BOW WAVE 180

May Day Edition

news and views on trade, insurance and risk

Bow Wave homepage
Previous issue (179) / Current issue / Next issue (181)

Wavy Line	sam@wavyline.com
(c)2003 WavyLine.com	Issue No 180 05 May 03
Published free of charge to Readers
Editor: Sam Ignarski
Subscribe	Unsubscribe

In this issue:

1. Welcome
2. 24 Hour Rule Q&A
3. AAA Meeting
4. Mediation Training
5. Holocaust Claims
6. And Finally...

1. Welcome

Our best placed sources in the Swedish automotive trade have passed on the information that due to the operation of the JIT system in use and the loss of a run of production lately on board the Tricolor, would be buyers of the Volvo XC90 cross country 4 wheel driven SUV must wait for 18 months for their order to be fulfilled. Can this be true?

New Readers this week include:

Jack Haworth
Martin Smyth
Mario Psaila of Willis Australia
Readers at Somatime Agadir
Lawyer George Strathy in Toronto
Malcolm Arrowsmith of CRC Recoveries

News of Readers

Where are they now, those TT Club Managers of yesteryear?

David Martin Clark--New Life as Mediator and Consultant Humphrey Hill--Transport Broker at Willis
CK Pak--China Surveyors
Simon Chan--Transport Broker at Sun Hing Insurance Richard Chan--Transport Broker at Sun Hing Insurance Thomas J Bradshaw--Insurance Broker, Bradshaw & Associates Steven Bradshaw--Insurance Management, Maher Terminals Phillip Bennett--Transport Broker at Aon
Christine Williams--Transport Lawyer, Davies Lavery Bill Moir--Transport Underwriter--Allianz Transport Your Editor--Wavelength Insurance/Charles Taylor Consulting PLC

Readers Write:

From Robert Howland

Here's another Latin tag, suitable as a motto for a girls' school (or a Highland regiment): "Semper ubi sub ubi".

contact him at:

rhowland@globalnet.co.uk

From Mr Bai Chung Qing

"Your story on the quarantine of the Hong Kong School Children on the Isle of Wight was reported somewhat differently in Hong Kong. The story doing the rounds here is that the quarantine was not exactly voluntary for the children who either had to stay away from returning to school.

The Isle of Wight is a nice place but it does not look as if it was that well organized to take this unexpected number of school kids. Instead of enjoying their their benign school dormitories for which HK parents are paying some £12 000 per annum, some children called home complaining of cold food, thin blankets, rudimentary bathrooms and so forth."

Your editor recalls his time many years ago in the rather spartan environs of the Modern School in Bedford when pupils residing at the boarding school and grumbling as all boarders will, would invariably be met with the reply from their fellows:

"What do you think this is, Butlins?"

(Butlins is a firm running holiday camps also
represented on the Isle of Wight).

Mankad and Associates have been awarded by IRDA their Composite Insurance Broker's Licence bearing no. CB-028/02. They have moved their Head Office in Mumbai to Nariman's Point.

Contact them at:

marketing@mankad.com

Welcome to the 180th Issue of Bow Wave which comes to Readers from the sunny Isle of Wight on a Bank Holiday Weekend ordained to celebrate May Day only slightly in arrears.

Enjoy.

2. 24 Hour Rule Q&A

As the ability to impose a $5000 fine for each violation goes into effect from 04 May, Readers of Bow Wave who remain somewhat confused about the new regime supervised by the new US federal entity called Customs and Border Protection (CBP) could do far worse than consult this recent Question and Answer paper published by them.

See the paper at:

http://www.customs.ustreas.gov/xp/cgov/import/carriers/24hour_rule/

3. AAA Meeting

Bridget Hogan has written in with details on the annual meeting of the Association of Average Adjusters in London to which Readers are invited:

On: Thursday May 8, 2003

At: The Conference Suite, Balls Brothers, Minster Court, Mincing Lane, London EC3.

Time: 10:30am to 12:00.

The meeting will discuss: "An All Risks Hull Cover - The Way Forward?"

The discussion will be led by the AAA's outgoing chairman, Mr Tim Madge, with contributions from:

Howard Bennett, Hind Professor of Commercial Law at Nottingham University;

Peter McIntosh, Senior Hull Underwriter, Wellington Underwriting;

Ann Waite of Dex; David Kingston of the JLT Group

and Michael Harvey, of Harvey Ashby Limited, the AAA's vice-chairman.

