after a glass or two, or three of rum that he was able to find a comfortable position. He drifted off, dreaming of being a child again. Of Neverland and Captain Hook.

The next morning he was still quite sore, so he’d opted not to take a second trip out on the water. Instead, he’d spend the day shopping for groceries and flicking through television programs until he settled on Wicked Tuna. Before he knew it, it was time to ready himself for bed and another dreaded week at work.

It ended up not being as bad of a week as he expected it to be. Liam hadn’t scheduled any meetings for him outside of normal office hours, and the clients that came into the office to settle contracts all seemed relatively normal for once. The brothers had quazied made up, but both felt it was best if Liam didn’t go out with Killian again for a while.

By the time the next weekend came, Killian was eager to set sail again, alone. No distractions. No mind games. Just him and The Jolly. Unable to hide the gold chain under his work shirt, Killian had chosen to leave the compass at home all week, but slid it back over his head before getting in his car to drive down to the water.

For a few moments he worried that his plans would be dashed as his car had refused to turn on. The starter trying to turn over and failing. Finally though, he got her started and headed straight for the docks.

He went through his usual routine, checking everything over, checking the weather once more. It was a little windier than he would have preferred, but the local station said that the wind would die down a bit by mid day. With everything ready, he set out, heading up the coast line just a bit.

The wind stayed stead for nearly four hours, despite the weather stations promise, and at one point, his life preserver ring had managed to come loose and blow straight off the ship. Not wanting to waste sixty dollars on a new one, he turned into the wind, stalling the boat, and dove dove in after it. A foolish endeavour on his part, considering he was alone if anything had gone wrong, but he figured if he could just get to the ring, he’d be fine.

The water was colder than he’d expected. In the navy he’d done cold water drills, letting his body adapt to it. But it had been a year, and his body simply wasn’t used to it yet. The moment he hit the water, his leg cramped up, and for just a second, he sunk under the surface of the water as he grabbed at his leg. When he resurfaced, it was with a mouth full of salt water. His nose burned and his eyes stung.

Once he managed to make it to the preserver, he tried wiping his eyes, but it only made things worse. Looking around to see just how far he was from The Jolly, his eyes had difficulty focusing. Everything became blurry as it felt like he’d had sandpaper rubbed against his cornea. At one point, it looked as if there was a figure standing at the bow of the boat. An impossibility given how far out he was and the lack of other boats.

He closed his eyes, giving them a few minutes to calm down, and when he reopened them, the figure was gone, and The Jolly was more in focus. Killian managed to swim back to the boat, a freezing mess in his wet clothes. He hadn’t actually thought about bringing a change of clothes with him for such a short journey. He stood there on the deck a shivering mess, ready to give up on the day.

As he tried to turn the wheel he began to feel slightly warmer. The wind had finally died down just as local weather woman Alfina Merryweather had promised, except that Merriweather had neglected to mention that her version of a slight breeze was actually a dead stop.

There was nothing, not even the slightest hint of movement. He waited and waited, at one point removing his clothes and doing his best to squeeze as much water out as he could. He thought of Liam, of how his brother would probably be worried if he didn’t hear from him soon. Thoughts that eventually reminded him of the motor his brother had installed for just such an occasion. The motor that Killian never wanted, and certainly wasn’t going to admit to using.

It took him forty two minutes to read the manuel enough to understand what he was doing, the whole thing one long novel of gibberish. Unfortunately, no matter how hard he tried, and how many times he went through the manuel again, twenty minutes later he was just as stuck as before.

After another thirty minutes of attempting to start it and pretending that hyperthermia wasn’t a real threat, he finally caved, ready to call for help over the radio to a towing company. But the radio was just as dead as SMEE, and all of his calls for help were met with static. He began to worry, checking his phone to see the time only to realize that his phone was dead as well. He continued to plea for assistance, the static only becoming louder, eventually there was a spark as he felt a strange nasty shock from the microphone

He jumped back, yelling every curse word he could think of until he was nearly hoarse. Just as he’d quieted, shaking out his hand, he’d heard it. A creaky noise coming from above deck, The same sound he’d heard on his first day out. The sound of boards buckling under the weight of a person. He was sure of it this time, unless the jolt had managed to shock his brain too.

Slowly he crept back up the stairs, feeling every hair raise along his arm as he went. Something felt off. Something just felt very very wrong. But he persisted still, opening the door as quietly as possible. He crept along the deck, treading lightly as not to make any noise. As he moved high enough to see the front of the boat, he noticed a figure. An eerie ethereal blur of a woman.

But before he could say anything she turned and looked right at him. He watched her for a moment, as she seemed to float above the bow of the boat, somehow both there and not quite real. And then her mouth opened, and with the anguished scream of a hundred voices at once, she yelled at him to get out.

He nearly fell as he scrambled backwards, feeling his heart in his throat, trying to leap clear from his body. And just as quickly as she appeared, she was gone. He was paralyzed in fear, completely unable to move when he heard the boat’s engine spring to life, snapping him out of his trance.

[crowleycrowley7-blog]

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[itsmezali-blog]

Light in the box reviews - Is Lightinthebox Safe to Purchase from?

Light in the box is a worldwide shop that are experts in some primary categories: fashion, small home appliances, home decor, and different electronics. Inspecting Light in the box reviews on the internet, you'll find out that it is best famous for its customizable wedding party apparel and evening apparel.

This online shop lures potential customers who think that they'll find the wedding event garments of their desires at a small percentage of the cost of traditional sellers. In addition to this, the customizable features of the online store mean that they won’t need to pay money for personalized tailoring.

However, for every delighted bride-to-be who gets her beautiful white bridal gown, there is another opinion that describes a completely different history.

On not too expensive products, for example clothing, it's not really a problem.

Nonetheless, for those who are thinking about utilizing the Lightinthebox.com site for larger purchases, for example home appliances or gadgets, the Lightinthebox reviews (called a “Lightinthebox.com scam” or a “Light in the box rip off”) on online forums would advise you must consider one more time.

On the net they are popular review net sites that contain many client comments about Lightinthebox.com. Below are the internet sites with the comments which we discovered:

Trustpilot.com

Out of 14400 opinions on Trustpilot.com, Lightinthebox.com has an overall result of 4 out of 5 stars.

Approx 62 percent of those who posted assessments gave the internet retailer a total 5 stars, and almost 16 percentage evaluated their purchasing experience with 1 star.

In general, it's a general favourable outcome, especially when considering evaluations on Trustpilot.com about comparable websites, such as AliExpress or Tomtop.

Light in the box review on ConsumerAffairs.com

On Consumer Affairs, Light in the box has the different result when compared with other review portals, because there're 640 ratings and a general result is one star.

Most of the comments concerning Light in the box showed irritation with prolonged delivery time and as well as miscommunication on sizes, most of them came from shoppers who had purchased footwear.

The SiteJabber website

SiteJabber’s gave Lightinthebox ratings almost like those found on Trustpilot.

