BOW WAVE 280

Bow Wave Issue 280--Full Edition

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Wavy Line	sam@wavyline.com
(c)2005 WavyLine.com	Issue No 280 04 Apr 05
Published free of charge to Readers
Editor: Sam Ignarski
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In this issue:

1. Welcome
2. The Month of March 2005 in Marine
3. The Arbitrator
4. New P&I Newsletter
5. Ro Ro Ship of the Future
6. And Finally...

1. Welcome

Poem of the Week

Tuition Costs

I'd raised a child, practically
as if the end were something I'd thought about
prepared for, worked toward
when, in fact, I was amazed how little time was left what with the ACT, SAT, the mailbox cluttered with college ads

loan forms, tuition costs, room and board
as if I were packaging her, fully insured
for Berkeley, Davis, somewhere deliverable to
and tampered with, probably
opened like a certified intelligence.

I'd raised a child
as if a million million hadn't done the same
yet it was fresh to me, fragrant as irises
as the climbing rose on the back porch
where I kept busy to distract myself

sawing fretwork, attaching it to the posts
and painting everything white, white as the roses wonderfully unreal, a dream-labor
old fashioned as the moon in May, delicate
as she readied to go away.

Victor Depta, from The Helen Poems.

New Readers this week include:

G. Vroegh of the Port of Rotterdam
Captain A. Ross Schulte of the Association of Maryland Pilots Joseph Prata of Crawfords in the United States
Hans Barto of the OBC Group
David Carrigee and William Schwartz of Burke & Mayer in New Orleans Julia Stafford of Messrs Bilbrough & Co
George Greenwood

News of Readers

Douglas Cole of Richards Hogg Lindley (CTC) has retired after a career of 43 years in the marine insurance market.

Readers Write

From Vickie Smiles:-

Long Walk for Boat People

Having just lost my job after 10 years at the Nine Network’s Business Sunday program (journalist/producer) in Sydney, Australia and being on the wrong side of YOUTH (i.e. no spring chicken) I have decided to do something useful for both me and others. For me it’s a chance to clear my mind and get fit but for others it’s an opportunity to benefit from any funds raised by sponsoring my solitary walk.

My Long Walk for Boat People is the 800 kilometre Pilgrims’ Walk from the Pyrenees in France, right across the top of Spain to Santiago de Compestela.

The Boat People are those individuals and families that arrived in Australia by leaky and rotten boats and instead of finding sanctuary they found detention in the desert. Some are still locked up (one is in his 7th year of detention) while others are living in the community, waiting for years for some certainty about their future. Many can’t work and thus are dependent on charity.

Proof of walk is a Pilgrims’ record which is stamped at each village as you cross the country, and at the final destination of Santiago de Compestela.

At one cent a kilometre it would cost A$8, at ten cents A$80 etc. So you don’t have to be Rockefeller to help someone in need. (Payment only after walk is finished and proof supplied)

If you are interested my email is:-

vsmiles@tpg.com.au

From John Dye

I noticed in Judith Crick' account (Bow Wave Issue 269) that nobody had done the walk from Sandebugten to Godthul on South Georgia before. In 1964 I was one of a team of five who spent several weeks on the Barff peninsula, ostensibly counting reindeer but we had a botanist and an entomologist with us too.

One day three of us walked from our camp, which was fairly close to the Nordenskjold Glacier up the coast to Sandebugten and over the hill to Godthul. We had lunch in one of the old boats pulled up on the beach (it was snowing at the time) and walked back in the afternoon. We got the timing a bit wrong and arrived back after dark, the two men in the camp realised we could have trouble navigating and set a tilley lamp outside to guide us. The last part of the walk was a headlong run down a scree slope in the dark, and we didn't even get a twisted ankle between us. I was back again for the 1964/65 season at Gritviken where I was the last Whaling Inspector.

Nice site, keep up the good work,

Contact him at:-

john.dye@virgin.net

Editorial note: our website has a picture of the rather bleak Godthul:-

http://www.wavyline.com

AfterOfficeHours News

Companies who have published new entries this week in the on-line directory for emergency service providers include:-

Houston Maritime Attornies Royston, Rayzor, Vickery & Williams Club and Insurers' Correspondents Brian White & Associates Echelon Claims Consultants
Transport Consultants Pantrak
Kenyan Marine Surveyors Spica Marine Inspections Ltd

AfterOfficeHours is a new way of presenting this kind of information in the world marketplace. Subscribers write their own entries and can update them as often or as little as they like.

To subscribe contact business development manager Simon Gutteridge at:

Simon@AfterOfficeHours.Com

or register at the website at:

http://www.AfterOfficeHours.com

A full edition this week of interest to most people, we hope.

Enjoy.

