Saturday, May 17, 2008

The difference between 23 degrees Celsius and 23 degrees Fahrenheit is about $883,000, according to a lawsuit filed this week by Samsung Austin Semiconductor.

Samsung filed a federal lawsuit Monday on behalf of its insurance companies, seeking to recover the cost of a wafer analysis machine rendered useless when it was shipped at too cold a temperature.

The machines test the semiconductors that the company produces at its Austin plants.

The chip maker and its insurers want three shipping companies to pay $883,000 for the equipment, according to the complaint filed Monday at U.S. District Court in Austin.

The suit names Air Express International USA Inc., DHL Global Forwarding and Southern Refrigerated Transport Inc. as defendants.

According to Samsung's complaint, a Southern Refrigerated tractor-trailer hauled the machine from San Jose, Calif., to one of the chip maker's two factories in Austin. Because of its delicate, temperature-sensitive optical devices, the equipment had to be kept at temperatures around 23 degrees Celsius in transit.

A message left for Tony Smith, president of Texarkana, Ark.-based Southern Refrigerated, was not returned Friday.

"(The) driver incorrectly set the temperature on the ... trailer at 23 degrees Fahrenheit," Samsung said in the complaint, adding that the "sub-freezing temperatures damaged sensitive portions of the machine" and left it "worthless but for salvage value."

Ya - that driver must've been a complete idiot, not noticing the c/f thing. Wow - they should take him out and shoot him for doing something like that.

OMG - it was an honest mistake - I guess you've NEVER made a simple mistake in your life.

I've had shipping documents that listed BOTH C and F. Sorry, but I'd say "X" gets the square. In a country that mostly goes by F, the shipper should have known better. WHEN IN ROME, DO AS THE ROMANS DO. In THIS country, list it in F.

As far as that goes, his dispatch most likely simply told him it had to be kept at 23 degrees. Very likely, they did not say anything about C or F. What would you set it at? Also, it's been so long since I've done any of the converstions between C and F, I don't remember the formula anymore.

The difference is about 50 degrees. At 23 degrees C, it would have been equal to 73.4 degrees F

Yes of course I've made mistakes before however none that costs $883k. I never said it was his fault although if I was hauling high $$ cargo that was temperature controlled I would make darn sure it was the right temp.

Agreed. What would you guys have done? I don't haul refers so I am not familiar with the proceedures on what to do before taking such loads. btw I would have had them verify F or C before I took the load. If I knew it was computer related cargo I would have used my common sense to reason that they don't react too well in below freezing temperatures, unless of course your overclocking..... :lol: Then again common sense is not very common

do we know if that was a live load or a preloaded trailer?
I'm guessing it was live loaded, but i've done a few preloaded reefer pickups .
now, if it was preloaded, the driver would have had to have changed something to be at fault.
now if they were loading it at the plant, i would like to think someone somewhere would have verified the temp, especially if it's the difference between room temperature and below freezing.
now, me, not knowing anything, i would never think cold would bother electrical instruments.

It really doesn't matter what the truck driver did. He was told "23 degrees" and as WW already pointed out..This is America..."WE" use "Fahrenheit" as our temperature desiganation standard...not "Celsius". The ultimate responsibility falls on the shipping clerk, for not having stressed that the machine needed to be "Kept Warm".

Yes...the driver should have read his or her paperwork and questioned the shipping clerk...but ultimately the shipping clerk is going to be held accountable, for failing to stress the accurate temperature which needed to be maintained.

Quote:
Samsung filed a federal lawsuit Monday on behalf of its insurance companies, seeking to recover the cost of a wafer analysis machine rendered useless when it was shipped at too cold a temperature.

Why do you suppose this law-suit was filed by Samsung, and not it's insurance carrier's ? If the insurance companies thought it was a shoe-in, they would have paid off Samsung's claim, then sought repayment on their own. Samsung filing the suit against the "Carriers" involved, gives them (the insurance companies) that much more time, to earn interest on the money they will eventually be paying out.

In my opinion.

I pulled reefers for about a year and every dispatch I ever got that involved temp sensitive product simply said to set the reefer to "X". None ever indicated For C. Also only about 1/3 of the shipping papers ever had any kind of temp on them and about 1/2 of those that did usually said something like 'Keep below O" or "Do not Freeze."

The driver would have seen the reefer setting in two places. On the bills and on the load records on qcom.

Then once he is ready to leave he has to use a Leaving Stop - Reefer macro specifying among other things what the bills say for the reefer setting. At that point, if the numbers are different he will start getting qcom messages.