BOW WAVE 425

Bow Wave Issue 425--Fortunate Edition

news and views on trade, insurance and risk

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Wavy Line	sam@wavyline.com
(c)2008 WavyLine.com	Issue No 425 14 Jan 08
Published free of charge to Readers
Editor: Sam Ignarski
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In this issue:

1. Welcome
2. Sea Hauler collision with United Star
3. ICS Emissions Seminar
4. Charles de Trenck--2008 Outlook
5. The Arbitrator
6. Learning from Annabella Conference
7. And Finally...

1. Welcome

Poem of the Week

Sonnet for Mary

The old lady who's walking along Concourse A
Rather slowly in front of you, is making her way
To get on a plane to fly to Denver
Though she is in pain, she won't complain ever.
She walks all bent over. She's 91.
But her sister died and there's work to be done. She must bury her sister and clean out the condo
And see to her niece who's retarded, sweet Rhonda. There's a funeral to arrange, words to be said,
And her brother is useless, he's gone in the head. Stuff to be cleaned out, a condo to sell,
And a 50-year-old child who can't care for herself. She's an old lady who's needed out there.
She's heading for Denver on a wing and a prayer

Ralph Edwards

New Readers this week include:-

Broker Nigel Roberts of FP Marine
Michael Singh of Swire Cold Storage in Australia
Phillip Schellhorn of Gen Re
C Naughton of Moore & Co
Lucie Chevrette of Aon Montreal
Helle Hammer of Cefor in Norway
Vanessa Rose of Cogent Resources

News of Readers

From Tim Walker

I am sorry to inform you that Tony Proctor died on Saturday evening (09JAN08). Funeral arrangements still to be announced.

timwalker@aliwal.freeserve.co.uk

Captain Russ Garbutt has been appointed Chairman of the Hull & Humber Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Shipping - Shipping Committee.

russ@mill37.orangehome.co.uk

Readers Write

From Mike Wade of Baltimar NZ

Congratulations on your Quarterpoints in last week's newsletter (Bow Wave Issue 424) - Your points are well made. The sheer size of the many amalgamations is creating uncontrollable monsters. An example is the way in which much admired Maersk Container lines bit off more than it can chew in its purchase of P+O. That miscalculation is now threatening Maersk,and in their more traditional prudence, they are taking corrective steps.

Your final paragraph is highly accurate. Sheer size is not a panacea for survival.

baltimar.nz@baltimar.co.nz

From Michael Bozier

I noticed the typo in the first line of Quarterpoints (bell weather for bellwether) (Bow Wave Issue 424) and not being busy wondered if there other expressions that can be altered in a similar way and still be close to the original meaning. After all, in our industry 'bell weather' indicates foggy conditions which is probably where the marine insurance market is at the moment.

bozier@pobox.com

From Richard Dat

ISO 9001:2000 CERTIFICATE

We are pleased to announce that our company-Viet Nam Shipping Services Corporation has qualified with Bureau Veritas Certification (number 224793).

Pls lick the below link for the certification
http://www.vietnam-ship.com/Download/ISO.pdf

Note from the Editor

This week's poem is strangely moving. We are often much more fortunate than we imagine.

Enjoy!

2. Sea Hauler collision with United Star

The current edition of the e-zine called Grand Bahama Info, which usually contains items of maritime interest, carries the the following item:-

Cabinet Office issues statement on Sea Hauler claim

The plight of those persons who were injured or bereaved in the collision of the ships Sea Hauler and United Star in 2003 has attracted some public interest in recent weeks and so the Government would wish to make its position clear with regard to this matter.

The Government is deeply sympathetic with those persons who were victims of this terrible tragedy and those who have been affected by it. Assistance has been rendered to them through the Government’s Social Services and the Government stands ready to assist them further with an ex gratia payment.

The problem is that the Government cannot accede to a payment in the amount and on the conditions proposed. The claims submitted on behalf of those concerned total in excess of $34 million.

It has been proposed that the Government should make a payment of $12 million and that the claimants would sign an agreement releasing Government agencies as defendants in a civil action.

However, the Government has been advised that nothing any of its agencies did, or failed to do, contributed in any way to the cause of the accident.

If the Government were to accept that the Public Treasury can be regarded as a sort of insurance against accidents, whether at sea or elsewhere, that would be setting a dangerous and unsustainable precedent.

Nevertheless, the Government is willing to assist the victims of this disaster, as in the case of other disasters, on an ex gratia basis, but not in the amount and on the conditions proposed.

http://www.grandbahamainfo.com/articles/gb-01-10-08/seahauler-01-10-08.htm

3. ICS Emissions Seminar

James Tweed, the new Chairman of the ICS London Branch has written in with details:-

Seminar - Jan 24

The Emissions Market, Shipping and Marpol Annex VI

This event is free to ICS members and is kindly sponsored by Holman, Fenwick and Willan

For more details please click on the link below

Booking is essential for entry. To book your place, please email:-

jennifer.walsh@hfw.co.uk

http://www.icslondon.org.uk

4. Charles de Trenck--2008 Outlook

For many years we have listened with great attention to the views of Charles de Trenck who is Head of Regional Transport for Citigroup Investment Research based in Hong Kong. He has occupied one of the best seats on the balcony of shipping history, describing and predicting the trends of shipping in the Asia Pacific. Here are his latest meeting notes summarized briefly, along with some updates to his 2008 forecasts in container shipping

Shipping Weekly: First 2008 Meetings; 2008 Container Outlook Updater

The first few working days are mixed - We spent the last few days in meetings, lunches and site visits to get an idea on the start of the year. Though it is early days and we cannot get much new information just yet, we are getting some data points to link to our 2007 data.

