Unfortunately our final container for the year is going to be delayed....again.
The sad story goes like this:
Our latest container was originally due in earlier last month. One of the brewers missed the loading deadline meaning the whole thing was delayed just over 2 weeks while we booked another spot on a later ship. Beer was then due in 30th November.
A missed connection on the way added another 8 days to the trip. Still OK, we were expecting the container in the day after our Christmas party. We'd be busy for the week but we'd have beer out in enough time before Christmas.
At the start of last week we are advised that Customs has an alert currently about European stinkbugs. We've never had this from Europe before, so came as a bit of a surprise. Our container was picked for an inspection which has added further delays.
Until this morning we were expecting it to be delivered today. Much more of a rush, but we could just about manage things - at least for the east coast customers. But this morning we've been told although the container is now cleared, the paperwork is held up because of a backlog of processing. At this point we don't have a date for delivery of our container, but it is supposed to be some time this week with Thursday the most likely estimate at this point.
So regrettably we aren't going to have things ready to send out as we'd like. Apologies to those customers who've put in orders hoping for pre-Christmas delivery, but there isn't anything that we can do other than wait for Customs to take their good time. As soon as we know when the container is being delivered, we'll let you know when to expect your orders.
Sincere apologies.