Based on 3842 feedback gathered, Lightinthebox wound up with a rate of four stars, with approx 60 % of the comments being graded at five stars.

Whilst you might find a large amount of discontented clients if you search any online site presenting Lightinthebox review, you’ll also find many domestics who were fully happy with their purchases and the customer service.

Generally, a lot of the clients who were pleased with their orders appeared to be ordering smaller wares: different outfits, wigs, add-ons or small electronic products.

We've detected that the more expensive things have much more unfavorable opinions, a fact that online shoppers should take note of.

Light in the box hoax reviews are attainable on forums and message boards where buyers write that they've never gotten their wares. Sometimes, those Lightinthebox reviews are posted too fastly.

When we responded to the question, “What's Light in the box?” we debated that this shop is headquartered in Beijing.

That's why the majority of its items ship from another country, and as a consequence shipment times aren’t exactly the swiftest. And also the processing time might be very long.

How Exactly Does Delivery Work? Light in the box reviews concerning shipment service

Some goods process within only one day, but the rest may span from 3 days to a whopping 15 days before they depart the stockroom.

A primary gripe is the length of the shipment times, outlined below:

Mail Service-Tracking

Goods delivered by this option can make it to the United States Of America in 10-20 days from the time it leaves the warehouse. In the time of high season, this delivery time is prolonged to 15-30 business days.

Check a calendar, this means that it can be about 6 weeks (counting weekends) before your wares come.

Our own Lightinthebox Review About Postal Fast

Selecting this option will surely accelerate the shipping process, lowering your wait time down to 5-8 days. It provides it to approximately an 1 week wait, even during peak season time. This is faster.

Express Fast Shipping

For people who expect their goods as quickly as possible, it can be the ideal shipment solution to take into consideration. With Quick Delivery, worldwide shipment is reduced to 3-5 working days.

We cannot find any information concerning specified rates for each shipment option, however the company does state that shipment will depend both on the size of the item and on the shipping time period as Lightinthebox reviews shows.

When it comes to the universal Mail Tracking Service shipment method, the longest time wait is lower than nine weeks for goods to come after ordering.

It is a long period of time to await and think if you’ve become a victim of the Lightinthebox hoax, or whether it is a standard shipping time for a package coming from overseas.

It is a sufficient quantity of time to ask the difficult question, “Is Light in the box trustworthy?” after awaiting too long for a probably expensive packet and publishing unfavorable Lightinthebox review.

Earlier than believing you have get swindled by a Lightinthebox.com hoax, make certain that you have waited all the 45 days that your item may take to come to your home.

After that get in touch with customer support to ascertain if they are able to deliver any sort of additional tracking data or details affirming the dispatch of your product that shows it is arriving to you.

Summary: Is Lightinthebox reliable? Why some Lightinthebox reviews are weak?

When we have extensively answered to the query, “What exactly is Lightinthebox.com?” it is time to ask the real question: Is Light in the box reliable to buy from for my daily shopping wants?

Despite the fact that evaluations appear to be favourable generally speaking, we're on this blog to response whether there may be a Lightinthebox.com scam.

Shopping on Light in the box is a superb way to get discounted rates on a tailor made wedding gown or to order a few products that you need in large amounts.

General, is Lightinthebox.com trustworthy? It has many risk-free payment possible choices that suggest that it isn’t a rip-off online site.

The actual Light in the box reviews indicate that you need to try two or three cheaper goods first to verify if you are pleased with the customer service and shipping times earlier than you're begining to purchase more costly things.

[jocelynniwalker]

Here Are 5 Tips For Shopping Online

The past was when Christmas shoppers had to dress up and shower, as well as endure frigid temperatures to shop for presents. In the past, avid bargain seekers eagerly awaited store openings on Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) like engines that sat idle waiting for ignition. Doe-eyed automatons, kids flipped through catalogs of toy stores in hopes that it will take them to the mall. It was a traumatic, brutal time. Uncertainty was the rule.

It was quite shocking to realize that Christmas shopping was never the identical. We no longer needed to go to the store for a long time! Online shops were opened by companies instead. Online shopping was possible for shoppers at any time during the day, regardless of whether they were dressed in sexy clothing or completely naked.

Be Secure

When you shop on the internet for cosplay accessories credit card, it is the most preferred method of payment. Your credit card number remains static. It is not changed unless an account is closed and then reopened. Once your credit card data has been posted online, it might be stolen or used to commit fraud.

Online shoppers have several alternatives to lower their risk. Shopping online should be conducted on secure sites. You can verify that the site you're on is secured by looking for a tiny padlock icon that appears in the upper right-hand part of the URL bar.

Credit or Debit?

Shopping online is easier with plastic, however, certain plastics are better than other types. It's advisable only to utilize credit cards, rather than debit cards, for online shopping. Credit cards are a form of credit, while debit cards draw directly out of the bank account. Once in possession of your bank account information, hackers can do much more damage to your finances than if they had access to your credit card number.

Be aware of the Restocking Fee

Although online shopping may eventually lead to the demise of physical stores, there is one thing that is certain: the warehouse. It will continue to be necessary to store large quantities of merchandise and to hire employees to manage the warehouses.

As long as robots don't take over their jobs warehouse workers will need wages for the tasks they do. Retailers already cover the cost of paying someone to retrieve the item, package it and then ship it. item you have purchased online. However, if you want to decide to return an item, it still has to be repackaged and replaced, although the company hasn't made any money through the return. Online retailers are now charging restocking costs on items that are returned.

Bargain Hunting

If there's a major drawback to online shopping for cosplay shoes is the agony of waiting the delivery of your order. The earlier you make your purchases, the better likelihood that they'll be delivered on time. Federal law requires that retailers ship items within the specified times. Standard shipping can take up to 5 days for business, while standard shipping takes 30 days. If no delivery date is given within the transaction, it has to be shipped within 30 days.

Plan Your Purchase

The only issue online shopping is the lengthy wait time for your order to be shipped. There's a greater likelihood of receiving your purchase on time if you place your orders earlier. Federal law requires that retailers ship things within the timeframes specified (e.g. the standard shipping takes three to five business days, or 30 days if there's not a shipping date in the transaction).

[orrangie-blog]

Light in the box reviews - Is Lightinthebox Safe to Order from?

Lightinthebox.com is a global retail store that are experts in some primary areas: apparel, small appliances, home decor, and a variety of gadgets. Reading Light in the box reviews (visit the https://chinasafeimport.com/blog/light-in-the-box-reviews webpage to test them), you'll probably find that it's the most famous for its individualized wedding party clothes and evening clothing.

This internet page entices people who believe that they will purchase the wedding ceremony apparel of their desires at a small fraction of the price of standard sellers. Even better, the customizable options of the webpage signify they won’t need to cover the cost of custom tailoring.

Nonetheless, for every delighted bride-to-be who receives her beautiful white wedding gown, there is another review that shows a different history.

On relatively inexpensive things, just like for example clothes, it isn't really as much of a problem.