2. The Month of March 2005 in Marine

Walter Mellert writes:-

Dear Mariners,

sometimes, when passing review of the excessive, greed inducing variety on the buffet, the strange fruit and flowers brought forth by quagmires and marshes, the unnerving tentacles of amorphous international groupings, one wonders whether it would not have been a damn sox smarter to have concentrated on a modest plate of digestible, albeit unexciting, yet solidly satisfying staples all along.

Some of this month's highlights:

--> Marsh plans to axe another 2'500 jobs, savings are estimated to reach $ 375 mio pa. Service quality to remain presumably untouched.

-->Converium shed's 140 jobs and bids farewell to its CEO of old.

-->LNG freight market estimated to be rather flat for the next two years - despite (or because of) numerous newbuilding orders.

-->Structural cracks discovered in 8 out of 10 heavily used super post panamax cranes shuts down operation of the new APM terminal at pier 400 of the LA port.

-->We hear of a new interactive website dedicated to multimodal transport law (air/sea/land):-
http:// www.multimodal-transport.com in case you want to help building it.

-->Britain's road congestion costing the economy an estimated £ 20 bio pa and leading to late delivery of 1 in 9 packages could well prompt a revival of short sea transports.

-->85 blt 3650 dwt "Karen Danielsen" went where she shouldn't have and collided with Denmark's great belt bridge. The pilot disembarked shortly before the accident. 2 crew injured, one missing.

-->Neapolitan shipowner Lucio Zagari pays $ 96 000 for Kennedy's old rocking chair. With that much money to spare, how about paying up on hull insurance??

-->AON promises to mend her contingency fee ways & coughs up $ 190 mio to end bid-rigging investigations.

-->1974 (!) built product tanker "Fjord Champion" sailing in ballast suffers engine room fire off Southern Norway, crew evacuated by chopper. She was just a few months shy of the scrap yard.

-->2004 China built panamax bulker Belmonte is stopped by the USCG for multiple cracks, incl. an open 2 meter gash in her hull. Goes to show that new doesn't necessarily mean good!

-->Mangouras is finally allowed to go home to Greece for good pending the fixing of the final Prestige trial date. He'll have to report to Greek police every two weeks.

-->Criminal trials in Paris and civil proceedings in Brest scheduled for the first quarter 2005 might finally end the pollution case around the 1999 sinking of "Erika".

-->A further steel price hike of 7 -10% looms for the second quarter. Building a new VLCC already costs $ 10 mio more in pure steel costs compared to 12 months ago.

-->We hear market talks that new building rates are up by about 300% -- from a low starting level that is of course. Seems the old JCR wasn't all that far off!

-->The WTO instructs South Korea to end their illegal shipbuilding subsidies within 90 days. Now, THIS will do the job, right?

-->04 built boxship "Rickmer Genoa" collides with and sinks 3700 gt Korean vsl "South Cross" in the Yellow Sea. 13 crew missing. A day later MSC's "Christina" collides with bulker "Hua Ling."

-->Master and chief officer of the Malayan tug, shot at & kidnapped by pirates a week ago have been released - upon payment of an undisclosed ransom. Biz as usual in the Malacca Strait.

-->Nigeria's house of representatives passed a bill urging the government to repudiate foreign debt totaling $ 38 bio. Export credit guarantees, anyone?

-->Seems the building industry could be heading for an insurance capacity crunch as more underwriters shy away from throwing good money after bad. Heard of a recent placement offering 15% extra premium to secure capacity!

-->Only one UK merchant vsl failed the ISPS deadline last year! Hip Hip...

-->Methane tanker "Tri Samudra" is captured by 30 odd heavily armed pirates and later abandoned. Master and 1st officer are kidnapped, ransom demand around $ 110'000.- Initial terrorist fears seem, luckily this time, groundless. Where? Malacca Strait!

-->UK Court of Appeal's "Exxon Valdez" ruling will keep the LMX spiral alive and lawyers and adjusters happy. Follow the fortunes is only relevant if the primary settlement was within the terms of the policy - unless the reinsurer was advised and agreed. King Synd. vs. Brandywine Re.

-->CEFORs 2004 hull numbers reveal another three digit loss ratio; 104%, worse than the 102% in 2003 but at least better than the 127% and 117% in years prior. "Told you so", doesn't help.

-->Fears increase that growing trend to criminalize maritime pollution accidents may lead to potential salvors refusing to get involved in saving a ship in distress.

-->350'000 m3 LNG tankers will be a natural in about 10 years according to some experts. Remember the million ton tanker hype of the seventies?

-->New 'round the world sailing record set by catamaran "Orange 2" skip B.Peyron: 50 days and 16 hours. Eat your heart out Steve Fossett!

-->The question on whether or not to toughen Civil Liability and Fund Conventions - dealing with limited liability for oil pollution - ended with as many nays as ayes.

-->Need a secure place for some of your friends & enemies? The UK Gov't has the 1979 built "HMP Weare", a fully equipped 400 inmate capacity prison ship up for sale.

-->It happened: A Dutch chairman with a German CEO selling Swiss taxpayer financed Swiss Airlines to the Germans. The wonders of globalization.