Gut responses focus on costs - Meetings included COSCO-HIT, a small bulk vessel operator, OOIL, as well as other meetings. Taking in all the comments, our initial gut response for 2008 is "the top line is ok, but costs keep going up."

US concerns on one more leg down - US inbound container volumes continue to slow and are running at zero growth out of Asia. US$ Rev/TEU should remain stable for the moment, because costs are so high. The commodity story is helping the US export story, but this is still at the margin for containers.

Europe still relatively firm - Europe continues to hold on to growth,albeit a little slower, driven by Eastern Europe. Growth rates are slowing from 21% in 1H07 and 19% in 2007 to at least 16-18% in 2008E. This market view is higher than the 14% we now think is possible with more economic worries surfacing. But both of these estimates remain ahead of US growth.

New Year ship demand - Ships were tight both for bulk and containers in early January. December was unusually light into the holidays, which also contributed to a 15-20% drop in dry bulk rates. In the first two weeks, ship brokers have scurried to find ships for clients, and they are finding the market is tight, which is why the BDI rebounded for the first time in weeks on 7 January.

https://www.citigroupgeo.com/pdf/SAP12361.pdf

5. The Arbitrator

The (American) Society of Marine Arbitrators Inc publishes this webzine four time a year and the current edition contains articles on such topics as treasure, pollution, sanctions and salvage as well as other subjects of concern to the society.

It is not so easy to write stylishly in these sorts of areas and many lawyer-authors do not strive mightily in this direction But like our our own sister zine, the Maritime Advocate online (Chris Hewer ed) , this publication betrays strong evidence of an unusually competent guiding editorial spirit.

Read it here:-

http://www.smany.org/sma/sma-pubs.html

6. Learning from Annabella Conference

Reader David Cheslin tells us that the "Learning from Annabella" conference, to be staged in London on 22 January, is shaping up to be quite a lively affair. Several speakers are promising to be controversial, addressing safety issues that for too long have been ignored by the industry. Various radical proposals will be presented for debate including the establishment of a global database for containers, enabling ship and terminal planning software to access essential technical data such as dimensions and stacking capabilities, and the mandatory weighing of containers before they are loaded on board ship thus providing ships’ officers and vessel planners with the accurate data they need.

Among the speakers and delegates are executives who will be directly involved in drawing up an industry code of best practice and so this conference provides an excellent opportunity for those with views on what such a code should contain to make their opinions heard.

As so often is the case. the ‘to weigh or not to weigh’ debate is an issue that divides the industry along commercial/operational faultlines. The commercial teams deem it unnecessary, seemingly because they assume that there will be a significant cost attached and for fear of upsetting customers who are found to be overloading. Meanwhile those charged with the safe operation of ships and terminals, not to mention trucks and trains, would mostly welcome mandatory weighing subject to there being a reasonable timescale attached to its implementation.

Cheslin asks: "Do we have to wait for a fatal accident and possibly a corporate manslaughter case before we tackle the weighing issue?" He adds that it may not be a maritime incident either: "I understand that overweight containers are of increasing concern to many in the rail industry. All we need is for an overloaded wagon to derail and be hit by an oncoming passenger train. The aftermath would make a maritime inquiry look tame in comparison."

More information on the conference can be obtained by e-mailing Cheslin on:-

davidcheslin@dunelmpr.co.uk

or from

http://www.dunelmpr.co.uk.

7. And Finally...

Many thanks to Paul Dixon for these arresting questions:-

When an agnostic dies, does he go to the "great perhaps"?

Why is the time of day with the slowest traffic called rush hour?

Do you think Houdini ever locked his keys in his car?

Can atheists get insurance for acts of God?

If procrastinators had a club would they ever have a meeting?

Have you ever wondered why just one letter makes all the difference between here and there?

When you go into a hotel you always see reception. Why do you never just see ception?

If time heals all wounds, how come the belly button stays the same?

If a lawyer and an Inland Revenue inspector were both drowning, and you could only save one of them, would you go to lunch or read the paper?

Isn't it strange that the same people who laugh at gypsy fortune tellers take economists seriously?

If genetic scientists crossed a chicken with a zebra would they get a four-legged chicken with its own barcode?

If practice makes perfect, and nobody's perfect, why practice?

Why is there always one in every crowd?

If all the world is a stage, where does the audience sit?

Is it possible to have deja vu and amnesia at the same time?

Why do hair shampoo instructions say "Lather. Rinse. Repeat"? If you did this, would you ever be able to stop?

Who decided "Hotpoint" would be a good name for a company that sells refrigerators?

How do you know when it's time to tune your bagpipes?

When you discover a missing buttonhole...where did it go ?

JokeoftheDay-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

P.S.

The source of these good thoughts is Australian David Cummings, aka the corporate hoaxer who seems to spend a lot of his time lurking around planning meetings. His website is well worth a visit:-

Nobody ever forgets where they buried the hatchet.

I've known him as a child an adolescent and as a man; sometimes on the same day.

My wife from time to time puts on her wedding dress. Not because she's sentimental. She just really gets that far behind with the laundry.

My wife is a water sign I'm a earth sign. Together we make mud.

I tried to make money as a kid. I had a lemonade stand for about six weeks.

I made no money. I had to burn it down and collect the insurance.

Strange, isn't it? You stand in the middle of a
library and go 'Aaaaaaagghhhh!' and everyone just stares at you. You do the same thing on an aeroplane, and everyone joins in.

My mother always told me that sex was something
disgusting and dirty that you save for someone you love.

I'm writing an unauthorized autobiography.

98% of Australians are decent hard working people. It's the other 2% that get all the publicity. But then, we elected them.

http://www.davidcummings.com.au

P.P.S

Another one from our Beggers Belief Dept

http://www.fmft.net/archives/BBC_NEWS.htm

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