BOW WAVE 278

Bow Wave Issue 278--Computing Edition

news and views on trade, insurance and risk

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Wavy Line	sam@wavyline.com
(c)2005 WavyLine.com	Issue No 278 21 Mar 05
Published free of charge to Readers
Editor: Sam Ignarski
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In this issue:

1. Welcome
2. Kinnect Open Day
3. Central Fund Arbitration
4. Safe Personal Computing
5. Identity Fraud Alert
6. And Finally...

1. Welcome

Our link last week (Bow Wave Issue 277) to pictures of the Catamaran ferry damaged in a recent (February) collision in Hong Kong failed to deliver the goods. We hope this one will do:-

http://en.ce.cn/National/pic-news/200502/18/t20050218_3102649.shtml

Poem of the Week

Sail and Oar

Woman sails, man must row:
Each, disdainful of a tow,
Cuts across the other's bows
Shame or fury to arouse--
And evermore it shall be so,
Lest man sail, or woman row

Robert Graves

New Readers this week include:

Chris Casburn and Christoph Harwood of Kinnect
Nils Warner, MD of World Shipping Agencies in South Africa Andrew Minster of Vericlaim
Broker Steve Herbert of London Special Risks
Capt Ali Aktan of Selmar in Instanbul

News of Readers

Jonathan Lyne, after 15 years as shipping litigation partner with Johnson Stokes and Master in Hong Kong has now joined Nash & Co in Plymouth as a Consultant in maritime law. Contact him at:-

jlyne@nash.co.uk.

Ann H. Hagen has joined Barbara Spector Yeninas Associates as director of crisis response. She will direct a new business unit called The BSYA Corporate Crisis Response Solution which is designed to help ocean carriers minimize environmental impact and protect their brand during and after an environmental incident. This new holistic approach to crisis response includes individual vessel response planning, employee training, customer communications and media management. The BSYA Corporate Crisis Response Plan will assist ocean carriers in complying with the U.S. Coast Guard's newly mandated NTVRP (non-tank Vessel Response Plan) regulations coming into effect this summer.

Ms Hagen most recently was in charge of media relations and business development for Hudson Marine Management Services Inc. Prior to her nine-year tenure with Hudson, she was the North American marketing representative for the U.K.-based maritime information firm, MRC. She has served as communications supervisor for the South Carolina State Ports Authority. She also worked in the editorial department of the Journal of Commerce.

Readers Write

Alex Polglaze in Western Australia writes:

This request is a little bit different.
My eldest daughter, Jodie has just embarked on her big adventure. She has just arrived in London after spending 3 weeks in Africa on safari and a few days in Paris, en route. Jodie intends to have a working holiday in Europe for several years while she back packs around.

She is looking for a job.
Jodie has a BSc in Environmental Science, has done an hospitality course and worked in bars and taverns, in betting shops and in government agencies in preparation for this trip. Her main job however has been in the family business where we do sub contract book-keeping for other businesses.

This includes invoicing, stock control, general ledger, payroll and everything else. Jodie has a lot of experience in this area as she even earned her pocket money whilst at school, university and even kindergarten working with the computers over the last 20 years.

Therefore, I was wondering if one of your Readers may have a suitable position for Jodie where she may even be able to transfer to different offices around Europe.

Jodie can be contacted through me until she has established herself in London. Any assistance greatly appreciated.

Contact Alex at:-

apolglaze@book-keepingnetwork.com.au

AfterOfficeHours News

After Office Hours is a new way of finding help in emergencies. It replaces the books and directories we keep at home in case we are contacted by customers in need of urgent help. People who list in After Office Hours have entire control of what appears about them. They can list as much or as little as they need.

This week companies who have listed in After Office Hours include:-

New York Admiralty Attornies Healy+Bailie

DPS--DP Survey Group NV--Lloyd's Agents and Survey Network with offices in many eastern European cities and Antwerp HQ

Bradshaw & Associates--Specialized insurance brokers in NY

Lexwerx Ltd--Legal Research Firm working in London and New Delhi

Wyburd & Company Ltd--Business Intelligence Company in London

Register Now. Free Trial Period. Very Reasonable Rates.

http://www.afterofficehours.com

A strong IT element this week.

Enjoy.

2. Kinnect Open Day

Your editor's travels took him last week to the open day held in Lloyd's by the operators of Kinnect. The exhibition was designed to show members of the market how the market linking platform operates. It presently is used in the insurance of the North American property market and the intentions is that in time all parts of the market (even marine) will take it up.

