Express Air International

"How am I going to explain my suspicion that we have been cheated all along." These where the thoughts running through Paul Bungeon's head, purchase manager of Ocean Line International located in Boston MA, as he reviewed a memo stating that shipping costs had almost doubled from one year to the next. An hour had later Paul received a call from headquarters. After a couple of minutes on the phone Paul made the following statement, "if the report is true, Javier Rodriguez is crazy to think he can get away overcharging on fees and tariffs when sooner or later it is would surface to our attention." The general manager of operations in Colombia S.A called Paul to let him know a report had been sent to Ocean Line International through FedEx Overnight. Feeling nervous about a possible fallout with the freight forwarder Paul Bungeon decided to walk down the corridor to the assistant's office and find out if the FedEx package had arrived.

"Do you think it is possible that Javier Rodriguez who selflessly jumped on a plane for an eight hour flight from Los Angeles to Bogota Colombia to deliver an urgent part for one of our fishing boats have the scruples to start setting up delinquent charges right in front of our eyes," Paul Bungeon asked Mary who was in charge of coordinating information and keeping track of Ocean Line's cargo that arrives to the warehouse of Express Air Courier. Mary works on a day-to-day basis with Javier to process documentation needed for exportation purposes. Mary's response to Paul seemed blunt but straight to the point, "this is a case where Express Air Courier has killed the goose that lay the golden egg." In other words, Ocean Line International represented the largest account to Express Air Courier after three years of service, and somehow they had taken advantage of Ocean their trust.

Background

A problem was encountered with Paul's freight forwarder "Express Air Courier" who handles the importation of equipment in need of overhaul, and also exportation of new engine parts used for maintenance and repair of fishing boats and helicopters. Paul was hired by Ocean Line International to take a leading role in the procurement of component parts for boats, helicopters used on board the ships, machinery such as fork lift trucks that unload the fish, and equipment needed to run the processing and packaging cannery. When hired by Ocean Line Paul's mission was clearly stated by headquarters as, "accurately sourcing the products from the U.S suppliers, thus avoiding the costly delays and possible shutdowns of operations in Cartagena, Colombia." After several years of uninterrupted service, Ocean Line International relied heavily on the logistics carried out by Express Air Courier in the distribution of merchandise that proceeded in continuous route to sea and airports in Colombia, Panama and Ecuador.

Express Air Courier a company based in Miami, Florida specialized in the logistics of air and ocean cargo headed to Europe, Latin America and the Pacific Rim. Javier Rodriguez director of operations became Ocean Line's representative broker in order to assist them in booking cargo, arranging pick-up and scheduling their shipment