Anyone used Maple Freight in Zimbabwe or Spherical Freight in South Africa to ship trophies home?

[ikeda]

Anyone out there have any dealings with Maple Freight in Zimbabwe, and Spherical Freight in South Africa?

 

[BRICKBURN]

This looked like an invitation to share and I asked a friend to write his review here. He's a little too busy at work so its left to me.

The basics of the tale:
My buddy who just used Spherical to get some trophies home.
1st Caveat, he was not provided the choice of whom to ship with by the taxidermist.
His trophies were completed, he was informed of this. He then started to review shipping companies, several of my suggestion.
When he called back he was "informed" the trophies had already been crated and picked up by Spherical.
(This certainly reinforced my happy choice of taxidermist)

I then received the call; "Know anything about Spherical?"

Answered: "Not much other than Ses (another AH member) had used them and his trophies got home from Zim ok.

For my friend it was quite different.
Supposedly issues arose with British Airways not allowing his Warthog mount!
Even though, two other Warthogs and a Bushpig had just been delivered using BA to the same destination city requested.

I directed my buddy to Safari Cargo and they provided him with a letter directly from BA outlining their policy and procedures for Warthogs etc.
The letter was provided to Spherical. To no avail.


He then had to accept airline routing through the Middle East.
For the fun of it draw a direct line to western Canada from Joburg and see if you hit Qatar!!
Increased cost, only reduced after some strong argument.

Unbeknownst to him the next part of the fun came when the trophies hit Canada. They did not arrive in his city, Qatar airlines services eastern Canada. Remember Canada is the second largest country in the world. This required another forwarder to get them closer.

The trophies were in some warehouse, no notification provided. Then they were given to some freight forwarder who proceeded to lose track of them.
No help provided by Spherical in attending to this mess.
He finally found the shipment himself.

After the money was sent they suddenly became difficult for him to reach for further information or updates.

The crate arrived with no damage, just a huge pain in the a**!

Now I personally know something about them: I will not be using Spherical!

 

[Martin]

I used them a few times in the past, for my own and also clients trophies. I had never any problems. Always got informed what where and when, recieved trophies in good condition (letï½´s say 99%) and it took not too long, around 6 months after hunt was finished. We here in Germany have a few companies specialized in trophies importing, so I always use them, always in cooperation with those agencies in Africa, thatï½´s a good "package".

So from my side I canï½´t say anything bad.

(btw, there are 2 or 3 crates in line at present, all from Zim and all through Maple freight and Spherical)

 

[hed43]

I'm actually using both companies right now to transport my trophies out of Zimbabwe to the USA. They are currently in transit, so I can't provide a full review. However, so far they have been good about keeping me updated on the status of my trophies. Once they arrive I will post again.

 

[richteb]

I used spherical and had no problems.

 

[hed43]

As an update to my prior post, my trophies made it to the USA a couple of weeks ago. There were some issues with getting my export permit approved by the government of Zimbabwe, but I see that as an issue with a dysfunctional government, not with the shipping companies.

I consider their shipping charges reasonable and my trophies all arrived well packed and in good shape. Overall, I have no complaints with their performance.

 

[BRICKBURN]

As an update to my prior post, my trophies made it to the USA a couple of weeks ago. There were some issues with getting my export permit approved by the government of Zimbabwe, but I see that as an issue with a dysfunctional government, not with the shipping companies.

I consider their shipping charges reasonable and my trophies all arrived well packed and in good shape. Overall, I have no complaints with their performance.

Thats good to hear.

Problems with permits seems to be a consistent problem for them.

Glad your trophies made it safe and sound. Now we await the reveal!!!

 

[ikeda]

Update....both mine and my sons made it to Seattle and Houston with no issues.
I would recommend them to anyone needing trophies shipped.