BOW WAVE 372

Bow Wave Issue 372--On the Road Again Edition

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(c)2007 WavyLine.com	Issue No 372 08 Jan 07
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Editor: Sam Ignarski
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In this issue:

1. Welcome
2. The Month of December 2006 in Marine
3. Freight Forwarder's Lament
4. Poor Richard Publications Opens Site for Readers
5. Air Paperless
6. And Finally...

1. Welcome

Poem of the Week

Benediction

God banish from your house
The fly, the roach, the mouse

That riots in the walls
Until the plaster falls;

Admonish from your door
The hypocrite and liar;

No shy, soft, tigrish fear
Permit upon your stair,

Nor agents of your doubt.
God drive them whistling out.

Let nothing touched with evil,
Let nothing that can shrivel

Heart's tenderest frond, intrude
Upon your still, deep blood.

Against the drip of night
God keep all windows tight,

Protect your mirrors from
Surprise, delirium,

Admit no trailing wind
Into your shuttered mind

To plume the lake of sleep
With dreams. If you must weep

God give you tears, but leave
You secrecy to grieve,

And islands for your pride,
And love to nest in your side.

Stanley Kunitz

New Readers this week include:-

Sue Blackwell, Executive Officer of the Australian Association of Ports and Marine Authorities in Sydney
Marine cargo claims man Tom Lynch at Matson,Matthews and Kelley Matthew Gill of LIMIT
Leo Kirchner of Thomas Miller
Reporter Neil McAlister of Fairplay Shipping Weekly

Readers Write

From Ms Jenny Hicks

I trust that Paul Dixon, whoever he is ('New Scientific Finding' Bow Wave Issue 271) - has by now been successfully killed off - by women, of course.

jhicks@pandiclaims.co.uk

From Mr George Chalos of Cholos, O’Connor & Duffy

Thanks for Bow Wave Issue 370, a fantastic Christmas present.

I have followed the point/counter-point dialogue concerning Rule B attachments of electronic fund transfers (EFT's) as they pass through NY intermediary banks. As both Messrs. Harter and Frevola pointed-out, there are significantly differing points of views, and by extension, differing interpretations of Rule B and the controlling case-law precedent, by the Judges sitting in the US District Court, Southern District of NY (USDC-SDNY). In fact, a few weeks after Judge Rakoff's decision in the Seamar Shipping matter, USDC Judge, Denny Chin, -- in upholding the validity of a Rule B attachment (and disregarding Judge Rakoff’s decision), specifically wrote:-

. . Defendant’s speculation that the Second Circuit at some future time may reverse course and find that EFT’s are not attachable is not helpful. Aqua Stoli and Winter Storm are binding on this Court, and I will not stay the instant attachment pending some possible future Second Circuit decision changing the law otherwise . . .

See AET Inc. Limited v. Procuradoria de Servicos Maritimos Cardoso & Fonesca, 2006 US Dist LEXIS 89628 (decided December 7, 2006).

As counsel have correctly noted, the scope of the Rule B process to attach EFT's will likely be before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in early 2007. However, whether the Court of Appeals will address the issue in a broad or narrow manner remains to be seen. It is entirely possible, (and I believe, most likely), that the Court of Appeals will only decide the issue of when an electronic fund transfer becomes attachable. The egregious facts and resulting decision in Seamar Shipping speak to the very narrow question of whether an EFT can be properly attached where the defendant is the intended beneficiary, rather than the originator, of the EFT. For my two cents, I think that the clear and unambiguous text of Rule B; the controlling Second Circuit case law; and the majority of District Court decisions interpreting same, clearly signal that Rule B attachments of EFT’s are here to stay. Nevertheless, I am quite mindful that Simon, amongst others, will be pressing hard in their excellent representation of their clients to challenge the propriety of the attachment of EFT’s. Of course, if successful, there will be a long line of shameless NY maritime practitioners, including myself, that will throw him/them out of the lawyers union.

Contact George at:-

gmc@codus-law.com

AfterOfficeHours News

The Maritime Advocate online archive

The publishers are opening an archive for the Maritime Advocate which will also provide an opportunity for a number of firms to demonstrate their expertise to our readership.

In addition to the back editions of the Maritime Advocate itself, there are two central aspects to the archive:

1. To provide regular case-law updates on transport and insurance law from their particular jurisdiction. It is expected that a wide range of jurisdictions will form part of the case-note database.

2. To provide an overview of the transport law in each jurisdiction.

An example of this overview which has already been prepared for India by BJ Macfarlane & Co can be supplied to interested parties.

In New Zealand, the firm of Wilson Harle has now agreed to be the sponsors for the country summary.

Each jurisdiction will only be represented by two sponsoring law firms. One will provide the case law updates. The other will provide the country summary. If you or your firm is interested in supplying these materials please contact the publishers at:

contactus@afterofficehours.com

Note from the Editor

This edition of Bow Wave coincides with the launch of the new weblog for its-insurance, the division of British Marine where your editor is engaged. Here transport professionals and operators and their brokers may find something of interest to them.

http://www.its-insurance.com

Enjoy!

