- Action: To Do List item A0002 – Apply for USCG Certificate of Documentation.
- Completed: 11 January 2016 - this took 278 days or 9 months and 3 days to complete.
- Cost: $716.18
Checked on our mail shipment of Indra's USCG COD parcel Tracking Number: LN348032694US revealed it departed Miami, Florida USA to Asia on 31 October 2015, this was the last status update to the tracking system made. Multiple attempts to contact the Philippine Postal system PHLPost via emails sent to addresses amed.supportservices@phlpost.gov.ph and amed@phlpost.gov.ph were never answered. We personally went to the Naga City, Cebu PHLPost office and made inquiries numerous times and were told we would just have to wait; they copied our cell phone number and stated they would text us when it was received.
On 11 January 2016 received a cell phone text message that our parcel had arrived at the Naga City PHLPost office. No reason for the extremely late delivery of the USPS First Class Mail International package containing our USCG Certificate Of Documentation was given. As this mail parcel was shipped 29 October 2015 and received 11 January 2016 this means it took 75 days or 2 months and 14 days to be delivered - unacceptable by any standard.
We first had to sign for receipt of our mail parcel as shown below.
Next they charged us PHL 112.00 pesos (US $2.29) for "Presentation To Customs". I questioned this charge as there was no evidence that anyone from Philippine Customs looked at our mail parcel - it bore no inspection stamp or additional paperwork. In turn, they showed us the directive (below) that authorized them to charge PHL 100.00 pesos; plus they also add a 12% Value Added Tax (VAT) of PHL 12.00 pesos to the total.
We took possession of our mail parcel, opened it up, and inspected the contents. Indra's official USCG Certificate Of Documentation (COD) was intact (copy below) and had an issue date of 20 October 2015 with a expiration date of 31 October 2016 - the expiration date of 31 October 2016 was added to our master tracking list of Due Dates. The COD was put in a protective plastic sleeve and added to the master ships logbook.
What was very interesting included with the delivery of the official paper copy of Indra's USCG COD the NVDC had also included a copy of the "accepted" bill of sale. Low and behold this was no other than the original, Certified and Apostille AMSA Form 159 Bill of Sale - maybe the light came on upstairs for at least one person in the NVDC bureaucracy.
From the original submission date of 9 April 2015 to physical receipt of the COD on 11 January 2016 - this took 278 days or 9 months and 3 days to complete. The total expenditures for paperwork and fees was US $716.18. Both the total cost and time for this task far exceeded any expectations envisioned at the beginning of this effort. By any reasonable standard this is unacceptable.
