IN THIS ISSUE
1. Preparing Insurers for Brexit
2. Tianjin
3. Autonomous Ships
4. Gobi or Bust
5. How Data Will Disrupt the Business of Art
6. People and Places
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1. Preparing Insurers for Brexit
We are in receipt of a briefing by Richard Spiller and William Reddie
of hfw which gives seven suggestions to those in the insurance business
who are concerned about changes consequent upon Brexit. Not that the
London Insurance Market has attained much market penetration in Europe.
It seems the potent mixture of language, legal, regulatory, commercial
and cultural barriers have kept the tide of London Market Pan-European
market penetrators down to more of a gurgle. Read the briefing in full
here:-
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2. Tianjin
Clark Zhou of London based Yatson & Co has sent in these thoughts:-
Tianjin
The passage of time has done little to diminish the shock of the Tianjin
explosion on August 12th 2015. Many outside observes in the maritime
world were surprised to learn that the port was considered to be the
world’s fourth biggest facility in the world by cargo throughput. In
this fast grown environment it was doubly shocking to see a large explosive
event unfold in a highly built up area comprising residential buildings,
container parks, offices, over ground railway stations and dangerous
goods warehouses.
The entry in Wikipedia is a reasonably full description of the event:-
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_Tianjin_explosions
The nature of the casualty would challenge the public authorities in
any port city in the world. Some elements were peculiar to the place
itself. It is doubtful whether the local television service would have
not covered the event in say Antwerp as was the case in Tianjin. The
exclusion zone around the blast crater which was imposed for some four
weeks gave time for the area to be scraped clean and for the debris
to be taken away. Compensation was paid to local residents at 130 %
of the price paid for the property if damaged and made over to the government
(otherwise the government would repair). Families of dead fire fighters
were paid the equivalent of US$ 360 000 for each of the deceased. Not
everyone outside the country appreciates that the fire fighters in Tianjin
were either conscripts carrying out their national service or employees
of Tianjin port.
For the insurance world there were many things for which the international
market had no expectations. In February of this year IUMI briefed that
claims related to the explosion might grow to as much as $6 billion,
More than half of the claims reportedly fall within marine insurance
or reinsurance lines – potentially making it the largest single marine
disaster (by claim value) in history, surpassing Hurricane Sandy.. 10
000 containers and 70 000 vehicles help to compound the loss and the
great imponderablity of recovery actions impede the compilation of accurate
estimating. If you talk to the great insurance surveying and loss adjusting
companies, whose operatives normally scour casualty sites for evidence
of loss and causation you will find asceticism at the official estimates
for losses and death. The jurisdiction of China has a very weak hold
on the notion of recourse against public and private negligence, if
an event is more or less associated with political or governmental responsibility.
There has been no comparable loss event in other parts of the transport
economy in China but observers may recall how the aftermath of the Sichuan
earthquake did not much include actions in negligence or delict against
the planning and architectural experts and officials whose work was
found wanting.
Certainly there is work ahead for the risk estimators and disaster
planners of the insurance world. There is pressure in plenty to improve
the understanding and modeling of the port industry in east Asia which
has grown so large in so short a time. The lessons of loss and damage
in Tianjin will be a long time in the learning as the insurance industry
unwinds the claims.
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3. Autonomous Ships
Our friends over at the Handy Shipping Guide have a good piece on the
prospects for unmanned ships which has news of theWork of Lloyds RTegister
to introduce a sliding scale which describes the degree of autonomy,
grading robot qualities as it were. We have a weakness for this class
of speculation, it must be said, but if seems to us that the day of
the robotic ship is not too far off.
Read the piece here:-
http://tinyurl.com/RobotShkips
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Henry.Hill@worldwidecurrencies.com…………………….+44 (0)20
3326 4514
4. Gobi or Bust
Mention summer holidays, and most people will think Marbella, Majorca,
Malta… but very rarely Mongolia. Add in to the mix it’s landlocked
and most unlikely for a maritime or offshore professional.
So spare a thought – and some change – for Riviera Maritime Media group
managing editor, Edwin Lampert, who is undertaking an epic trek of that
country in support of a range of causes, including The OSCAR (Ocean
and Shipping Community Advancing Children’s Health and Research)
campaign set up by Chairman of Spinnaker Consulting Ltd, Phil Parry.
The OSCAR campaign is an innovative fundraising partnership uniting
the international shipping community under a philanthropic banner to
raise significant funds towards areas of urgent need at Great Ormond
Street Hospital and its research partner, the UCL Institute of Child
Health.
To learn more and support Edwin’s upcoming adventure please do visit
the following page:
http://make-a-donation.org/fundraisers/edwin-lampert
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5. How Data Will Disrupt the Business of Art
We like to keep an eye on what goes on in the art and art logistics
world. In these uncertain times the rise and rise of modern art in the
marketplace is an interesting example of how wealth can move around
the world and under the noses of governments on the lookout for taxes.
Think of those wonderful freeports in Luxemburg and Switzerland where
valuable works of art enter and leave ion conditions of some mystery.
The latest edition of the invaluable blog explains how the price paid
at auction for art is entering into its own version of glasnost via
modern computer applications:-
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6. People and Places
Hill Dickinson has augmented its commodities team with the return of
partner Andrew Buchmann from South Africa.
