BOW WAVE 460

Bow Wave Issue 460--Market Opening Edition

news and views on trade, insurance and risk

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Wavy Line	sam@wavyline.com
(c)2008 WavyLine.com	Issue No 460 15 Sep 08
Published free of charge to Readers
Editor: Sam Ignarski
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In this issue:

1. Welcome
2. Market News
3. The Human Element (Again)
4. Liability of Agents for Cargo Damaged on Board Ships
5. BBC Container Travels the World
6. And Finally...

1. Welcome

Poem of the Week

Where I Am With You

Waking from a nap,
we stand at the window
watching dark clouds crawl
across the sky, whip
state-sized wisps
down and out and up.

Lights come on early,
and people below
on the street scurry
and bumble about
My arm around you, you say-
Let it rain, let it pour.

Ryan Vine from Distant Engines (2006)

New Readers this week include:-

Terminals specialist Michael Mcgratten of Aon
Charles Spanton of the marine r/i department at Willis Adrian Gagea

News of Readers

Kirsty Fillis has joined Inchcape Shipping Services as Africa Business Development Manager, based in Cape Town and reporting to Regional Director, Africa, Allan Vermaak.

Chris Mayer has been appointed acting editor of Lloyd’s List with immediate effect

Former Swiss Re director Eric Gao will head up Lloyd's Chinese operations, Lloyd's Reinsurance Company (China) Ltd.

Gao, who served as director and general manager of Swiss Re's Beijing branch, takes over from Ian Faragher as CEO of the Chinese platform.

Readers Write

From John S. Hodgett Senior Claims Adjuster Catlin Underwriting

Sam, some of your readers of the poetry in Bow Wave Issue 459 may not know that Telegraph Road is the (very short) story of Detroit and is still there; it runs out through Southfield.

Contact him at:-

john.hodgett@catlin.com

From R Kondoh

Dear Ignarski-San

I am pleased to inform you that my essay on the subject of the Japanese merchant marine war dead which was originally in Bow Wave Issue 448 has been duly reprinted in a journal entitled "The Mariners' Digest", in its Vol 12, 2008, published by the Japan Shipping Exchange.

http://www.jseinc.org
rinnoskikonkon@ybb.ne.jp

Note from the Editor

Busy times at our new office in Lime Street as our new venture starts to come together. We will try over the coming editions to communicate some of the fun and free spirit that arises working in a start up with congenial colleagues, partners and customers. .

Enjoy!

2. Market News

Word reaches us that the regional marine man for
St Paul/Travellers in Singapore, Mark Trevitt, has left the company after a single year in post. There is much speculation as to where he might appear next. On the other hand the Aon-owned and Hannover Re-backed ITMU facility has withdrawn from the US Ports and Terminals market for reasons which possibly require no real speculation at all. There are big changes afoot in the port equipment and property scene taking effect soon but more of these anon.

3. The Human Element (Again)

Steven Jones writes:-

There has been the odd experiment with remote-controlled ships but to date nobody has successfully operated ships without people. People are an investment, and shouldn’t be regarded as a cost; they are huge contributors to the success of a voyage and should be treated as such.

Issue No.18 of Alert! the International Maritime Human Element Bulletin gets down to brass tacks on the issue of people, pointing out quite bluntly: "look after your people ...and they will look after you."

The Alert! Project -- launched in October 2003 -- is a campaign to improve the awareness of the human element in the maritime industry. This is a Nautical Institute project, sponsored by Lloyd’s Register Educational Trust.

Further information go to:-

http://www.he-alert.org.

4. Liability of Agents for Cargo Damaged on Board Ships

The archive of our sister publication, the Maritime Advocate has just received a new case note from the Spain correspondents Blas de Lezo who are maritime lawyers. It relates to a finding in the Spanish courts that ship agents are capable of being held responsible under the applicable legislation for loss or damage to cargo which occurs on ships at sea. This has caused no small consternation in the Spanish maritime community, not to mention the insurers of professional negligence in Spain. Read the case note at:-

http://www.avoarchive.com

5. BBC Container Travels the World

Julie Lithgow writes:-

The BBC have started an exciting project where they track a container around the world for 12 months to illustrate the importance of shipping (and in particular the container trade) for world trade and globalization.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/business/2008/the_box/default.stm

lithgow@purplefinder.com

6. And Finally...

Many thanks to R Mulcahy in South Africa, a prolific source of jokes, many of which are too rude for Bow Wave:-

Why females should avoid a girls' night out after they are married....

If this does not make you laugh out loud, you have lost your sense of humour.

The other night I was invited out for a night with the 'girls.' I told my husband that I would be home by midnight, 'I promise!' Well, the hours passed and the margaritas went down way too easily. Around 3 a.m., a bit loaded, I headed for home.

Just as I got in the door, the cuckoo clock in the hallway started up and cuckooed 3 times. Quickly, realizing my husband would probably wake up, I cuckooed another 9 times.

I was really proud of myself for coming up with such a quick-witted solution, in order to escape a possible conflict with him. Even when totally smashed... 3 cuckoos plus 9 cuck oos totals = 12 Cuckoos (MIDNIGHT!)

The next morning my husband asked me what time I got in, I told him 'MIDNIGHT'... he didn't seem pissed off in the least.

Whew, I got away with that one! Then he said 'We need a new cuckoo clock.'

When I asked him why, he said, 'Well, last night our clock cuckooed three times, then said 'oh shit.' Cuckooed 4 more times, cleared its throat, cuckooed another three times, giggled, cuckooed twice more, and then tripped over the coffee table and farted.

P.S. And Another...

An elderly couple had dinner at another couple's house, and after eating, the wives left the table and went into the kitchen.

The two gentlemen were talking, and one said, 'Last night we went out to a new restaurant and it was really great. I would recommend it very highly.'

The other man said, 'What is the name of the restaurant?'
The first man thought and thought and finally said, 'What is the name of that flower you give to someone you love? You know... The one that's red and has thorns.'

'Do you mean a rose?'

'Yes, that's the one,' replied the man.. He then turned towards the kitchen and yelled, 'Rose, what's the name of that restaurant we went to last night?'

P.P.S. Many thanks to port guru Mike Mundy for this not very correct joke:-

A store that sells new husbands has opened in New York City , where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates:

You may visit this store ONLY ONCE! There are six floors and the valueof the products increase as the shopper ascends the flights. The shopper may choose any item from a particular floor, or may choose to go up to the next floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building!

So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. On the first floor the sign on the door reads:

Floor 1 - These men Have Jobs.

She is intrigued, but continues to the second floor, where the sign reads:

Floor 2 - These men Have Jobs and Love Kids.

'That's nice,' she thinks, 'but I want more.'

So she continues upward. The third floor sign reads:

Floor 3 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, and are Extremely Good Looking.

'Wow,' she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.

She goes to the fourth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 4 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Good Looking and Help With Housework.

'Oh, mercy me!' she exclaims, 'I can hardly stand it!'

Still, she goes to the fifth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 5 - These men Have Jobs, Love Kids, are Drop-dead Gorgeous, Help with Housework, and Have a Strong Romantic Streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor, where the sign reads:

Floor 6 - You are visitor 31,456,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please. Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store.

BOW WAVE is published each week to over 15 000 Readers in the transport,insurance,shipping and finance industries.

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