In 1992 he entered into his IVA (Individual Voluntary Arrangements) e.g. Insolvency.

 

In 1992 Barrie formed a company called Shipping International UK Limited  (of which his wife was company secretary) but it was liquidated in 1995.

 

Between 1993 and 1998 he was director of London International Shipping Limited which was struck off the register (but before that over two years had the strike of suspended - for what reasons I do not know).

 

He and a family member also ran another  shipping company - Tropical Container Services Limited which entered liquidation in 1994 and is still in the process. Unfortunately there are no details of the insolvency practioner dealing with the matter on the Companies House web site so more enquiries would need to be made.

 

His wife was director and another family member was company secretary of Auto-Marine Shipping Limited (3433158) which was formed in 1997 and then voluntarily struck off the register (by directors/members consent) in 2001.

 

Since then he has been trading as sole trader/"trading as" Auto-Marine and Shippers 2000.

By the way, his web site continues to index itself as "Auto-Marine, a registered freight forwarding company, offering an extensive worldwide shipping service including delivery of cars, personal and commercial freight."

NOTE: This is NOT a registered freight forwarding COMPANY.

So do not be mislead, this is Barrie Vandermolen, not a company. Nor as a company director does he seem to have a particular stellar record. Now there may be perfectly good reasons why one would have so many companies go into liquidation in such a short period of time, but if you are not just a little worried yet then read on.

What terms are we using?

If you get as far as actually discussing a deal with Mr Vandermolen or Auto Marine Shipping then you may be presented with a standard set of terms and conditions, he'll tell you, on the phone probably, that as a BIFA member he is obliged to use them as his standard terms. Now contact BIFA and ask if they have heard of him. Or you could just search their web site for any reference to him. Now you know why he won't put his BIFA membership on any document.

Then there is the question of agent or principal. Are you buying a complete service from him, or is he acting as your agent, making arrangements on your behalf? The difference is subtle. In one you have a contract with him to deliver your item to you at some distant location, whereas on the other hand you have a contract with a shipping company that Mr Vandermolen has arranged. In fact Mr Barrie Vandermolen will attempt to cloud this issue so that he can attempt to take advantage of all the benefits of either arrangement. On the one hand he will make sure he gets whatever money he demands from you before you get your goods, while on the other he can avoid any liability by claiming he is only your agent.

 

What's he like to deal with?

Well I don't know about you but when I am spending GBP 60 000 with someone I expect to get their attention. So imagine this: You have forty cars worth over half a million pounds 6 weeks overdue for their return to the UK, sitting in a warehouse in America. The reason they are delayed (you discover) is misleading or missing paperwork, all of which has been made available by you to Auto MArine Shipping and Barrie Vandermolen. How many times do you expect you would receive a phone call, email, fax, letter or any other form of communication about the issue? Try none. Zero. Not to tell you they will be late, not to tell you why, not to tell you they were finally on the way. You are going to have to call him every time, just like me. Will he accept any responsibility (I mean by saying sorry or that he is working hard on it)? Dream on. If anything is missing, wrong, lost or whatever you can expect to have to deal with it yourself, which rather defeats the object of employing someone does it not?

So what happened in this case? Well in a nutshell we had a contract to send 40 cars out and bring 40 cars back, signed sealed and delivered and PAID IN FULL in advance of any car leaving the UK.  Thanks to an extremely efficient agent in Houston (Horizon Auto Services) who I am happy to recommend we got the cars out of the port, cleared customs and unloaded in 72 hours after arrival. So far so good.

On the return however, the containers carrying the cars are now very late, arriving in the UK some 6 weeks after they were originally intended. Christmas is now coming up fast and the owners of the cars are flying off in all directions - the cars need to be returned to them before the holiday's really kick in. So what happened next? Try an invoice for GBP 10 000. A miscalculation was made apparently and now Mr Vandermolen needs an additional ten thousand (On top of the sixty thousand paid in August). Two days later and "oops, sorry, that was a mistake, forget it". Another two days go by, the cars are now landed and awaiting customs clearance. Another invoice, this time GBP 4100. You call to ask what this is for - no explanation. But a few hours later the invoice magically grows and another is emailed for GBP 4500, ooops sorry another miscalculation is the only explanation. During all of this process Mr Vandermolen was telling me how hard he was pressuring the agents at the port to get everything cleared and delivered to us: funnily enough the view of the agents, whom I met face to face was somewhat different, they had only heard from Mr Vandermolen once and were blissfully unaware of any pressure to get the containers processed.