———-
BMT Surveys (BMT), a subsidiary of BMT Group, the international maritime
design, engineering and risk management consultancy, has announced the
appointment of its marine surveyor and salvage consultant, Arjan van
Aalst as Special Casualty Representative (SCR) for the Lloyd’s
Agency Department.
Director, Jeroen de Haas comments: “Van Aalst is the first SCR
employed by a Dutch marine surveying company to join Lloyd’s SCR
list of just 70 specialists drawn from around the world. The other Dutch
SCR’s are self-employed, mostly former salvage inspectors. We anticipate
that other BMT colleagues who have been working in the salvage industry
will soon be joining Van Aalst as SCR members.”
The SCR role is of crucial importance to the ship owner and underwriters
as their sole expert representative dealing with the salvor. They provide
specialist expert opinion on the plan of action, measures to be taken
and cost estimates suggested by the salvor and, if required, the SCR
will make additional recommendations. In this way they help to prevent
salvage costs becoming higher than strictly necessary, while keeping
in mind that the protection of people and the environment always take
precedence. Salvage operations are usually performed on a no cure no
pay basis, meaning that the salvor only gets compensated for his work
if the ship is actually salvaged. In case of imminent environmental
pollution, the salvor may invoke the so-called SCOPIC-clause, possibly
giving him the right to at least recover his expenses, regardless of
the result.
———-
Inchcape Shipping Services (ISS), the maritime and logistics service
provider, has been awarded the NYK Liner agency in Australia.
Part of the Nippon Yusen Kabushiki Kaisha Group, one of the world’s
leading transportation companies, NYK Line container services has appointed
ISS to represent its New Zealand Singapore service (NZS) and North Asia-New
Zealand (NZJ) service from July.
Under this new agency agreement, ISS Brisbane will handle the full
liner agency function including sales, customer service, operations
and accounting for NYK Line in Australia.
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From the Avo Archive
The website of this newsletter contains all the editorial material
since the inception of the Maritime Advocate as a print based quarterly
in 1997 under the founding aegis of John Guy, Chris Hewer and Manfred
Arnold. Readers can go to the site and search the database on the home
page in its entirety. If you are looking for an old case, an old controversy
or you would just like to see how many times you and your firm have
featured in our annals feel free to access the archive. It is like this
e-zine, free to Readers and we always appreciate the support of advertisers
and sponsors.
References to robots were few and far between, and many were in the
habit of levity which continues to animate these columns. For example
Issue 99 of 31st March 2003 contains these helpful suggestions:-
Top Tips on How to be Really Annoying
1. Sing the Birdie Song incessantly
2. If you have a glass eye, tap on it occasionally with you pen while
talking to others.
3. Speak only in a robot voice.
4. Push all the thin, flat Lego pieces tightly together.
5. Start each meal by licking all your food, and explain that you are
doing it so that no-one will swipe your grub.
6. Leave the office photocopy machine set to reduce 200 per cent, extra
dark, seventeen-inch paper, 99 copies.
7. Sniff incessantly.
8. Leave the right-turn indicator on in your car for fifty miles.
9. Wear a special hip holster for your remote control.
10. Drum your fingers on every available surface.
11. Cultivate a Norwegian accent.
12. Never make eye contact.
13. Never break eye contact.
www.jokingaround.com
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Shopping
Even with a thousand games, dolls and crafts to choose from, my customer
at the toy store still couldn’t find a thing for her grandson.
"Maybe a video or something educational?" I asked.
"No, that’s not it," she said.
We wandered the aisles until something caught her eye — a laser gun
with flashing lights and 15 different high-pitched sounds.
"This is perfect," she said, beaming, "My daughter-in-law
will hate it."
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Possibly Genuine Hospital Records
1. She has no rigors or shaking chills, but her husband states she
was very hot in bed last night.
2. Patient has chest pain if she lies on her left side for over a year.
3. On the second day, the knee was better, and on the third day, it
disappeared.
4. The patient is tearful and crying constantly. She also appears to
be depressed.
5. The patient has been depressed since she began seeing me in 1993.
6. Discharge status: Alive but without my permission.
7. Healthy-appearing decrepit 69 year-old-male, mentally alert but
forgetful.
8. The patient refused autopsy.
9. The patient has no previous history of suicides.
10. Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital.
11. Patient’s medical history has been remarkably insignificant, with
only 40-lb. weight gain in past 3 days.
12. Patient had waffles for breakfast and anorexia for lunch.
13. Between you and me, we ought to be able to get this lady pregnant.
14. Since she can’t get pregnant with her husband, I thought you might
like to work her up.
15. She is numb from her toes down.
16. While in ER, she was examined, X-rated and sent home.
17. The skin was moist and dry.
18. Occasional, constant, infrequent headaches.
19. Patient was alert and unresponsive.
20. Rectal examination revealed a normal size thyroid.
21. She stated that she had been constipated for most of her life,
until she got a divorce.
22. I saw your patient today, who is still under our car for physical
therapy.
23. Both breasts are equal and reactive to light and accommodation.
24. Examination of genitalia reveals that he is circus sized.
25. The lab test indicated abnormal lover function.
26. The p! atient was to have a bowel resection. However, he took a
job as a stockbroker instead.
27.. Skin: Somewhat pale but present.
28. The pelvic exam will be done later on the floor.
29. Patient was seen in consultation by doctor who felt we should sit
on the abdomen, and I agree.
30. Large brown stool ambulating in the hall.
31. Patient has two teenage children, but no other abnormalities
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