As many of you have relied on us for having parts available in North America we have an important message to convey! Here is our latest newsletter regarding the availability of repair parts in America and Canada.
Cheers to hop farmers and all our valued customers,
First and foremost, I want to thank everyone who has supported us since 2016 when Sea to Sky Hop Solutions was founded to support the small to mid size hop grower in the United States and Canada.
Since then, we have made many great connections with mostly small family farms as well as many cooperate hop growers throughout North America. From supplying machinery to installing and servicing equipment and supplying parts for German made hop equipment we have developed our business within a niche that showed much appreciation especially to our line of products to keep Wolf harvesters running smoothly.
Currently, Sea to Sky Hop Solutions is going through a transition which effects the availability of parts for Wolf machines in North America. This is due to rising transport costs and exploding warehousing expenses in our boom town and business base of Squamish in British Columbia. This resulted in us having to make the decision to discontinue the sale of repair parts for Wolf machines until we find a solution that is more in line with the business. This will likely mean a new location, but we don’t expect this to be resolved within the next year.
Until then, we are in discussion with our parts suppliers in Germany to solidify a “drop-ship” arrangement to North America. This will mean that you, as our customers will still be able to purchase parts through us, but those parts will come directly from Germany.
What does this mean for the Wolf owners in North America?
To make sense of higher freight cost for the end user it will be necessary to order a certain amount ($ value) of parts. Due to longer shipping times, equipment maintenance should be done long before harvest is at the doorstep. As we always recommend machines should be cleaned and inspected right after harvest and we highly motivate you to order your parts in winter. This allows you to use ocean freight (4-8 weeks shipping time) for a much lower cost as compared to air freight which normally takes about 1-3 weeks depending on the carrier.
Small parts like bearings, sprockets, chopper blades and so on are easy to ship. When shipping items, like picker bars, transport belts, belt rollers and all other large and heavy items it is best to be prepared for longer shipping times to save cost.
If you have any further questions regarding this and other services or are looking for advice on your machinery, please don’t hesitate to reach out at info@hopsolutions.ca
We are here to help and are looking forward to continuously working with you.
Prost,
Christoph Heckermann
Sea to Sky Hop Solutions in British Columbia, Canada