But nevertheless, if you're thinking of utilizing Light in the box for bigger orders, like devices or electronics products, the Lightinthebox reviews (termed as a “Light in the box scam” or a “Light in the box rip off”) on user discussion forums would suggest that you need to think again.

On the internet they are very popular opinion portals that have a large amount of purchaser comments about the Lightinthebox website. Listed below are the webpages with the reviews which we discovered:

The Trustpilot website

Based on 14392 comments on the Trustpilot net page, Lightinthebox.com has a general score of 4 out of 5.

Approx 62 % of those who posted assessments issued the internet shop the full 5 stars, and approx 16 % evaluated their purchasing experience with 1 star.

Generally speaking, this is an overall positive outcome, especially when taking a look at feedback on Trustpilot.com regarding very similar websites, like for example AliExpress or Tomtop.

Light in the box review on ConsumerAffairs

On ConsumerAffairs.com, Lightinthebox.com has the totally different outcome if compared with other opinion internet pages, due to the fact that there are 645 evaluations and an overall mark is one star.

Most of the comments concerning the Lightinthebox.com website expressed frustration with prolonged delivery time and additionally miscommunication with size, nearly all of them came from shoppers who'd bought footwear.

SiteJabber.com

Sitejabber.com's gave Lightinthebox scores similar to those on Trustpilot.

Based on 3842 comments gathered, Light in the box wound up with a rate of 4 stars, with approx 60 percent of the ratings being evaluated at 5 stars.

Whilst there are plenty of angry people when you browse any webpage showcasing Lightinthebox review, you can also find lots of folks who are totally happy with their purchases and the customer support.

Generally speaking, the majority of the clients who were very happy with their transactions appeared to be ordering small wares: various outfits, hairpieces, accessories or small electronics products.

We've determined that the more expensive wares appear to have much more poor opinions, this fact online shoppers must keep in mind.

Light in the box swindle comments are accessible on forums and discussion boards where shoppers write that they have never received their items. In some cases, those Lightinthebox reviews are made a too quickly.

When we responded the question, “What exactly is the Light in the box portal?” we debated that this retail store is headquartered in Beijing.

That's why most of its items ship from another country, and as a consequence delivery times are not exactly the swiftest. Even the processing time could be very long.

How Does Shipment Work? Light in the box reviews about delivery service

A few goods process in only twenty four hours, but the rest may span from three days to a more than fifteen days prior to they leave the stockroom.

A major claim is the too long the delivery times, described below:

Mail Tracking Service

Articles delivered by this option can make it to the United States Of America in 10-20 days from the moment it departs the warehouse. For the period of high season, this shipping time is lengthened to 15-30 days.

Check a calendar, which means that it could be up to six weeks (counting weekends) before your items come.

Our own Lightinthebox Review About Postal Expedited

Making a decision on this method will unquestionably speed up the shipment procedure, reducing your wait time to 5-8 days. It provides it to approximately an one-week wait, even during high season times. This is swifter.

Express Expedited Shipping

For clients who want their items as soon as possible, this can be the most excellent shipping solution to take into account. With Quick Shipment, international delivery is reduced to 3-5 working days.

We can't find any data regarding specified prices for every shipment method, however the hop does express that shipping will hinge both on the size of the product and on the shipping time period as Lightinthebox reviews suggest.

When you're thinking of the basic Postal Tracking Service shipping method, the longest time wait is below nine weeks for an item to receive after buying.

It's a long time to await and think if you have become a sufferer of the Light in the box rip-off, or if it is a standard shipping time for a parcel received from abroad.

It is the right amount of time to ask the very serious question, “Is Light in the box reliable?” after waiting that long for a potentially costly bundle and writing unfavorable Lightinthebox review.

Earlier than thinking you’ve fallen prey to a Light in the box scam, be certain you’ve awaited the full 45 days which your item could need to make it to your house.

And after that follow up with customer support to see if they can give you any kind of extra tracking information or information confirming the send of your packet that proves that it's arriving to your house.

Summary: Is the Lightinthebox.com store trustworthy? Why some Lightinthebox reviews are poor?

Now that we have meticulously responded to the query, “What exactly is Lightinthebox?” this is time to ask the real query: Is the Lightinthebox.com website reliable to purchase from for my everyday shopping needs?

While evaluations appear to be very favorable generally speaking, we are on this website to response whether there could be a Light in the box hoax.

Buying on Light in the box is an excellent way to get price cut on a tailor made outfit or to gain various goods that you want in bulk.

Generally speaking, is Light in the box safe? It has many risk-free payment possible choices which will demonstrate that it isn’t a rip-off site.

The actual Light in the box reviews signal that you want to order 2 or 3 low cost items first to see if you’re satisfied with the client service and delivery times before starting to purchase larger products.

[ghana-web]

FedEx Ghana : Prices, Jobs and Locations FedEx invented express distribution, and is the industry’s global leader, providing rapid, reliable, time-definite delivery. In Ghana, FedEx Services integrates the technology and services customers need. It includes solutions for global supply chains, e-commerce, or any of today’s business challenges. Prices Job Search Global Services Provided Locations Insurance   The rise in Prices: In August 2020, FedEx announced new surcharges for the 2020 holiday season. Surcharges were affected from October 5, 2020, through January 17, 2021. FedEx will add a surcharge of $52.50 to every oversized package sent via its express, ground, or international services. An oversized is a package that measures longer than 96 inches or more than 130 inches in length and girth combined. A World of Opportunity Awaits FedEx helps connect your business from countries and continents in the world because businesses leave the logistics and shipping to FedEx.   FedEx Ghana jobs On the FedEx website, in One Simple Search, you can find New Job Postings every day. Their online website provides the opportunity for Ghanaian jobseekers to easily upload their resume. So registering at the webpage and posting your CV will see you receive regular updates on the available openings. You can start hired as a package handler, stay for a career. You can choose your shift at one of our warehouses. Join the essential team members our communities trust and appreciate. Find Reviews and Salaries. Job Type- Structure:

Quantity surveyors

Clearance agents

Management specialists

Software developers

Customer care specialist

Customer coordinators

Operations agents

Logistics coordinators

Drivers

Vendor assistants and many more.