2. The Month of December 2006 in Marine

Jason Copland writes:-

Dec 1 and Lo! a new star shone in the East - a familiar sounding story at this time of year - the relevance to Marine in this instance is the birth of Asia Commercial Reinsurance, a new reinsurer aiming to write Asian marine and Energy business from its base in Singapore. Some decide to follow this star.....

Dec 2 The 15,000 GRT Cargo Ship "Yin Chu" sinks whilst berthing at Shanghai. The former Ro-Ro vessel apparently sank due to an open door allowing water to enter the vessel - deja vue of the "Herald of Free Enterprise" or "Estonia"? Dec 4 Vietnam shipbuilder Vinashin to build car carriers to Hoegh in Norway, designed to carry around 9,000 vehicles.

Dec 5 Success for England down under! The first part of the grand scheme to lure the Australians into a false sense of security succeeds with England going 2:0 down in the Ashes series - new we've got them where we want them!

Dec 6 "USS Intrepid" comes unstuck - the second attempt to free this veteran ship from the muddy bottom of the Hudson river succeeds, "Intrepid" is now heading for a refit - full story here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6211856.stm

Dec 6 Semi-submersible becomes fully submersible as the "Mighty Servant III" develops a list and sinks following off-loading of the drilling platform "Aleutian Key". All crew safely rescued.

Dec 7 All in a spin in Kendal Rise in West London as a freak tornado strikes, uprooting trees and de-roofing houses - London's first Tornado since 1950 delivered winds of up to 115 mph

Dec 7 Insurance Day reviews Aon's "Marine Market Review 2006" - an excellent review and well worth a read, it can be found on Aon's homepage at
http://www.aon.com/uk/en/about/Press_Office/images/marine_market_review_06.pdf

Dec 8 Two salvage ops completed in 24 hours in the Scheldt as Multraship team up with URS Salvage to rescue the 12,600 DWT Egyptian multipurpose vessel "Aburdees" adrift following engine failure as the 800 dwt Dutch lighter "Ru-San" grounded. Full story http://www.marinelink.com/Story/ShowStory.aspx?StoryID=205313

Dec 8 Deep plans for the Chinese as CNOOC plans to develop a deep water semi-sub drill platform to cost 4.5 bn yuan.

Dec 11 Wedding Bells could be sounding soon as BV improves its offer for GL amidst protests from GL shareholders meanwhile LR is reportedly making advances in Greece to the Hellenic Register to form a dual-classification agreement.

Dec 11 Turkish offer to open one port for Cypriot vessels is regarded as insufficient and EU members agree to "slow down" talks on Turkish entry to the EU.

Dec 11 could buying a ship be an investment? Turned out nicely for Dry Ship who sold the 1984 built 166,058 dwt Bulker "Shibumi" to Chinese interests for US$ 24 million - having paid just US$ 13 million for the vessel in 2000.

Dec 15 More sick cruising around - "Sun Princess" and "Freedom of the Seas" both suffer Norovirus outbreaks affecting passengers and crew

Dec 15 Qatar Gas plans to order new super sized LNG carriers, expected to be around the size of a VLCC and having up to 265,000 cubic meter capacity.

Dec 18 England's plans seemed to have backfired as the boys overdo the "false sense of security" ploy allowing the Aussies to take back the Ashes until next time around.

Dec 19 Good news for Converium as the closure of the sale of the NA operations to the Oracle of Omaha concludes resulting in an upgrade from Fitch to BBB+ - outlook positive.

Dec 20 S.Korea tops the newbuilding orderbook league with some 19.9 m tons 40% of the total tonnage ordered worldwide.

Dec 21 Happy Birthday to the Marine Insurance Act, celebrating 100 years on this day. It might not survive all that much longer as a number of reviews are planned starting in 2007 including possible removal of utmost good faith (Uberimae Fides, pronounced you-bury-me-if-I-dies for those Latin scholars out there) in favour of underwriters being required to ask the right questions - failure to do so would be taken as waiver of any other information / material fact requirement.

Dec 22 After a break of three years, Munich Re returns to S&P "AA" rating from A+

Dec 26 Earthquake in Taiwan disrupts undersea cables causing widespread communication blackouts across Asia. Cable laying ships needed to repair the damage.

Dec 27 Vikings on the move again - Oslo plans to shift three 1,000 year old longships to a new city-centre museum (from my first hand experience I recommend to visit these fantastic ships if they survive the journey)

Dec 30 Indonesian ferry "Senopati Nusantara" carrying 628 passengers and crew capsizes and sinks off Java, many lives lost but fortunately more than 200 rescued alive so far.

Dec 31 23:59 - official closing of the 2006 Renewal Season - now the fun of catching up with the admin back-log can begin!

Wishing everyone a Happy and Prosperous 2007!

