Pilots branch out, get around Christmas tree delay
Strike at US port delays shipment of festive firs, but founders of Xmastree Online use airline connections to bring in consignment
A pair of quick-thinking pilots used their airline connections to save Christmas for Hong Kong after port strikes in the US threatened to blight the festive season by cutting off the supply of trees.
Cathay Pacific pilots Sven Schuetz and Roland Janisiw first set up Xmastree Online after hearing complaints about the quality of trees available in the city. But their plans hit trouble when a consignment of 1,800 firs was held up by industrial action on the US west coast.
However, the pair used their aviation contacts to beat the strike and fly in 200 trees.
"We said it's our first season and we had quite a few pre-orders and we can't let these people down, so we pulled a few strings," said Schuetz, a German who set up the company with his Austrian colleague.
The firm was told on November 23 that its three-container shipment of Oregon-grown firs and wreaths was delayed for nearly three weeks and would not arrive until today.
Local customers demand trees as early as the end of November, tree sellers told the Sunday Morning Post.
Schuetz said they would not pass on the cost of air freight to customers, but declined to put a price on the exercise.