FedEx Global Statistics: FedEx Express- stations 1,950 Air Express hubs 13 Ground- hubs 39 FedEx Ground- operating facilities >600 Freight- service centers ~370 Office- locations 2,200 Unique fedex.com visitors monthly >100M Package-status tracking requests daily >400M Services Provided: FEATURED SERVICES One Rate SameDay Home Delivery Healthcare Solutions Online Retail Solutions Packaging Services Offered By FedEx Companies : Express Ground Office Freight Custom Critical Logistics CrossBorder Supply Chain FedEx Locations in Ghana Accra Kumasi Tamale Takoradi Ashiaman Tema Teshie Cape Coast Obuasi Madina Addresses of Locations in Ghana: 1. FEDEX P.O.BOX KIA ( koto ka International Airport) 9518, Accra 2. Federal Express (FedEx) Branch Office 1st Floor, Swanzy Shopping Arcade, Accra 3. Branch Office Ground Floor TFS Bldg., Comm. 1, Tema 4.No. 60, Mango Tree Ave., Asylum Down, Accra 5.1st Floor Kenroses Bldg., Collins Ave., Takoradi 6. Opp. Presby, Adum, Kumasi 7. Federal Express (FedEx) Ken Rosts Building, Collins Avenue, Takoradi 8. Ground Floor, SSNIT Bldg., Sunyani IAS Gh. Federal Express (FedEx) 9.1st Floor, GCB Bldg., Cape Coast, Cape Coast 10. Federal Express (FedEx) Airport Branch At The Yellow Container, Airport Post Office, Accra 11. IAS Gh. Federal Express (FedEx) SSNIT Bldg., Wa, Wa 12. Federal Express (FedEx) Airport-AFGO Courier Dome, Accra What is FedEx Shipping Insurance? FedEx offers insurance to help offset the cost if a package is lost, stolen, or damaged in Kumasi, Accra or Tamale. The first $100 ( Gh 600)of insurance doesn’t cost anything, but if the value of the package is higher, you can purchase additional insurance to cover potential losses. There is a small risk of package loss during transit, but the damage is more common. One study found that up to 11 percent of packages are damaged during transit. Damage results by carrier vary, but the study found the following percentage of damaged packages by carrier: UPS: 11 percent USPS: 10 percent FedEx:7 percent FedEx had the smallest percentage of damage in this study, but in these events, shipping insurance helps offset the cost. Purchasing the right amount of insurance is key and involves stating a “declared value.” Something to take notice of is that it includes a weight surcharge that will start at 50 pounds instead of 70 pounds.

[hauntedcreatorkingdom]

Warehouses in Qatar commonly have their own person inventory management method that subsequently is about up to operate in tandem with your enterprise's program. They provide a safe, Protected, and centralized spot for your own merchandise, which makes it simpler to keep an eye on and Manage your stock. By purchasing a warehouse, you'll be able to be expecting to retailer, ship and distribute products and solutions added effectively. If somewhat something is out of stock, you will understand it straight absent and provide clientele with substitute options in lieu of leaving them awaiting days and even months. Warehouses which have supplemental in-household fulfillment groups also help businesses transfer, bundle and system orders from purchasers. Deals dispatched on pallet racks, one case in point is, is normally unpacked and re-boxed just prior to cargo on your shopper. Warehousing also permits perfectly timed shipping and delivery and optimized distribution, with in-home monitoring methods that allow both you and your consumers know particularly when the obtain has extended been given, packed, fulfilled, dispatched out, and delivered. Additionally, it can help lower mistakes and injuries while while in the purchase fulfillment tactic and stops your products from buying dropped or stolen for the length of dealing with. But the greatest attract of warehouses is the fact that they help you store goods for long haul use. Vegetation, artwork, candles, foodstuff and drugs are only a few samples of products which demand Certain storage situation that can Typically only be fulfilled by a warehouse. This could certainly assist to extend the product’s shelf life, even though slicing down your provider costs. On top of that, the answers saved in warehouses are frequently insured. Consequently, you've got larger prospective buyers to obtain compensation from your insurance provider from the party of hurt, fireplace or theft. 

 More visit : https://www.northoceanscm.com/

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[manishajain001]

The UNICEF said it will stockpile 520 million syringes in its warehouses, as part of a larger plan of one billion hypodermic needles by 2021, to guarantee initial supply and help ensure that syringes are available in countries before the COVID-19 vaccines arrive. “As the world awaits a COVID-19 vaccine, UNICEF has begun laying the groundwork for the rapid, safe and efficient delivery of the eventual vaccine by purchasing and pre-positioning syringes and other necessary equipment,” the UN agency said on Monday.

[hudsonespie]

How Cruise Lines are Preparing for a Post-Pandemic World

It’s no surprise or secret that the coronavirus pandemic has dealt a major economic blow to cruise ship lines. Some of the earliest, most gripping stories of COVID-19’s spread outside of China involved quarantined cruise ships searching for safe harbor in the viral storm. After some initial scrambling to bring home everyone already at sea, most cruise ships have been in port and empty of passengers, awaiting word that it’s safe to sail again. 

Miami is the home port for many of the cruise lines in the Western Hemisphere, especially those sailing to the Caribbean and South and Central America. It’s also the headquarters of Horizon Air Freight’s cruise ship division and home to our dedicated cruise industry warehouse facilities, which include refrigerated and frozen storage for the millions of pounds of food we move to cruise ships in a typical year. (It’s one of the more specialized of our more than 30 consolidation centers positioned strategically around the globe.) But as we write this, Miami is also a hotspot of coronavirus cases, so we don’t anticipate cruise operations will restart there anytime soon.

“They really need to get the whole state under control before Miami-based cruise lines start thinking about cruising again,” says Alex Durante, Horizon’s director of global sales.

Indeed, just a few weeks ago, the CDC announced it was extending its No Sail Order until September 30, so, at least for U.S.-embarking cruise ships, the wait continues.

That doesn’t mean that nothing is happening aboard their ships. We’ve been shipping a lot of food to feed onboard crew members who were temporarily banned from disembarking due to quarantine regulations. We’ve also shipped a high volume of personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect onboard crews, and, in one recent case, we shipped thousands of pounds of PPE to an entire shipyard to protect workers renovating a cruise ship in dry dock. Masks, gloves, face shields, hand sanitizer, disinfecting aerosol sprays: we’ve been getting it all delivered on-board to cruise ships around the world, even in remote ports, to keep their people safe and healthy as they prepare for what’s next.

Of necessity, we’ve developed some rapid expertise in hand sanitizers and disinfectants, then passed that along to the cruise lines we serve. Sanitizers and disinfectants with high levels of alcohol are classified as hazardous freight, making them more complicated and expensive to export. We’ve been recommending alternatives with lower levels of alcohol paired with other chemicals that help to fight germs and viruses.

“Buy non-hazardous,” says Durante, “and it’s a lot more cost-effective and efficient to get it to you.” It saves our customers money — they can see the savings on our automated financial reports — while still keeping everyone safe.

Smaller Adventure Lines Sailing Soon

Some of the boutique cruise lines we serve — especially those offering adventure cruises to remote areas — may start sailing again sooner than the larger lines, with embarkations from countries presently safe and open. (A few have already started.)

“If we’re shipping them ammunition to protect themselves from polar bears,” says Durante, “the barriers to reentry are probably lower.”

These smaller lines can keep all their passengers together during excursions, and it’s easier to test and screen everyone in the controlled, manageable environments they’re able to provide.

“If they’re cruising to Antarctica, French Polynesia, Greenland, or other safe areas,” says Durante, “they’re likely opening sooner.”