Disclaimer Any opinion expressed in this newsletter should be regarded as the personal opinion of Jason Copland 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. Freight Forwarder's Lament

A long casualty slideshow, showing what weather can do to ships and cargoes, which has being doing the rounds of the internet, was lately received from Captain John Potts. See for yourself at the new its-insurance weblog at:

http://www.its-insurance.com

4. Poor Richard Publications Opens Site for Readers

Saunders Research Associates, those contrarian observers and commentators on many of the main drivers of the world economy have opened their website to general readers. From week to week the site features a different take on such things as the US economy, the oil industry, the Middle East to name but a few. See for yourself at:-

http://www.sandersresearch.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1081

5. Air Paperless

Issue 429 of Countryman and McDaniel's admirable CargoLaw e-zine contains this item on the current condition of the IATA paperless project:-

***IATA Works The Evils of Paper ...... as it is supporting 5 pilot projects that will test standards, process & technical solutions for its paper-free concept. The so-called e-freight pilots, scheduled for delivery in 2007, will link the air cargo markets of Canada, Hong Kong, the Netherlands, Singapore and the UK. IATA said carriers Air Canada, Cathay Pacific, KLM, Singapore Airlines & British Airways in cooperation with the multinational forwarder members of Freight Forward International, and local customs administrations will use the year-long pilots to develop, test and finalize standards, and processes for the e-freight initiative. Today's Int'l air cargo shipment comprises up to 38 documents. Together, the annual volume of paperwork shipped by airlines is enough to fill 39 Boeing 747 freighters. By eliminating this paper, the industry could save about US$1.2Bn, according to IATA. Association officials have said that for the e-freight program to work at its full potential would ultimately require the involvement of 16,000 stakeholders, which includes 20 industry bodies, 200 customs administrations, 265 airlines and more than 15,000 forwarders. Target date for successful completion is 2010 for countries with the correct legal & regulatory framework, according to IATA.

http://www.iata.org/index.htm

To request a subscription to CargoLaw:-

info@cargolaw.com

6. And Finally...

This roadster joke comes courtesy of Paul Dixon:-

Trucker's wife (Heidi) nagged him unmercifully. From morning till night (and sometimes later), she was always complaining about something. The only time he got any relief was when he was out trucking with his old truck. He tried to truck a lot. One day, when he was out trucking, his wife brought him lunch at the loading dock. He drove the old truck into the shade, sat down on tail gate, and began to eat his lunch.

Immediately, Heidi began haranguing him again. Complain, nag, nag; it just went on and on. All of a sudden, the old truck lurched and ran over her; caught her smack in the back of the head. Killed her dead on the spot.

At the funeral several days later, the minister noticed something rather odd. When a woman mourner would approach Trucker, he would listen for a minute, then nod his head in agreement; but when a man mourner approached him, he would listen for a minute, then shake his head in disagreement. This was so consistent, the minister decided to ask Trucker about it.

So after the funeral, the minister spoke to Trucker, and asked him why he nodded his head and agreed with the women, but always shook his head and disagreed with all the men.

Trucker said, "Well, the women would come up and say something about how nice my wife looked, or how pretty her dress was, so I'd nod my head in agreement."

"And what about the men?" the minister asked

"They wanted to know if the truck was for sale."

PS. Taken from online lexicographer Michael Quinion's World Wide Words is this Reader's question:-

Q. I live in an area named Hampton Roads, Virginia. When people ask me why the area is named after its "roads", I have to explain that its some old nautical term, or something. Do you have a quick and easy explanation that I can use in the future? [Joe Price]

A. "Quick and easy"? That's not what I do ...

The history of "road" is closely linked to that of both "ride" and "raid". It's actually from the past tense of the Old English verb "to ride", which we retain in a different spelling. In Old English "road" meant a journey on horseback. A little later it came to mean riding with hostile intent, hence the "raid" sense, "raid" being an old Scots form of "road". The much later creation "inroad" preserves this meaning.

By about 1300 "road" could also refer to a ship riding on the waves and out of this came the harbour sense of "road", a partly sheltered stretch of water near the shore in which ships could ride at anchor, as in "roadstead", in which the second part is the obsolete "stead" for a place.

Our sense of a road as being a fixed route or line on land for getting from one place to another came along much later, at the very end of the sixteenth century (Shakespeare is the first known user). This explains the old joke that there are no roads in the City of London (the medieval core of the metropolis), as indeed there aren't: all the ways there had been named before the word came into the language.

Read World Wide Words at:-

http://www.worldwidewords.org

PPS. Also from Paul Dixon's Joke of the Day:-

APHORISMS

99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.

Deja Moo: The feeling that you've heard this bull before.

The two most common elements in the universe are hydrogen and stupidity.

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

Always remember to pillage BEFORE you burn.

Eagles may soar, but weasels aren't sucked into jet engines.

If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you tried.

Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.

For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.

Success always occurs in private, and failure in full view.

To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.

Two wrongs are only the beginning.

The sooner you fall behind, the more time you'll have to catch up.

A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.

If you must choose between two evils, pick the one you've never tried before.

Change is inevitable.... except from vending machines.

Don't sweat petty things.... or pet sweaty things.

Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.

It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

To subscribe:-

JokeoftheDay-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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