BOW WAVE 57

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Wavy Line	sam@wavyline.com
(c)2000 WavyLine.com	Issue No 57 18 Dec 00
Published free of charge to Readers
Editor: Sam Ignarski
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In this issue:

1. Welcome
2. ModernPorts.Com
3. CMNI Convention Available Here
4. CCS Site
5. UK Flood Maps
6. And Finally...

1. Welcome

A very riverine edition, but not only for riparians. Shame on Mr Chait...

2. ModernPorts.Com

One of the ingredients behind the success of the Port of Hong Kong has been the way big capital and minimalist government have also provided a way to allow for expansion using the river trades, mid stream stevedoring companies, the depots and the haulage companies when the port itself is close to capacity so far as the fixed cranes and quays are concerned.

These smaller companies do more than their fair share of enabling the year on year growth of the place. The people who work in them are often called Lao Bai Xing--the Hundred Names.

This new portal conceived by the owners of Modern Terminals may be one to watch for those who have an interest in the industry in the Pearl River Delta. We have often wondered how those TEUs moved per annum are compiled. Perhaps this site will teach us. Its sponsors say:

ModernPorts.com is Hong Kong's first shipping portal providing a one-stop, e-business platform that offers a wide range of port-related services to the local shipping community including shipping lines, feeders, barge operators, hauliers, freight forwarders, shippers, consignees and government agencies.

There is a web cam page which shows the gates and the operations of the place as well as the road cams featured on the HK government site. Some day all port sites and overcrowded road routes will be presented like this.

http://www.modernports.com/main_sitemap.htm

3. CMNI Convention Available Here

One of the areas of life which was supposed to blossom in the post cold war era was inland navigation in Europe. The UN Economic Commission for Europe was charged with bringing light and peace into an area which has reflected divisions in Europe at least since the Congress of Vienna.

Freedom of Navigation and the ability to travel from the North Sea to the Black Sea through inland waterways have often been largely theoretical boons.

This autumn representatives from the riparian States met and agreed a new Convention on the Contract for the Carriage of Goods by Inland Waterways (CMNI). The text of the new Convention is available in English, German, French and Russian on the UNECE's site.

http://www.unece.org/trans/main/sc3/cmniconf/cmnidoc/finalconf02e.doc

4. CCS Site

One of the really great companies in the European inland waterways business is Combined Container Services. This company made its name as the first operator to understand its new possibilities as one of the very early operators of containerised shipping on the Rhine. It understood the need to be competitive not only on the river but also when compared with road and rail services which connected with the large seaports. In the early 1980s the company offered "as if CMR" services to their customers in order to match the offering of the road haulage industry along the Rhine in respect of liability.

The website in operation is an attractive tour through the ports and locations under the management of the company.

On the company's web site you can see the world's largest brown water container barge--the JOWI, which draws a maximum of 3.2 metres of water and a has a capacity of 398 TEUs.

With a width of 16.84 meters and a length of 135.50 metres this ship is described as singular.

See for yourself at:

http://ccs.de/ccsJOWI.htm/

5. UK Flood Maps

This is the year of the overflowing river in the UK as floodplains dry for decades fill with water and surprise householders and insurers alike. A day without rain these last few months seems like a gift from above and a whole weekend a great rarity.

In this site people can type in their post codes and learn how flood prone their castles really are. See the site at:

http://www.environment-agency.gov.uk/

6. And Finally...

A young lawyer called Bradley Chait ungallantly and unwisely sends a racy exchange of e-mails with a lady he knows all too well to six of his pals who work in the same shop. They too forward the exchange to their friends. Soon it is girdling the earth.

A few days and perhaps 10 million readers later, not to mention a leader in the Saturday edition of the London Times, his employers, Norton Rose, the well known international law firm, issue the following on the their web site.

Press Statement: Email abuse

Norton Rose takes a robust approach to email abuse. The firm has clear rules that specifically prohibit the sending and receipt of non-work related material; in particular obscene, discriminatory or defamatory material and junk mail. These rules are included in the terms of employment for all our employees. Implementation of the firm's disciplinary procedures began as soon as the firm became aware of the circumstances.

O tempora. O Mores.

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