Kinnect has so far not been without its critics. The Insurance Insider recently castigated it for among other things its shyness to engage in public and press debate. An open day is certainly one way of countering this kind of perception but by no means the only way.

But it does appear to this observer that many of Kinnect's besetting sins uncannily recall the unsatisfactory progress of Bolero, another capital intensive attempt to reform traditional ways of dealing and to make negotiable bills of lading available on line. Our advice
given last year at this time when the Bolero investment was being written down to nil by one of its backers might with adjustments be applied to Kinnect:-

"If the venture indeed survives to fight another day, it will do so because the idea of dematerializing the paper bill of lading is so compelling to modern sensibilities. Those who are entrusted with its future would do well to:-

a) Enlist far greater support from shipping and trade players and their communities: the user group called the Bolero Association,or something very like it should play a central role in the promotion and introduction of reform.

b) Cultivate a greater sense of inclusion in the work of reform. The politics of Bolero had a tendency to place the command and control cart before the mission accomplished horse. Some of the early enthusiasts for the project found themselves excluded by the committee men, who in the event needed much more than all the help they could get.

c) Concentrate on the hearts and minds of the potential market, a conservative contingent if ever there was one. The struggle to introduce Bolero into world trade has to be won at an ideological level--no software in the world can bring this victory about.

d) Bring to market an attractive user friendly system useable by everyman which would also be capable of widespread introduction, peer to peer, rather than hope that some centralised server will lay down some paths down which will trot world trade. Abandon hope in a closed system.

e) Govern and manage the thing with progressive younger men with good track records in the systematic reform of traditional ways of dealing in international trade. "

The Kinnect site is at:

http://www.kinnect.com

3. Central Fund Arbitration

We received this week a link from Caroline Howe in the LLoyd's Press Office disclosing that this dispute with major reinsurers, reluctant to pay, has concluded not necessarily to the great advantage of the Fund.

http://www.lloyds.com/index.asp?ItemId=9446

4. Safe Personal Computing

Hardly a week goes by without a comment from a Reader relating to security and computer networking. The advice given by computer security guru Bruce Schneier is full of characteristic good sense. Read it here:-

http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0105.html#8

5. Identity Fraud Alert

Last week's Insurance Coverage Alert, an e-mailed pdf publication from the insurance section of American attornies Cozen O'Connor is on the latest growth industry for malefactors. Read about it here:-

http://www.cozen.com/insalert/Insurance_Coverage_Alert_031505.pdf

6. And Finally...

Many thanks to Paul Dixon for these

Hollywood Lessons

1. The ventilation system of any building is the perfect hiding place. No one will ever think of looking for you in there and you can travel to any other part of the building you want without difficulty.

2. When paying for a taxi, don't look at your wallet as you take out a bill - just grab one at random and hand it over. It will always be the exact fare.

3. Kitchens don't have light switches. When entering a kitchen at night, you should open the fridge door and use that light instead.

4. Television news bulletins usually contain a story that affects you personally at that precise moment.

5. A single match will be sufficient to light up a room the size of Wembley Stadium.

6. It is always possible to park directly outside the building you are visiting.

7. An electric fence powerful enough to kill a dinosaur will cause no lasting damage to an eight-year-old child.

8. It is not necessary to say hello or goodbye when beginning or ending phone conversations.

9. Should you wish to pass yourself off as a German you need not speak the language. A German accent will do.

10. The Eiffel Tower can be seen from any window in Paris.

11. If being chased through town, you can usually take cover in a passing St. Patrick's Day parade- at any time of the year.

12. Large, loft-style apartments in New York City are well within the price range of most people - whether they are employed or not.

13. When you turn out the light to go to bed, everything in your bedroom will still be clearly visible, just slightly bluish.

14. If you are a blonde and pretty, it is possible to become a world expert on nuclear fission at the age of 22.

15. It's easy for anyone to land a plane provided there is someone in the control tower to talk you down.

16. Once applied, lipstick will never rub off - even while scuba diving

17. Word processors never display a cursor on the screen but will always say: "Enter password now."

18. If you decide to start dancing in the street, everyone you meet will know all the steps.

19. When they are alone, all foreign military officers prefer to speak to each other in English

BOW WAVE is published each week to over 11 800 Readers in the transport,insurance,shipping and finance industries.

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