-->The incredible climb of boxship rates Feb 02 to Feb 05, Gearless (3'500 TEU): $ 2.85 TEU/day to $ 12.60 TEU/day. Geared (1700 TEU): $ 2.90 to 19.10 per TEU/day.

-->AIG admits, Buffett denies, others buy their way out. Some heads are rolling.

-->French authorities at Brest crack down on polluters - Norwegian Trans Arctic and Philippines Neptunic are detained subject to posting around --> Euro 250'000 bail each.

-->Hopes are high at the TT-Club - following a record profit - that the A-rating will come back soon. [--a return from the "good old days" of the 1990s?-- Bow Wave editor :-) ]

-->Officer shortage is starting to really show. Criminalizing navigation errors, low pay, reduced and often difficult shore leave combined with an expanding fleet won't improve things.

-->Fincantieri and Aker Yards both court ill-fated ("Pride of America") Lloyd Werft.

Note:

Any opinion expressed in this item should be regarded as the personal opinion of Walter Mellert and not one made in his capacity as an employee of Swiss Re and any such opinion is not the opinion of Swiss Re, of any of its affiliated companies or of any of its officers or employees.Accordingly, Swiss Re hereby expressly disclaims any liability, loss, cost or expenses arising directly or indirectly from the content or expression of views of this newsletter or of other Websites to which this newsletter may provide a link.

3. The Arbitrator

The current issue of the admirable on-line journal of the Society of Maritime Arbitrators Inc. contains a strong piece on the case of the Northern Voyager by Attorney Michael Rauworth which puts a finger on some difficult issues about the jurisdiction of US Coast Guard and the limits which we should be setting on modern government. To read the html version of this publication go to:-

http://www.smany.org/sma/Arbitrat_April2005.html

4. New P&I Newsletter

New this month is an e-zine entitled P&I Confidential which has come to us from the broking house of
Arthur J Gallagher. It is intended to appear "six or seven times a year". The first edition contains launch information and helpful summaries on things like ratings, rates increases movments between Clubs and so on. We hope they can keep the standard up--our advice to the editors is to treat the publication timetable as holy writ and publish on time. More newsletters are killed by perfectionism each year than by any other cause.

Contact:-

malcolm_godfrey@ajg.com

5. Ro Ro Ship of the Future

Spotted in the current edition of CargoLaw, the e-zine of LA Cargo Attornies Countryman and McDaniel:-

M/V Green Goddess ..... as Wallenius Wilhelmsen Line officials believe this is what an environmentally friendly ro/ro ship might look like in the future. It would use a combination of renewable energy sources, including sun, wind & waves, as well as fuel cell technology, to meet all propulsion and onboard power needs. Solar energy would be harnessed through photovoltaic panels in the vessel's 3 sails, which also help propel the ship using wind power. These sails are made with special lightweight composite materials. Wave power would be used through a series of 12 fins, which would convert wave energy into hydrogen, electricity or mechanical energy. Wallenius Wilhelmsen said the vessel could transport up to 10,000 cars, about 50% more than today's car carriers, while having the same weight in tonnage terms. The company would use lightweight materials, such as aluminium & thermoplastic composites. The hull would also be built to eliminate the need for ballast water tanks.

http://www.2wglobal.com/www/newsFeatures/showNews.jsp?oid=3105 http://www.2wglobal.com/www/WEP/index.jsp

6. And Finally...

Thanks to Frazer Hunt for forwarding these English subtitles allegedly taken taken from some of the more lurid products of the Hong Kong film industry. The food ones look genuine enough:-

- I am damn unsatisfied to be killed in this way.

- Fatty, you with your thick face have hurt my instep

- Gun wounds again ! Fall down stupid white person.

- Same old rules: no eyes, no groin, no kissing.

- A normal person wouldn't steal pituitaries

- Damn, I'll burn you into a BBQ chicken wings!

- Take my advice, or I'll spank you without pants

- Who gave you the nerve to get killed here?

- Quiet or I'll blow your throat up.

- You always use violence. I should've ordered glutinous rice chicken

- I'll fire aimlessly if you don't come out!

- You daring lousy guy with bad breath.

- Beat him out of recognizable shape!

- I have been scared shitless too much lately.

- I got knife scars more than the number of your leg hair!

- Beware! Your bones are going to be disconnected

- The bullets inside are very hot. Why do you feel so cold?

- How can you use my intestines as a gift?

- This will be of fine service for you, you bag of scum. I am sure you will not mind that I remove your man parts and leave them out on the dessert for your aunts to eat.

- Yah-hah, evil spider woman! I have captured you by the short rabbits and can now deliver you violently to your gynecologist for a thorough extermination.

- Greetings, large black person. Let us not forget to form a team up together and go into the country to inflict the pain of our karate feets on some ass of the giant lizard person.

- Our tong is bigger than your tong !

- No karate kicks be allowed on Shabbos.

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