Then comes another message from Auto Marine Shipping / Barrie Vandermolen; Oh and by the way, if you don't pay I won't release the cars which will sit, in the docks in December (These cars are cherished by their owners somewhat!). So the choice is simple, pay up or leave half a million pounds worth of cars, many with no roofs, at the mercy of the docks and the UK weather in December. Bear in mind you also have a contract in your hand which says you have paid for everything.... What do you do?

Now, was it a genuine miscalculation, a sincere error or whatever? Is this the way you would like to be dealt with? Ignored and then bullied?

In the USA Horizon managed to get us into the country (None of the cars had USA registrations) in 72 hours. On their return Barrie Vandermolen "struggled" (His words) to get them "express expedited" in 7 days and the majority of them were on UK plates. Not quite as efficient as the USA entry then! And we'd been told how tricky the USA is these days.

Conclusions

So, if you have got this far and still contemplate using Auto Marine Shipping or Mr Vandermolen for your shipping needs please email me as I have some great "investments" you may also be interested in! Seriously, you have probably not met me, nor know me and I may be a gibbering ranting idiot who simply expects too much of his suppliers. On the other hand you may decide to take a look at a few of the points I raise and see for yourself.

And if dear reader you ARE Mr Barrie Vandermolen, then may you not be too pleased about some of my comments I guess. However, should you like to suggest anything is incorrect I'd be happy to see you in court: Bring it on, its your dime.

Andrew Barriskell

UPDATE: October 2007

Hi again,

It seems Barrie may have been reading this page and is now threatening all sorts or weird and wonderful legal action as so many of you seem to have read this and taken heed! Good for you!

In order to keep things correct I should point out that since the time of the original draft back in March 2006, Mr Vandermolen has formed yet another company Auto-Marine Shipping Company Ltd. Company number 05696121. Andrea Barbara Vandermolen is once again Company secretary and Director.

Mr Vandermolen has been in touch recently and seems to think that by acting upon my opinions expressed above, people choosing not to do business with him are somehow engaging in some sort of conspiracy. He seems to believe that such actions are criminal and that if he reports us to the police we'll all end up in jail or something.

Here is what he sent to me on September 23, 2007,

>>>Mr Andrew Bariskell 

It has come to my notice that you  have overwritten my advertisement on the Web 

I have taken  legal advice and am advised that you in overwriting or interfering with a

web site is both illegal and  a criminal offence 

Please delete your insert forthwith otherwise  I will be compelled to make a complaint to

the police 

 

Yours faithfully

 B Vandermolen>>>>

>>>>

Here is another letter he sent recently:

NOTICE OF LEGAL ACTION

Dear Sir – Madam

 

Ref :          CATERHAM RALLY  2005 – all members

          

We are formally informing you that we are taking legal  against all members who were involved in the Caterham Rally to the USA of the in regards to a message on the web site  under  in regards to the shipment and return or the cars

“B Vandermolen Automarine Shipping Company Ltd “

This letter has been placed on the web by your organiser Mr Andrew Barriskell As you were involved in the Rally you must be aware of the contents and you have prior knowledge and agree with this advertisement  

I we hold you responsible for our substantial losses of business , the advertisement has caused our company come to a standstill over the past months.

We understand this is also a criminal matter and we will pass this on to the police if the advertisement is not removed within the next seven days

 

Yours truly

 

Automarine Shipping Company Ltd

B Vandermolen

Managing Director.

Please forgive the grammar and spelling mistakes in the text above, I presume they must be the fault of Mr Vandermolen's lawyer.

 

I have just one thought on this suggestion: If you think that ending up in jail for not doing business with him is more likely than doing business with him and your shipment going all wrong and you having to spend much more than you thought / were quoted etc. go ahead and make a deal with him. Like I said above, if you choose this option please get in touch with me as I have a number of other investment opportunities for you. Many of which are in partnership with high level contacts in the Nigerian business community who have been emailing me recently.

Yes, Mr Barrie Vandermolen of Auto-Marine Shipping has threatened me with legal action, but the fact remains that it is my right to publish information which is true and an accurate reflection of the facts and / or my opinions or actual events.  Anytime Mr Vandermolen wishes to dispute these facts with me he can of course do so by email. He has chosen never to do so. He merely threatens to call the police. Should he wish to take me to court I would be happy to turn up and stand behind every word.

Andrew Barriskell