A Longer Wait for Large Cruise Lines

For the larger cruise lines, however, and for any lines sailing to or from countries still under heavy restrictions, the wait continues. In the meantime, most are already planning ahead for a post-pandemic world.

There are still a lot of unknowns. Will cruise lines screen passengers before they board? If so, we may be shipping them a lot of forehead thermometers and test kits. We know we’ll be shipping more gloves, masks, and sanitizers for the foreseeable future. Will buffets be replaced with table service dining? If so, that may impact the food and service equipment we’re shipping.

“Whenever the CDC and the governing bodies in other countries give the green light to start sailing again,” says Durante, “we have the infrastructure in place to support them. Whatever they need, our global team of marine logistics experts will get it to them, when and where they need it.”

From Keeping an Overhaul On-Schedule to Shipping Food All Over the World

Horizon first started supporting cruise ships several years ago when we handled some emergency overnight deliveries from Germany to the Bahamas to keep a major ship overhaul on schedule. The supplier knew Horizon due to previous urgent shipments we handed for them and recommended us to the cruise line as the forwarder who could get the parts there on-time.

“The shipowner was very happy,” says Durante, “and he asked, ‘Who did these emergencies? I never expected we’d see those parts on time.’”

The same cruise line’s logistics department then asked Durante if Horizon could help with their food deliveries. They were shipping 7,000 pounds of food per week from California to French Polynesia. “They wanted to buy wholesale in the U.S. instead of paying a fortune in port,” says Durante, “but the shipments were causing them a tremendous amount of trouble.”

Horizon and our Los Angeles partner put together an arrangement with a refrigerated and frozen warehouse in California, then set up weekly consolidated delivery schedules of food and beverages from various West Coast vendors. More than three years later, we’re still shipping 7,000-10,000 pounds of food via air for them each week.

That initial opportunity led Horizon to launch our cruise ship division, with a dedicated team and facilities initially assembled by Durante. From our new state-of-the-art refrigerated and frozen warehouse facilities in Miami and L.A., to providing up-to-the-minute statuses of every single purchase order electronically, our services were immediately in high demand. We started shipping food to cruise ships all over the world: millions of pounds of it each year.

“We went from spare parts,” says Durante, “to shipping high-end wine, lobsters, ice cream, and porterhouse steaks. Anything and everything the guests wanted, we made the necessary logistics arrangements to get it to them.”

That eventually led to keeping cruise ships supplied with everything else they needed, from engine parts to watches and pearl necklaces for their onboard jewelry stores, with all deliveries timed to their global fleets schedule. 

Unlike other commercial maritime industries, the cruise industry needs two very distinct kinds of support from a maritime logistics company.

The technical division of a cruise line is very much like the technical division of a container ship company, a fishing fleet, or any of the other maritime sectors Horizon serves. We get them the parts and supplies they need to keep their ships running safe, able, and on-time.

Then there’s the hotel or hospitality division, which has far more in common with a hotel in a major urban center than a tanker ship or offshore rig. For cruise ship hospitality divisions, in addition to food and beverage items, we ship a lot of toiletries and cleaning chemicals, promotional merchandise such as mugs and T-shirts, key cards, and equipment and supplies for onboard entertainment.

“If you can ship perishable food,” says Durante, “and are able to successfully and consistently navigate through the complexity of what these shipments entail, then all the rest is easy.”

Sailing to See the World Again

At Horizon, we work every day with people who spend their lives traveling through the awe-inspiring beauty of the open seas while experiencing the many cultures and countries of this wide world. Most people don’t have such opportunities in their daily lives, but cruise ships can give them that experience, that adventure.

This is a challenging time for cruise lines and for the world, but throughout Horizon’s 50 years in business, we’ve seen the commercial shipping industry rise to many such challenges before. We’ll get through this one together and emerge stronger than ever.

We look forward, for many reasons, to the day when the pandemic is brought under control. And we look forward to the time when cruise ships can get back to what they do best: give people adventures, vacations, and entertainment at sea. Whenever the time is right, we’ll be there to support them.

This article is sponsored by Horizon Air Freight. Horizon keeps fleets shipshape and on-schedule with global marine logistics by air, land, and sea. Critical marine spares, supplies, and equipment from any vendor worldwide: consolidated, expedited, delivered door to deck. Whatever you need, wherever you need it, we’ll get it there on time and on budget. With more than 50 years of experience, we keep more than 3,000 ships safe, able, and sailing. To learn more or to request a quote, call 800-221-6028 or visit haf.com.

from Storage Containers https://maritime-executive.com/article/how-cruise-lines-are-preparing-for-a-post-pandemic-world via http://www.rssmix.com/

[berniesrevolution]

In best-selling author James Patterson’s latest novel The Store, a writer and his family go undercover to write the exposé of the century, about a dominant corporation that insinuates its way into people’s lives, homogenizing society under its vision. It’s a website that initially sold books and then branched out to providing other goods and services.

Patterson calls it TheStore.com. But we all know what he’s referring to.

“I think people are interested because everybody is using these sites, including Amazon,” said Patterson in an interview. “Most people find them interesting and some find them troubling.”

Often, people hold both views at the same time, and that internal conflict makes them ripe for pop-culture interrogation. Popular entertainment habitually reflects the preoccupations of society. After the financial crisis, a wave of books and films presented financiers as amoral villains: The Big Short, The Wolf of Wall Street, George Clooney’s Money Monster, even Oliver Stone’s long-awaited follow-up to Wall Street. But the national mood has shifted. America has become more wary of Silicon Valley, and political movements on the left and right have turned against it. And these concerns have propelled a diverse set of narratives, from thrillers to comedies to animated features.

While lacking coherence, this trend may prove more impactful than the recent political focus on giant tech platforms. When Slate’s Franklin Foeror USC’s Jonathan Taplin write well-received books warning about tech monopolies, it serves an important public policy function. When conservative voices call for Google to be regulated as a public utility, it creates space for a trans-partisan alliance on weakening the power of the tech titans. When a Google-funded think tank fires researchers critical of Google, it raises questions about who truly controls the flow of information in our democracy.

But when a transparent facsimile of Amazon or Facebook or Google pops up in the movie you’ve devoted Friday night to watching, it attracts a wider audience and can distill more recognizable fears.

Take Storks, the 2016 animated comedy about what happens after Internet retailer Cornerstore.com transforms the legend of storks manufacturing and delivering babies into a package-delivery service headquartered at a giant fulfillment center atop a mountain. The Amazon warehouse worker drudgery sits in the background of a larger narrative about parenthood and following your destiny, but in the end the protagonist, a stork named Junior, rallies his comrades to free themselves from the mildly oppressive Cornerstore, and return storks to their true mission in life.

“It just seemed culturally like what would resonate,” said writer and co-director Nicholas Stoller, best known for Forgetting Sarah Marshall and the Neighbors films. “When I thought of big business, eight years ago I would be making fun of Walmart. Now it’s Amazon.”

