BOW WAVE 494

Bow Wave Issue 494--Tasteless Jokes Edition

news and views on trade, insurance and risk

Bow Wave homepage
Previous issue (493) / Current issue / Next issue (495)

Wavy Line	sam@wavyline.com
(c)2009 WavyLine.com	Issue No 494 04 May 09
Published free of charge to Readers
Editor: Sam Ignarski
Subscribe	Unsubscribe

In this issue:

1. Welcome
2. Cargo Trends
3. Brand New Car Carrier Lost in China
4. Macquarie Research Points to Slow Box Trade Recovery
5. NZ Innovation
6. And Finally...

1. Welcome

Poems of the Week

Little League

When the ump produces
his little hand broom
and stops all play to stoop
and dust off home plate,
my daughter sitting beside me
looks up and gives me a smile that says
this is by far her favorite part of baseball.

And then when he skillfully
spits without getting any
on the catcher or the batter or himself,
she looks up again and smiles
even bigger.

But when someone hits a long foul ball
and everyone's eyes are on it
as it sails out of play ...
the ump has dipped his hand
into his bottomless black pocket
and conjured up a shiny new white one
like a brand new coin
from behind the catcher's ear,
which he then gives to the catcher
who seems to contain his surprise
though behind his mask his eyes are surely
as wide with wonder as hers.

Paul Hostovsky, from Bending the Notes (2008)

The Chaos

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Susy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy;
Tear in eye, your dress you'll tear;
Queer, fair seer, hear my prayer.

Dutch writer and schoolteacher Gerard Nolst Trenité from Drop Your Foreign Accent (1920)

New Readers this week include:-

Peter Davies Frank of InterIS in St Petersbourg
Jonathan Thames of Archer Norriss
Surveyor Errol Yon of the Government of Gibralter James Pitcher of brokers Ramon International

News of Readers

Andreas Mueller has left the TT Club

Garrets International Ltd, a Marine Contract Catering Company based in Romford,Essex has received the Queen's Award for Enterprise: International Trade 2009.

Garrets has been providing various onboard services to ship owners and ship managers for more than 18 years. It currently provides catering services for 425 vessels owned by 29 international shipping companies.

mailto:andrew@garrets.com

Note from the Editor

Bow Wave,as many Readers know and require, begins with a poem and ends with a joke. From time to time these are not to everyone's taste. In fact some people find them tasteless and offensive. Why?

According to columnist Rod Liddle, cited in this week's Spectator, 'The stuff that makes us laugh is never neutral; it involves poking that part of us which, for most of the time, remains unpoked. The part of which civilised behaviour insists should remain below the surface.'

Is it also because the world is a bowl of toenails: that life is nasty, brutish and short? A world which, with luck and hard work we make bearable enough and with humour we make light of our burdens? Very possibly.

So we continue to run the jokes. Many Readers send them in--in fact, week by week, the highly observant Bow Wave classes send in more humour than professional items--a testimony, it might be said, to the high status enjoyed by the risible in marine insurance.

Enjoy!

2. Cargo Trends

The latest edition of the monthly Cargolaw ezine, published by industry attornies Countryman and McDaniel in LA has a number of items which describe current turnovers, eg,

***U.S. Air Cargo Crash ..... as the U.S. Air Transport Assn. reports a 21.2% drop in overall cargo traffic for Feb. 2009 compared to the same month last year. U.S. domestic revenue ton-miles (RTMs) were down 18.4%; North Atlantic was off 20.9% and traffic on Asia routes declined 25.7% during Feb. Overall int'l traffic for U.S. reporting carriers dropped 23.6% for the month. FedEx RTMs declined 16.7% domestically & 18.4% i nternationally. UPS reported a decline of 15 % domestically & 13% internationally during the month. The major U.S. combination carriers experienced even greater setbacks. Southwest Air domestic RTMs dropped 21.7%; Northwest -48.1%; Delta, -31.0%; Continental -31.3%; United -14.4%; & American -36.6%. Int'l traffic showed similar declines with Northwest reporting -44.3%; Continental -22.8%; United -38.6%; US Airways -39.4% & American -27.7%. OMG! This is a disaster.

