International Law

Your company has sold critically important equipment to a US car manufacturer that is building a plant in Brazil. Part of your contract states that the equipment has to be on-site in Brazil by a specific date. Your company has produced the equipment and shipped it in a timely fashion. However, when the containers are unloaded at a port in Brazil they are not being processed. As time passes you are risking that the equipment is not delivered on time and your customer will charge you significant penalties for late delivery. Your freight forwarder and its agents indicate that the reason for the delay is that the manager of the port facility is holding up the shipment but that this can be resolved quickly through a bribe. What will you do?

Discuss the options you have to get the shipment out of port into its final destination in Brazil in time to meet the deadline that you have been given by your customer.