Stoller’s brother Matt was actually one of the monopoly policy researchers fired by the Google-funded New America Foundation. Nick Stoller uses Amazon “constantly” and Storks isn’t really a biting commentary. But just the fact that Amazon has such a dominant position culturally that something resembling it can easily slide into a kids’ movie is a commentary in itself.

In Patterson’s The Store, a modern horror/suspense story, an all-knowing corporation monitors its workers and customers so completely that nobody can escape its grip. In another age, a law office served as the faceless panopticon in John Grisham’s similarly constructed The Firm. Today the stock villain is clearly an Amazon stand-in.

Author James Patterson has been outspoken about Amazon in the past; his publisher Hachette waged a high-profile battle with the website over e-book pricing. Patterson believes that Amazon wants to control shopping in America, and publishers’ need to grab attention in the only book marketplace that matters has narrowed what the public sees in print. “With the squeeze on publishers, they have less time and inclination to say, I have this big whale Infinite Jest,” Patterson said. “Ten years ago they would have bought it, but who’s going to buy it now?”

The Store, whose hero is knowingly named Jacob Brandeis (Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis was one of the biggest critics of monopolies in the Progressive Era), envisions a paternalistic online retailer that controls what people desire and how they live. Some become so addicted to the convenience that they drop out of society, just sitting at home waiting for drone deliveries. Executives connive with lawmakers to shutter libraries, supply free tablets for schools (with software that can only access The Store), and abolish sales tax for Internet purchases. Warehouse workers are afraid to speak out, and those that do get transferred to a high-tech version of a re-education camp.

The dangers of a dominant Internet platform that exploits endless surveillance also overlays The Circle, a Tom Hanks-helmed thriller based on the book by David Eggers, about a company that’s a kind of hybrid of Facebook and Amazon. Silicon Valley, HBO’s lacerating satire of tech business culture, mines the industry’s utopian self-image for absurdity. The downsides of the openness of social media come forward in the black comedy Ingrid Goes West and the schlock horror film Friend Request.

Ultimately, artists are trying to entertain. And tech leaders’ ambition to transform human behavior, and their uncritical belief in the benefits of their radical interventions, lends itself to satirical or even skeptical treatment. “This is the era of megalomaniacs, people who think they know better than all of us about everything,” said Patterson.

(Continue Reading)

[magzoso-tech]

Private tech companies mobilize to address shortages for medical supplies, masks and sanitizer

New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/private-tech-companies-mobilize-to-address-shortages-for-medical-supplies-masks-and-sanitizer/

Private tech companies mobilize to address shortages for medical supplies, masks and sanitizer

Startups across the nation and around the world are looking for ways to relieve shortages of much-needed personal protective equipment and sanitizers used to halt the spread of COVID-19.

While some of the largest privately held technology companies, like SpaceX and Tesla, have shifted to manufacturing ventilators, smaller companies are also trying to pitch in and relieve scarcity locally.

Supplies have been difficult to come by in some of the areas hardest hit by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, and the shortfalls have been made worse by a lack of coordination from the federal government. In some instances local governments have been bidding for supplies against each other and the federal government to acquire needed personal protective equipment.

On Sunday, New York’s Governor Mario Cuomo pleaded with local governments to not engage in a bidding war. In fact, Kentucky was outbid by the federal government for personal protective equipment.

“FEMA came out and bought it all out from under us,” Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear told a local newspaper. “It is a challenge that the federal government says, ‘States, you need to go and find your supply chain,’ and then the federal government ends up buying from that supply chain.”

Against this backdrop local startups and maker spaces are stepping up to do what they can to fill the gap.

Alcohol brands are turning their attention to making hand sanitizer to distribute in communities experiencing shortages. 3D-printing companies are working on new ways to manufacture personal protective equipment and swabs for COVID-19 testing. And one fast fashion retail startup is teaching its tailors and seamstresses how to make cloth masks for consumer protection.

AirCo, a New York-based startup that developed a process to use captured carbon dioxide to make liquor, shifted its efforts to making hand sanitizer for donations in communities in New York City.

Now, new alcohol brands Bev and Endless West are joining the manufacturing push.

Endless West announced this morning that it would shift production away from its distillery to begin making hand sanitizers. The World Health Organization approved their sanitizers, which the company will produce in its warehouse in San Francisco.

The two-ounce bottles will be donated to local restaurants and bars that remain open for delivery, so that employees can use them and distribute them to customers. Bulk quantities will be distributed to healthcare organizations and facilities that need them.

Endless West also put out a call for other companies to provide supplies to hospitals and health organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“We felt it was imperative to do our part and dedicate what resources we have to assist with shortages in the healthcare and food & beverage industries who keep the engine running and provide such important functions in this time of immense need throughout the community,” said Alec Lee, CEO of Endless West, in a statement.

Los Angeles-based Bev is no different.

“As an alcoholic beverage company, Bev is very lucky in that we are licensed to purchase ethanol directly from our suppliers, who are doing their part by discounting the product to anyone licensed to purchase it,” said Bev chief executive, Alix Peabody. “Community underscores everything we do here at Bev, and as such, we will be producing hand sanitizer and distributing it free of charge to the homeless and elderly communities here in Venice, populations who largely have insufficient access to healthcare and essential goods like sanitizer.”

Hand sanitizer is one sorely needed item in short supply, but there are others — including face masks, surgical masks, face shields, swabs and ventilator equipment that other startups are now switching gears to produce.

(Photo by PAU BARRENA/AFP via Getty Images)

In Canada, INKSmith, a startup that was making design and tech tools accessible for kids, has now moved to making face shields and is hiring up to 100 new employees to meet demand.

“I think in the short term, we’re going to scale up to meet the needs of the province soon. After that, we’re going to meet the demands of Canada,” INKSmith CEO Jeremy Hedges told the Canadian news outlet Global News.

3D-printing companies like Massachusetts-based Markforged and Formlabs are both making personal protective equipment like face shields, as well as nasal swabs to use for COVID-19 testing.

Markforged is pushing ahead with a number of efforts to focus some of the benefits of 3D printing on the immediate problem of personal protective equipment for healthcare workers most exposed to COVID-19.

“We have about 20 people working on this pretty much as much as they can,” said Markforged chief executive, Gregory Mark. “We break it up into three different programs. The first stage is prototyping validation and getting first pass to doctors. The second is clinical trials and the third is production. We are in clinical trials with two. One is the nasal swab and two is the face shield.”

The ability to spin up manufacturing more quickly than traditional production lines using 3D printing means that both companies are in some ways better positioned to address a thousandfold increase in demand for supplies that no one anticipated.

“3D printing is the fastest way to make anything in the world up to a certain number of days, weeks, months or years,” says Mark. “As soon as we get the green light from hospitals, 10,000 printers around the world can be printing face shields and nose swabs.”

Formlabs, which already has a robust business supplying custom-printed surgical-grade healthcare products, is pushing to bring its swabs to market quickly.

“Not only can we help in the development of the swabs, but we can manufacture them ourselves,” says Formlabs chief product officer, David Lakatos.