and:-

***EU - Worst On Record ..... as the Assn. of European Airlines says, "the air freight market has all but collapsed." Reporting for Jan. & Feb. 2009, the airline trade association says overall freight ton-kilometers volumes were down 21.0% - the worst figures on record. Europe/Far East traffic for both months averaged a drop of 27.4% -- equaling a decline in Europe/South Atlantic results. North Atlantic FTKs dropped 16.5% & Europe/Middle East fell 9.3%. The only positive note recorded by the AEA for the 1st 2 months of 2009 was Europe/North Africa FTKs that rose 19.8%. Some of the biggest losers for the period were Lufthansa Cargo, with an average drop of 27.3%; Virgin Atlantic fell 23.4%; the combined Air France-KLM group declined 22% and not far behind was British Airways with a fall of 18.6%. The only AEA member airline to record positive traffic figures in both months was Kiev-based Ukraine Int'l Airlines with an average 30.3% increase in FTKs. Last year the 34 members of the AEA generated US$104.7Bn in cargo & passenger revenue.

and also :-

***Import Cargo Hits Rock Bottom ..... as volume at the nation's major retail container ports hit its lowest level in 7 years in Feb., according to the monthly Port Tracker report released this month by the National Retail Federation & IHS Global Insight. The report said monthly container volumes at ports the report tracks dropped below the 1 million mark for the 1st time in 5 years. Numbers began climbing again in March & April, but the 1 million mark won't be seen again before May, and imports will continue to see significant declines compared with last year at least through the summer. U.S. ports surveyed handled only 847,832 TEUs in Feb., the most recent month for which numbers are available. That was down 20.6% from January's 1.07 million TEUs & 31.3% from Feb. 2008's 1.23 million TEUs.

http://cargolaw.com

Attorney McDaniel (known as McD) has agreed to stand in as guest editor of Bow Wave during August--ed)

3. Brand New Car Carrier Lost in China

The following report appears in the latest Maritime News Clippings e-zine:

The brand new car carrier Dyvi Pacific has been declared a total loss only a few weeks before its delivery from the Chinese shipbuilder Samjin Shipbuilding Industries Co at Weihai. The vessel hit a rock in the river while manoeuvring just before her sea trials. The ship managed to return to the fitting out quay but sank alongside. The Dvyi Pacific is a 6,500 unit vessel built as the first of three for Fleischer & Co A/S, Oslo, with commercial operation in Høegh Autoliners. The 200-metre long vessel is currently lying half submerged in the river. The price tag for a car carrier this size is around USD 80 million. The loss of the Dyvi Pacific will not affect the market for car carriers, which at the moment is ery subdued due to the economic downturn worldwide. A large number of older units have been sold for recycling.

http://www.massmondmaritime.com

4. Macquarie Research Points to Slow Box Trade Recovery

Our favourite daily newspaper ran a story this week on the importance of China to shipping. based on the Macquarie Asian Shipping outlook which said that container lines are unlikely to achieve a profitable supply and demand balance in the next 12-18 months, while a recovery in dry bulk will be heavily reliant on China.

In what sounds rather Panglossian the researchers say global container volumes are likely to slip by only 1% this year, based on stronger economic growth in the second half. However, overcapacity would eliminate the ability of lines to increase rates in the foreseeable future.

The head of shipping research, Jon Windham, said the downturn in liner trades had both cyclical and structural components, with cyclical factors affected by the credit crisis.

"We see little evidence that the market is anticipating an impact of structural change on the industry's long-term growth rate," he said.

"In our opinion, low growth will be driven by an increasing portion of consumer spending occurring in Asia which is geographically closer to production centres."

Macquarie pointed out that the Global Purchasing Manager's Index, which measures the volume of industrial orders, had shown a modest resurgence in March.

However, the research house added that container demand was so far below absolute available capacity that even a modest rebound was unlikely to lead to a resumption of pricing power by carriers.

Mr Windham, who led a team of six shipping analysts to produce the latest 68-page report, said slow steaming was not the panacea for the industry as had been suggested.

While slow steaming had been put forward as the "saviour for industry profitability", cost savings are likely to passed on to customers, "providing no support to container line profitability".

"By comparison, the bulk market has become even more of a China story in 2009", Mr Windham said.

He said that the key demand drivers for the rest of 2009 would be "continuing signs of life in China's real estate market, ongoing iron ore import substitution and a possible modest recovery in steel production outside of China".

As a result, Macquarie forecast the Baltic Dry Index to average 2000 for the rest of the year, rising to 3000 in 2010 and 2011.

Mr Windham said Macquarie's commodities team estimated that China's iron ore imports rose 32% in the first quarter compared with last year, although they fell 53% in the rest of the world.

"Continued strong demand in China, coupled with only a modest rebound in non-Chinese demand for ore in the second half of 2009, could lead to a strong bounce in demand for bulk shipping," Mr Windham said.