If interested please contact:

Bridget_Hogan@compuserve.com

4. Mediation Training

Aleka Sheppard,the Founding Director of the London Shipping Law Centre has passed on details of the Specialist Mediation Training and Awareness Course for Shipping and Commercial Cases

She says the course will help participants:

--To understand why conflict arises
--To understand the role of emotions of the parties involved in a conflict
--To learn how to be an effective listener
--To learn how to use effective language and empathy in order to facilitate dispute resolution
--To learn the techniques that unlock solutions in disputes --To be able to assist parties to re-evaluate their position in a dispute and generate options for a solution

The course is different from other standard mediation training courses because:

--It is based on fundamental principles of human behaviour --It blends these principles with commercial reality --It provides tailor-made scenarios from shipping and commercial disputes for the participants to practise the skills and be assessed --It is taught by experts in shipping and commercial sectors with experts in human behaviour (all qualified mediators)

Dates: Friday & Saturday 19th, 20th, 26th and 27th September 2003

For more information on the course and fees contact:

shipping@ucl.ac.uk

See the site at:

http://www.london-shipping-law.com

5. Holocaust Claims

The International Commission on Holocaust Era Insurance Claims has already published the names of 59,000 policyholders which were mainly obtained from public records.

They have now published a new list on the internet which is much more comprehensive and derived from a comparison of eight million insurance policies which were sold in Germany before the Second World War with the names of 550,000 German Jews. Families have until the end of September to file claims, not exactly an eon of time, but in all probability too late for most anyway, one might think.

See the website at:

http://www.icheic.org

6. And Finally...

Thanks to Sir William Arbuthnot for this fine Q & A:

Danbom: Is being a clich expert a full-time job?
Lingua: Bottom line is I have a full plate 24/7.

D. Is it hard to keep up with the seemingly endless supply of clichs that spew from business?
L. Some days, I don't have the bandwidth. It's like drinking from a fire hydrant.

D. So it's difficult?
L. Harder than nailing Jell-O to the wall.

D. Where do most clichs come from?
L. Stakeholders push the envelope until it's outside the box.

D. How do you track them once they've been coined? L. It's like herding cats.

D. Can you predict whether a phrase is going to become a clich? L. Yes. I skate to where the puck's going to be. Because if you aren't the lead dog, you're not providing a customer-centric pro-active solution.

D. Give us a new buzzword that we'll be hearing ad nauseam. L. "Enronitis" could be a next-generation player.

D. Do people understand your role as a clich expert? L. No, they can't get their arms around that. But they aren't incented to.

D. How do people know you're a clich expert?
L. I walk the walk and talk the talk.

D. Did incomprehensibility come naturally to you? L. I wasn't wired that way, but it became mission-critical as I strategically focused on my go-forward plan.
>
D. What did you do to develop this talent?
L. It's not rocket science. It's not brain surgery. When you drill down to the granular level, it's just basic blocking and tackling.

D. How do you know if you're successful in your work? L. At the end of the day, it's all about robust, world-class language solutions. My vision is to monetize scalable supply chains.

D. How do you stay ahead of others in the buzzword industry? L. Net-net, my value proposition is based on maximizing synergies and being first to market with a leveraged, value-added deliverable. That's the opportunity space on a level playing field.

D. Does everyone in business eventually devolve into the sort of mindless drivel you spout?
L. If you walk like a duck and talk like a duck, you're a duck. You have a result-driven mind-set that isn't a strategic fit with my game plan.

PS from Jeff Blum

Our current favourite 'things we didn't know' in the office are:

"Cows are not toys"

"Dogs take orders, cats take suggestions."

"Fate is often encountered on the paths we took to avoid it."

"If you receive an anonymous letter, just run after the postman shouting '1471' and he has to tell you who it's from. It's the law."

"I've never been so broke that I couldn't leave town."

"It is physically easier for a woman to throw a rugby ball in a game of rugby (ie backward not forward) than it is a man. It is to do with the balance of the hips."

"For just this year only, black is the fashion world's new black."

BOW WAVE is published each week to around 7550 Readers in the transport,insurance,shipping and finance industries.

Thanks for reading BOW WAVE