Swabs for testing are in short supply in part because there are only a few manufacturers in the world who made them — and one of those primary manufacturers is in Italy, which means supplies and staff are in short supply. “There’s a shortage of them and nobody was expecting that we would need to test millions of people in short order,” says Lakatos.

Formlabs is also working on another piece of personal protective equipment — looking at converting snorkeling masks into respirators and face masks. “Our goal is to make one that is reusable,” says Lakatos. “A patient can use it as a respirator and you can put it in an autoclave and reuse it.”

In Brooklyn, Voodoo Manufacturing has repurposed its 5,000-square-foot facility to mass-produce personal protective equipment. The company has set up a website, CombatingCovid.com, where organizations in need of supplies can place orders. Voodoo aims to print at least 2,500 protective face shields weekly and can scale to larger production volumes based on demand, the company said.

STAMFORD, CT – MARCH 23: Nurse Hannah Sutherland, dressed in personal protective equipment (PPE) awaits new patients at a drive-thru coronavirus testing station at Cummings Park on March 23, 2020 in Stamford, Connecticut. Availability of protective clothing for medical workers has become a major issue as COVID-19 cases surge throughout the United States. The Stamford site is run by Murphy Medical Associates. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Finally, Resonance, the fast fashion startup launched by the founder of FirstMark Capital, Lawrence Lenihan, is using its factory in the Dominican Republic to make face masks for consumers on the island and beyond.

“To contribute to the Dominican health efforts, Resonance is acting to utilize their resources to manufacture safety masks for distribution to local hospitals, nursing homes, and other high-risk facilities as quickly as possible. They have provided user-friendly instructions and material and will pay their sewers who can to make these masks from the security of their homes,” a spokesperson for the company wrote in an email. “Resonance is currently working to share this downloadable platform and simple instructions to their website, so anyone in the world can contribute to their own local communities.”

All of these efforts — and countless others too numerous to mention — point to the ways small companies are hoping to do something to help their communities stay safe and healthy in the midst of this global outbreak.

But many of these extreme measures may not have been necessary had governments around the world actively coordinated their response and engaged in better preparation before the situation became so dire.

There are a litany of errors that governments made — and are still making — in their efforts to respond to the pandemic, even as the private sector steps in and steps up to address them.

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

Disclaimer:  All names have been changed to protect the innocent.

  Larceny Incorporated

 February 15, 2020

 By Stephen Jay Morris c/w Pamela Amodeo-Morris

©Scientific Morality

             Moving is a nightmare, as many of you know.  Try moving across the country.  You do what you can to cut corners and save money.  However, the axiom rings true:  you get what you pay for.  In this conservative era of laissez-faire idiocy, there are dishonest hucksters hiding in the back offices of hundreds of warehouses.  Pamela and I were victims of one.

           When we walked away from our home in Oregon, we ended up living in mobile homes in the Southern California desert for six and a half years.  Living in a mobile home is a heartbeat from homelessness. Many mobile home parks are ghettos for poor white people.  I pity the poor, but some of them are damaged people who get on my nerves.

Our first home was not in a park, per se, but was on a residential street of a small city. The coach, as park managers and owners reference these homes, was situated on a large, privately owned, corner lot.  Its street was near a major intersection, where police and emergency vehicles’ sirens screamed day and night.  Druggies and drunks would walk past our walled yard all hours of the night, shouting threats at each other, and dark figures in old cars would frequently park just outside our bedroom window late at night, engine idling and gangsta rap blasting from their sound systems.  Unlike most mobile homes in the desert, which are primarily landscaped with small rocks and concrete, this one was heavily planted with fruit trees, rose bushes, shrubs and plants.  The landlord, who was an elderly man, was a great collector of native and non-native plants and trees.  He paid a neighbor to come and water the property twice weekly, and more during the intense summers.  It usually took the guy about three hours to complete the task.  We finally moved from there when the landlord wanted to reoccupy his property.

Since 2012, our primary goal had been to move to New York.  We wanted to be near Pamela’s family and within driving distance of New York City. But, with tight finances again dictating our fate, we rented a second mobile home in the same town.  (Just before this move, we got sidetracked a bit and almost moved to Texas, to be near Pamie’s sister.  In hindsight, though, everything worked out for the better.)

Unlike the first rental, this mobile home was situated in a large, beautiful, well-managed park, tailored for the 50+ community.  It was a great improvement over the latter:  spacious, insulated from the downsides of city-life, and owned by a responsive, absentee landlady.  However, the homes here were situated very close to one another on small, leased lots. With our focus steadfastly fixed on New York, we unpacked only our basic living necessities.  The vast majority of our belongings remained boxed and stored inside the home, in a large, unused area apparently intended as a recreation room. As such, it resembled a warehouse.

The neighbor to the right of us was a loud mouth, Trump supporter.  Every morning, he sat on his front porch, cell phone to his mouth, loudly berating the ills and failures of the Obama Administration and the country’s “nanny state.”  He initially tried to hustle me in his efforts to find customers for his “car repair business.”  He soon got the message that I was not interested in his business or his company. Lord, have mercy!

This move was supposed to be temporary, but we ended up living there for three and a half years. I had my heart attack in the small backyard at the end of our second year there.  My beloved Golden Retriever passed away there 14 months later.

All the while, Pamela searched relentlessly for a New York home.  She worked with several realtors and finance brokers via phone and email.   She even flew east twice to look at potential houses.  Finally, when a move looked imminent, Pamela searched found a long-distance moving company that quoted us a price at about 50% below the competition!  I’ll call them “L.A. Bowel Movers.”  The salesman, or “move coordinator,” called himself Jeremiah.  I immediately thought that Mormons owned the company.  Like Howard Hughes, I trusted Mormons.  Well, I later came to learn that this was no Mormon outfit.  We trusted Jeremiah.  We sent him a deposit and booked a move.

           However, as time went on, potential new home deals fell through.  We spent loads of money on required house inspections. But one house after another, something would go awry.  We canceled and rebooked our move with Jeremiah at least five times, and each time, he promptly and without incident, inked a new date for us.  Jeremiah was a charming guy, affable and easy-going. Usually, that would be a red flag for me.  However, anxious to buy our very own home in New York, I was suckered in.

           Switch and bait:  One thing I found odd was that this company hadn’t sent anyone to give us an on site estimate.  Jeremiah had provided it by phone and email, based on details Pamela gave of our current home’s size and the gross weight of our belongings recorded in past moves.  That was yet another red flag we ignored.

           Cut to moving day.  We were aware of the company’s policy:  No goods loaded until 50% of the total move balance was handed over.  Payment could only be made by cash, cashier’s check, or postal money order.  Another red flag we overlooked.  Pamela had already obtained a cashier’s check in the required amount.