The Macquarie team pointed out while China sourced 42% of its iron ore from domestic mines last year, this would fall to just 24% by 2012

www.lloydslist.com/ll/news/macquarie-predicts-mixed-outlook-for-shipping-firms/20017643932.htm;jsessionid

5. NZ Innovation

This item appears in the current edition of Flashlight, the e-zine published by Mike Wall aimed at the marine surveying world:-

A New Zealand shipping company has been allowed to drill holes in the bow of a coastal freighter to get around international safety rules for a ship of that size.The unorthodox modifications allow the cargo ship to be manned by fewer crew as it is now officially classified as smaller than it is. Senior maritime industry figures say Maritime NZ's approval of the modifications made the country an international joke."This is extreme bending of the rules and I cannot see how they can get away with it," Auckland marine surveyor Hugh Munro said."I don't think anyone at the International Maritime Organisation would agree with this."Coastal Bulk Shipping's fertiliser carrier Anatoki is 48.6 metres long.But Maritime NZ has allowed it to be classed as shorter than 45m after holes were drilled at the front to create a "false" bow. A new watertight bow was fitted several metres further back so the ship now officially measures only 45m.Maritime rules say ships longer than 45m must adopt mandatory international shore and ship safety and pollution prevention systems. Ships longer than 45m are also required to have more crew, with higher qualifications.Smaller ships are subject to less stringent safety systems managed by an organisation approved by Maritime NZ.John Mansell, Maritime NZ operations general manager, rejected criticism of the safety agency's decision, saying the ship complied with "all required New Zealand standards ... consistent with international safety conventions."The "false bow" was stronger than the previous bow because of watertight internal modifications behind the holes, Mr Mansell said.The ship's owners also rejected the criticism. Doug Smith, general manager of Coastal Bulk Shipping, said the ship had previously operated in Japan under a different interpretation of international shipping rules to New Zealand's."We never intended shortening [the Anatoki] but we were left with no choice ... we were stuck with a vessel we could not operate."A naval architect had produced the plans to create the new bow and Maritime NZ were "reasonably supportive" in agreeing to the modifications.Mr Smith said some in the maritime community claimed the bow change was done to allow the company to cut crew numbers.The ship operated in Japan with a crew of three, whereas in New Zealand it operated with four crew, with Maritime NZ agreement.Had the agency not approved the modifications, the ship would have required a crew of at least seven, Mr Smith said.The modifications have bemused Niels Bjorn Mortensen, marine department head of the world's largest private shipping organisation, Bimco. "I suggest that the holes drilled in the original bow be named `loopholes'," Mr Bjorn Mortensen said.Mr Munro, speaking personally and not on behalf of the surveying company he works for, said drilling holes in a ship "doesn't change the length of the vessel"."Rules are rules, as Maritime NZ keep ramming down our throats." He agreed with other senior maritime industry sources that the matter made New Zealand a laughing stock.But Mr Mansell disputed this, saying New Zealand had an excellent reputation for maintaining very high safety standards. The modifications to the Anatoki met all New Zealand's safety regulations for a coastal freighter, he said.

mailto:mikewall@pacific.net.hk

(Mike has also started a debt collection business for marine surveyors-- non-payers are posted on his e-zine--ed)

6. And Finally...

Many thanks to Paul Dixon for these marital verities:-

Every woman wants a husband who is handsome, understanding, rich, and loving. But the law allows only one husband.

One woman's hobby is another woman's hubby.

The easiest way to make your old car run better,
is to check the prices of new car.

It's what people don't know about each other
that makes them such good friends.

If you can't get a lawyer who knows the law,
get one who knows the judge.

A man owes his success to his first wife
and he owes his second wife to his success.

Love is entirely a matter of chemistry.
That must be why my wife treats me like toxic waste.

A man is incomplete until he is married.
After that, he is finished.

When a woman steals your Husband,
there is no better revenge than to let her keep him.

Marriage is like a cage; those outside are desperate to get in, and those inside are desperate to get out.

Do not marry a person that you know that you can live with; only marry someone that you cannot live without.

One evening, Jenny arrived home from work to find the children bathed, one load of clothes in the washer and another in the dryer dinner on the stove, and the table set.

She was astonished -- something's up.

It turns out that Ralph had read an article that said wives who worked full-time and had to do their own housework were too tired to have sex.

The night went well and the next day, she told her office friends all about it.

"We had a great dinner. Ralph even cleaned up. He helped the kids do their homework, folded all the laundry and put everything away. I really enjoyed the evening."

"But what about afterward?" asked her friends.

"Oh, that was perfect too. Ralph was too tired..."

mailto:JokeoftheDay-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

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

Thanks for reading BOW WAVE