BOW WAVE 204

Chinese Edition

news and views on trade, insurance and risk

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Wavy Line	sam@wavyline.com
(c)2003 WavyLine.com	Issue No 204 20 Oct 03
Published free of charge to Readers
Editor: Sam Ignarski
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In this issue:

1. Welcome
2. Fairplay Cover Story
3. First CHIRP Report Out
4. AIG to Invest in People's Insurance Company of China
5. Sinology at Durham University
6. And Finally...

1. Welcome

Our item last week on the parlous condition of the marine insurance world seemed to go places around the world. Of course your editor, no hull underwriter he, comes from the world of transport and container industry liabilities where many in the market still seem to be pining for the the old discount atmosphere of yesteryear.

New Readers this week include:

Yann.Le-Bigot in France
Security expert Roger Dietch
Maritime lawyer Rafael Murillo Rivas in Mexico
Simon Field,Technology Director of Matching Systems Ltd

News of Readers

John McGregor has left the Anglo Eastern Group
Barton Phillips has left the Thomas Milller Group

Readers Write:

John Chamberlain writes:

"Some years ago I read in footnote of an English case, (presumably in the PDA reports), that held simply naming a ship after a Saint, did not make it a "good ship". I suppose the issue was seaworthiness, and a judicial joke passed into a footnote, and therefore history. Alas I have been unable to find the reference, and wonder whether any one can enlighten me."

contact him at:

John.Chamberlain@ctcplc.com

Xavier S. Hencker writes:

Your earlier stories about French translations remind me of the one about the new EU computer system designed to deal with the problems of translations between the twelve languages of the Community. After many years of labour (it was, after all, an EU project dealing with IT!) the machine was ready. At the inaugural ceremony, the president of the EU was invited to make the first translation. He groped around for a suitable phrase and in the end typed in "tant pis, tant mieux". The machine whirred and clicked, and up on the screen came the translation: "my aunt has gone to the lavatory; my aunt now feels much better".

Ake Nielson writes:

Re your story on greeting the demand for Petit Chablis or Aligote. Acoording to it El Vinos had problems during the Gulf War, says Anthony Mitchell, the proprietor, as his shipments from South America, New Zealand and Australia were constantly delayed.

Petit Chablis certainly should never be shipped from S Am, NZ or Oz... or else the WTO will have something to say about it... :-) and as for Aligoté it is a grape variety of which I have never heard outside Bourgogne, certainly it's not imported in great quantity from anywhere else. (A quick Google shows that it is also planted in California, Oregon, Bulgaria and Moldavia. But none of those are in the S hemisphere....)

(Scepticism is always in order in respect of wine. We wonder where the in vino veritas business came in. Surely some mistake-ed)

Contact Ake at:

agn@Allagraf.com

A strong Chinese flavour accompanies this week's Issue.

If you are in Hong Kong during the week commenceing 27th October you might enjoy visiting one or other of the events during Hong Kong Maritime Week. The Programme of Events is posted here:

http://www.MaritimeHK.org.hk

Enjoy.

2. Fairplay Cover Story

The new look Fairplay Shipping Weekly contains a strong article (16th October) speculating on the way the container port scene in Asia is liable to change over the coming decade.

"Huge growth rate and trade volume in mainland China suggest that a Top Ten Asian Box Ports Listing in the not-too-distant future could consist entirely of Chinese Ports".

The feature has a spoof list which runs like this:

1 Shanghai
2 Shenzhen
3 Qingdao
4 Tianjin
5 Ningbo
6 Dalian
7 Guangzhou
8 Fuzhou
9 Xiamen
10 Yantai

The Current Top Ten by teu turnover looks like this:

1 Hong Kong--19.14 million teus
2 Singapore--16.90

People like your editor who toured the rather triste State owned docks of mainland China ten years ago can scarcely credit how fast the picture has changed and continues to change.

http://www.fairplay.com

3. First CHIRP Report Out

We received this week courtesy of Michael Powell the first report of feedback from the new Confidential Hazardous Incident Reporting Programme launched earlier this year to collect in maritime reports of trouble and near misses which can be used to provide lessons for others and also to help the companies and ships concerned to act on the anonymous tips by their employees. It is an eclectic collection of 14 reports, shorn of identifying names places and companies, but it makes interesting reading all the same. The Report also has a sample Incident Report Form which contains the confidentiality assurances we assume will be important for many correspondents.

http://www.chirp-maritime.co.uk/maritime/feedback/MFB1.pdf

4. AIG to Invest in People's Insurance Company of China

Ahead of PICC's listing next month on the HK market, the AIG is to buy a 9.9 per cent stake in the company. AIG is the most dominant foreign insurer in China. It has all of 1.5 per cent of the life market and 0.3 per cent of the property market.

http://www.assinews.it/rassegna/articoli/ft101003aig.html

5. Sinology at Durham University

Tim Hollinrake, the Mandarin-speaking adjuster at CTC Services mentions that the last full course has begun term at Durham University at his old alma mater. The University has decided that once this year's intake has gone through the system, it will dispand its East Asia Department and cease offering degree courses in Chinese, Japanese and Korean. Why should this matter to anyone? Because in a world where the Pacific is increasingly the centre of gravity in shipping and East Asia the work shop of the world, an adequate supply of linguists and cultural specialists will matter more and more to people who supply services to this market. People like insurers, brokers, lawyers, bankers.

It ought to be a matter of long term concern to note that today only five universities in the UK offer courses in Chinese and Japanese and only two offer Korean. Or is this simply more evidence of the slow retreat away from internationalist approaches and abilities which have formed part of the UK's infrastructure for centuries. What some in our industry call the Guildford Syndrome?

6. And Finally...

Many thanks to writer and editor Sharon Cunningham of Dunelm for passing these musings on:-

Gardening Rule: When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

The easiest way to find something lost around the house is to buy a replacement.

Never take life seriously. Nobody gets out alive anyway.

There are two kinds of pedestrians -- the quick and the dead.

Life is sexually transmitted.

An unbreakable toy is useful for breaking other toys.

If quitters never win, and winners never quit, then who is the fool who said "Quit while you're ahead?"

Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth.

Get the last word in: Apologize.

Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day; teach that person to use The Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

Some people are like Slinkies . . .. not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.

Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

Have you noticed since everyone has a camcorder these days no one talks about seeing UFOs like they used to?

Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to criticism.

Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred pounds and a substantial tax cut save you thirty pence?

In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird and people take Prozac to make it normal.

Why is it one careless match can start a forest fire, but it takes a whole box to start a barbecue?

You read about all these terrorists -- most of them came here legally, but they hang around on expired visas, some for as long as 10-15 years. Now, compare that to Blockbuster; you are two days late with a video and those people are all over you. Let's put Blockbuster in charge of immigration.

BOW WAVE is published each week to around 8600 Readers in the transport,insurance,shipping and finance industries.

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