The movers showed up 30 minutes late.  The truck they brought was 26 feet long, much smaller than we’d expected.  We soon learned that it was intended only to accommodate the total cubic footage and weight on which the original phone estimate was based, with room to spare.  Our entire load would later be transferred onto a contracted mover’s semi-truck.  Well, the moving team’s lead man, Jose, surveyed our entire household’s possessions.  He then informed us that more space would be required on the truck to accommodate everything; approximately 546 more cubic feet. This, of course, translated to additional costs of over $3,100.  We panicked; we didn’t have the extra funds!  They had us over a barrel!  After several phone calls were made between Jose, his boss, Jeremiah and us, Pamela and I discussed our dilemma in private.  We were stuck.  We had no choice but to pay up and get the truck loaded.  Our new home was scheduled to close in six days, we had a plane to catch, our lease was up, and we had a team of people depending on us! After some protests, we obtained an option to request a discount.  The lead man’s boss accepted it, we agreed for the move to proceed, and we handed the cashier’s check to Jose.  During this entire ordeal, five workers sat in front of the house, waiting for their orders.  It seemed as though they’d been through this before.  Funny, the movers ultimately managed to load all of our stuff onto every cubic inch of the small truck.   Go wonder.

Cash only:  Fast forward:  we successfully arrived in New York and, after several hotel stays, we were invited to be guests at our realtor’s home while awaiting the closing of our new home and arrival of the moving truck. This home’s very remote location left us with no cell service, which was the sole means by which the mover (driver), Don, could reach us.  Fortunately, there was a land line we could use while there.  We phoned the mover and, with great difficulty, we provided that phone number to him.  Immediately, a communication problem with the mover became evident, as he spoke with a heavy mid-Eastern accent in very broken English; his comprehension was even less.  He informed us he would be arriving in five days.

           Two nights before the expected arrival date, Don phoned to inform us that he would be arriving the next morning, between 7 and 10 a.m.  This meant we had to hustle, get to bed early, and arrive at the house in time to meet him.  Well, we arrived at 7:15 a.m. and waited.  After almost two and a half hours, we decided to leave, figuring he wasn’t going to show up.  Just before we got into our rental vehicle, we saw this semi-truck coming up the road.  They arrived at 10:30.

To our astonishment, there were only two guys to complete the delivery:  Don and his partner.  Just the two were going to move our voluminous amount of stuff from the truck and into our new home!  Don, the leader, was an unctuous dude who was short in stature with the biggest Napoleonic complex I had ever witnessed!  As we came to soon find out, he also had a persecution complex and argued with us several times in his broken English.  Pamela would instruct him how to set up furnishings and he would either ignore her or angrily dispute it.  It was below 30 degrees out, but he insisted that we turn off the heat and leave all of the doors open the entire time!

The other major hurdle was the requirement for the means of payment.  Total due was over $5,200.  We had been instructed, only after we’d left our former home and place of banking, that the driver would only accept cash or postal money order. We had neither, and had no easy access to our funds.  We were limited by our credit union to withdraw no more than $2500 a day.  We’d already obtained that amount the previous Friday, after great effort and a long drive in the snow and rain, from and to our remote guest house.  But, now, while the move delivery was in progress, we had to leave the movers alone at the house to travel again to areas unfamiliar to us.  Finally, we were finally successful in purchasing the remaining funds at a post office in the form of postal money orders.  We returned and paid the funds to the mover, obtained his receipts, and painfully endured the project through its finish at 9:30 p.m.  We were so frustrated, defeated, and exhausted that we told the movers to simply leave us to finish assembling the furnishings that were still lying in pieces on the floor.

           When it was all over, I was pissed off and Pamela was exhausted.  As time went on, we found damage to some of our furnishings.  We opened boxes and found more damaged goods.  When it finally came time to use our clothes washer, it made a terrible banging sound. We ended up going to the laundromat twice.  A repairman later found it had been damaged during the move.

           Not only did the movers fuck us over, but our vehicle transport company also ripped us off.  I won’t get into that right now.  If you are telling me that capitalism is superior to socialism, I will reply that that is similar to comparing Scarlet Fever to cancer.  Both diseases should be cured.

Unless I become a millionaire, I will never move again.

[ohdsouthflorida]

How a Serco Mechanical Dock Leveler Model WS Functions and Its Design Highlights for Industrial Operations Loading Dock in Dade, FL

A dock system is the consolidation of numerous loading dock equipment. The purpose of utilizing the dock system is to facilitate a faster and efficient storage and transfer of goods as well as of the equipment. The loading docks have been engineered to provide easy passage or access to the storage areas and are considered to be part of the warehouse facility’s infrastructure.

With the last 3 years recent economic boom of Dade, Florida, a massive influx of warehouse and manufacturing facilities are now being established.

The dock system includes the leveler, shelter, seal, door, barrier and other similar equipment. One of the most significant equipment is the loading dock leveler. The regular process of loading and unloading of goods requires the use of the dock leveler. It serves as a bridge between the facility and the delivery trailer truck. To this end, the leveler is deemed part of the loading dock as it is mounted at the endpoint of the dock to ensure the provision of a flat and leveled flooring to smoothly facilitate the passage of the deliveries.

The loading dock leveler is vital to the manufacturing and warehousing facilities but in most cases, it is most often an overlooked piece of equipment in the loading and unloading facilities.

In essence, a smart approach is important to the selection and purchase of the dock leveler as it provides the energy and cost-saving system that may eventually help boost the productivity of the business not to mention its effects on the transfer effectiveness of the goods.

The dock leveler should be evaluated first before your purchase to ensure that it also includes a proficient safety feature that promotes an accident-free work area.

Moreover, the high-quality and durability of the dock leveler should likewise be appraised in order to get away from the frequent conduct of maintenance and repair.

If you are in Dade, Florida, it is strongly recommended to avail of the services of the Overhead Door Company of South Florida, a division of DuraServ Corp. We offer the safest, most efficient dock design to servicing your loading dock as well as the pieces of equipment including but not limited to the dock leveler, doors and other high-end products. Aside from that, we have high-quality and durable products and skilled technicians to keep your loading dock to its maximum potential.

We offer the Serco Mechanical Dock Leveler Model WS. It has a higher capacity with the exclusive safe TFrame Design and heavy-duty dock bumpers. Apart from that, it has the exclusive hydra cam plus automatic lip extension and a structural steel safety legs that promotes an accident-free facility.

That is why this mechanical dock leveler model will provide you with the worry-free dock system that will efficiently increase your progress along the way.

For your needs about Serco Mechanical Dock Leveler Model WS, mechanical dock leveler, Serco mechanical dock leveler, loading dock equipment, loading dock solutions, Serco mechanical dock leveler Dade FL, and Serco mechanical dock leveler South Florida, you may visit our official website to learn more at https://www.ohdsouthflorida.com/dock-levelers-lifts/mechanical-dock-levelers/.

For your queries and other concerns, you may call us at the telephone number (954) 266-7960 or you may email us at https://www.ohdsouthflorida.com/contact/.

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Our dedicated coordinators await your call to provide you with our best services to meet your dock leveler needs.