BOW WAVE 505

Bow Wave Issue 505--Man and Van Edition

news and views on trade, insurance and risk

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Wavy Line	sam@wavyline.com
(c)2009 WavyLine.com	Issue No 505 20 Jul 09
Published free of charge to Readers
Editor: Sam Ignarski
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In this issue:

1. Welcome
2. Cosco Busan Ruling sends Pilot to Jail
3. Unintended Consequences
4. The London P&I Club Issues Stowaways Update
5. UK Government puts Vans in Spotlight
6. And Finally...

1. Welcome

Poem of the Week

Over Ohio

You can say what you want about the evils of technology and the mimicry of birds; I love it. I love the sheer, unexpurgated hubris of it, I love the beaten egg whites of clouds hovering beneath me, this ephemeral Hamlet of believing in man's grandeur. You can have all that talk about the holiness of nature and the second Babylon. You can stay shocked about the future all you want, reminisce about the beauties of midwifery. I'll lake this anyday, this sweet imitation of Mars and Jupiter, this sitting still at 600 mph like a jet-age fetus. I want to go on looking at the moon for the rest of my life and seeing footsteps. I want to keep flying, even for short distances, like here between Columbus and Toledo on Air Wisconsin: an Andean condor sailing over Ohio, above the factories. above the dust and the highways and the miserable tires.

Michael Blumenthal (1984)

News of Readers

Richard Ellithorne has been appointed the Road Haulage Association's new director of operations from 1 September, working from the RHA's Peterborough office.

Note from the Editor

The Germans call this period the time of sour gherkins, we call it the silly season, a time when minds turn to the pleasures of holidays and vacationings and professional news gets a little thinner on the ground.

No matter there are items enough this windy day in July

Enjoy!

2. Cosco Busan Ruling sends Pilot to Jail

For the first time in US history, a marine pilot has been sent to prison for an accident. Our link is to the report in the local paper.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/18/BACO18R0SL.DTL

Here is the Department of Justice's release on the case:-

http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/July/09-enrd-698.html

A good case to illustrate how the old notion of marine pilot immunity is eroding....

3. Unintended Consequences

Our attention has been drawn to the AP review of US tug boat training in recent time:-

A federal program to recruit more tugboat pilots may have backfired by allowing thousands of novice captains to take the helm and contributing to a 25 percent increase in the number of accidents on the nation's rivers.

An Associated Press review of Coast Guard records indicates that the U.S. tugboat fleet is increasingly piloted by captains who have spent as little as one year in the wheelhouse.

"The system has failed," said David Whitehurst, a tug captain and member of the board of directors for the National Mariners Association, a national tug workers' group based in Houma, La.

"We have the highest horsepower in history, pushing more tonnage than ever in history, with the least knowledgeable personnel in history. It is a disaster. Look at the accidents we've had in the past few years."

Read more here:-

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iedq9S6_s-1J2yiKsxPq952qCHJQD99AEK600

4. The London P&I Club Issues Stowaways Update

Chris Hewer writes:-

THE latest issue of The London P&I Club’s StopLoss Bulletin highlights an increase in the number of stowaway cases the Club handled during the last year.

The Club says, "Although the greater number of cases is not obviously associated with any particular country or nationality, the 2008 incidents included two occasions on which stowaways from Lagos, Nigeria were found hiding in rudder trunks. In both cases, the stowaways were discovered and detained as they descended from their hiding places at the ship’s next port of call. It is assumed that the men gained access to those hiding places having come under the stern in a small boat."
The Club continues, "The most remarkable aspect of these cases is that the men survived the sea passage. Almost certainly there are cases where stowaways hide in a rudder trunk only to perish at sea without the crew ever being aware of their presence. The willingness of stowaways to use such a dangerous hiding place appears to have taken the crew in each recent instance by surprise."

The London P&I Club reminds its members that risk assessments by company and ship security officers should include a review of the dimensions of the rudder trunk and that, if stowaway access is achievable, consideration should be given to whether it is possible to retrofit a metal grill to prevent entry and to conduct searches of the area, prior to departure from port.

5. UK Government puts Vans in Spotlight

The Commission for Integrated Transport is to look at the 40% rise in van use over the past decade. CfIT, which advises the UK government on policy, wants to know what caused the increase and to understand the effect on congestion, the environment and safety. "There has been a 40% increase in van traffic over the last ten years and vans now account for about 13% of UK vehicle kilometres," said Richard Turner, the former chief executive of the Freight Transport Association who leads the work on behalf of CfIT. "There is a real lack of knowledge about this sector, which is often unloved by motorists, pedestrians and regulators." To complete the study, which CfIT aims to publish next year, it wants to hear from the whole sector - operators, drivers, customers, manufacturers and dealers. Contact David Prescott with offers of help

mailto:david.prescott@dft.gsi.gov.uk

(Source:Transport News Brief)

6. And Finally...

VARIATIONS

THE ORIGINAL VERSION:
If you love something,
Set it free...
If it comes back, it's yours,
If it doesn't, it never was yours....

THE PESSIMIST VERSION:
If you love somebody,
Set her free ...
If she ever comes back, she's yours,
If she doesn't, well, as expected, she never was.

THE OPTIMIST VERSION:
If you love somebody,
Set her free ...
Don't worry, she will come back.

THE PLAYFUL VERSION:
If you love somebody,
Set her free ...
If she comes back, and if you love her still,
Set her free again, repeat *

THE LAWYER'S VERSION:
If you love somebody,
Set her free...
Clause 1a of Paragraph 13a-1 in the second
amendment of the matrimonial Freedom Act clearly
states that...

THE BILL GATES VERSION:
If you love somebody,
Set her free...
If she comes back,
I think we can charge her for re-installation fees and tell her that she's also going to get an upgrade

P.S. Many thanks to Paul Dixon also for this one:-

The Policeman had stopped the man for obvious drunken driving, but since the guy had a clean record, made him park the car and took him home in the patrol car. "Are you sure this is your house?" the cop asked as they drove into a rather fashionable neighborhood.

"Shertainly." said the drunk, "and if you'll just open the door f'me, I can prove it to ya." Entering the living room, he said " You shee that piano ? Thash mine. You shee that giant television set ? Thast mine too. Now follow me."

The police officer followed the man as he shakily negotiated the stairs to the second floor. The drunk pushed open the first door they came to. "Thish ish my bedroom," he announced. "Shee the bed there ? Thast mine ! Shee that woman lying in the bed ? Thash my wife. An' see that guy lying next to her ?

"Yeah ?" the cop replied suspiciously. Beginning at this point to seriously doubt the man's story.

"Well, thash me !"

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