1. Poor Chart Interpretation and Initial Unseaworthiness in General Average
2. The American Lighthouse Act
3. Free Ports in the UK
4.Cowes Week Upon Us
5. Svalbard a Kind of Arctic Utopia?
6. People and Places
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1. Poor Chart Interpretation and Initial Unseaworthiness in General
Average
Paul Bugden of Bugden + Co., London, writing in the latest edition
of the always interesting Forwarderlaw zine, provides notes on the decision
in Alize 1954 v Allianz Elementar Versicherungs AG [2019] EWHC 481 (Admlty)
Teare J. where the court had to decide whether a grounding caused by
poor voyage planning could relieve cargo interests of their duty to
contribute to General Average costs.
2. The American Lighthouse Act
Turning to the always interesting maritime newsletter published by
Dennis L Bryant we learn the Lighthouse Act – 7 August 1789 was
the ninth statute adopted by the First Congress of the United States.
It provided for the voluntary cession by the various states of all lighthouses,
beacons, buoys, and public piers to the federal government and tasked
the Secretary of the Treasury with building and maintaining the aids
to maritime navigation. The Lighthouse Establishment (later named the
United States Light House Service) is the oldest of the various components
of the present-day United States Coast Guard, joining in 1939.
http://www.brymar-consulting.com/wp-content/uploads/Misc/Lighthouse_Act.pdf
3. Free Ports in the UK
Blue water shipping and the EC have always seemed to have missed each
other passing in the night and the industry’s trade bodies, mutuals
and opinion formers have not had much to say about Brexit which would
cause the readers of this e-zine to sit up bolt like to listen. Given
the nature of much cross-channel trade, it is not surprising that the
most interesting stuff has come from hauliers, forwarders and 3PLs.
From the recent mulch of general debate and speculation, attention
in these islands has latterly turned to the prospects for free ports
and free zones in a post Brexit Britain. The EC has done its best over
the years to do away with this potential risk for tax avoidance and
revenue decline by severely discouraging the very notion of them. Why
would a post imperial non-member of the EC with miles of redundant port
frontage around its coasts and maritime proclivities be possibly interested
in the expansion of the notion of free ports and free zones, it might
be asked, since the country as a whole might take the view over time
that its is per se operating a free zone?
One might well look at the example of the Swiss whose free ports swallow
up art, specie and general treasure in great amounts far away from the
invigorating smell of salt spray and the attentions of the taxmen of
the 27.
https://full-fact.org/Europe/free-ports/
4. Cowes Week Upon Us
It’s that time of the year again when a taxi, a room or a decent meal
is hard to get on demand on England’s Garden Isle. The fellows from
Southampton has sent this in:-
ABP Southampton is preparing for the challenge of managing all of the
traffic that will flow through the port during this year’s Cowes
Week, which will see up to 8,000 competitors and 800 boats out on the
water from 10 to 17 August.
The Regatta stages up to 40 daily races for around 800 boats across
the event and is the largest sailing regatta of its kind in the world.
During this sporting event the Solent remains open to all of the usual
commercial vessels passing through, including bulk, container ships,
car carriers, cruise ships, ferries and naval vessels as well as smaller
leisure boats.
This year, the event incorporates the SailGP event, the new global
sports series, as an official Feature Event of the Regatta across 10
and 11 August.
In the lead up and during Cowes Week each year, ABP Southampton works
closely with the Regatta organisers to help ensure this annual event
goes without a hitch. The responsibility rests with Captain Phil Buckley,
Harbour Master at the Port of Southampton, who works closely with the
Queen’s Harbour Master in Portsmouth, and the Cowes Harbour Master,
to ensure the safety of all harbour users.
Captain Phil Buckley said: “We’re very experienced in handling
large amounts of Cowes Week traffic and our highly professional pilots
and experienced marine teams are crucial to these plans.
“Through working together, we can ensure a smooth, safe and enjoyable
Cowes Week for everyone on the Solent.”
ABP Southampton will have an active presence both on the water and
ashore with race organisers throughout the event. This includes positioning
a pilot on the starting platform each day to help coordinate race and
commercial traffic. The port will continue to work around the clock
to ensure traffic moves smoothly through the Solent.
ABP Southampton is the Statutory Harbour Authority for most of the
water between Cowes and Southampton and is one of the busiest ports
in the UK. In one year the port sees 10,000 ships and ABP’s Vessel
Traffic Service manages around 150,000 traffic moves in the Solent.
5. Svalbard–a Kind of Arctic Utopia?
Courtesy of the Browser we came across and enjoyed this fine piece
by Atossa Araxia Abrahamian appearing in the Nation and describing this
highly anomalous place which exists under a legal regime fashioned under
the Versailles system which nowadays hosts 57 nationalities and which
seems to have something to say about the environment, the nation State,
the attractions of near-statelessness and the challenges of living an
ordinary civil life so close to the North Pole. Highly recommended.
One school of thought holds that the end of the line sort of life choice
is to move somewhere in provincial Alaska. Now we are not so sure.
https://thenation.com/article/svalbard-arctic-open-borders/
6. People and Places
Winston & Strawn LLP has appointed transportation finance lawyer
and shipping sector specialist Alison Weal as a partner in the firm’s
London office. Alison will support the firm’s maritime practice led
by Washington, D.C.-based partner Charlie Papavizas.
———-
The Baltic Exchange has announced two new appointments to the Baltic
Index Council (BIC), the governing body which provides effective scrutiny
of the Baltic on all aspects of its benchmark determination process
in accordance with the IOSCO Principles of Financial Benchmarks.
Baltic Exchange members Ted Atkinson (Arrow Chartering UK Ltd) and
Viral Shah (RWE Supply & Trading GmbH) have been elected and joined
the Council on 1 August 2019. The move follows a call for nominations
for Market Representatives to serve on the BIC.
Ted and Viral will join re-appointed Council members, Stefan Albertijn
(OFICON), Nico Borkmann (Braemar ACM Shipbroking) and John Banaskiewicz
(Freight Investor Services)
———-
Rosita Lau, senior partner of the Ince Hong Kong office was presented
with the “Integration of Women in the Maritime Sector” Award
at the Seatrade Maritime Asia Awards Ceremony in Hong Kong.
[ This latest recognition goes to the most formidable and hard working
maritime lawyer we know in the whole of the region.–ed]
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.
Work is underway to lodge the Archive within a new site for this publication.
Top 10 Signs Your Co-Worker is a Computer Hacker
10) You ticked him off once and your next phone bill was for ÂŁ20,000.
9) He’s won the Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes 3 years running.
8) When asked for his phone number, he gives it in hex.
7) Seems strangely calm whenever the office LAN goes down.
6) Somehow gets Sky on his PC at work.
5) Mumbled, “Oh, puh-leeez” 95 times during the movie “The
Net”.
4) Massive 401k contribution made in half-pence increments.
3) His video dating profile lists “public-key” among turn-ons.
2) When his computer starts up, you hear, “Good Morning, Mr. Prime
Minister”.
1) You hear him murmur, “Let’s see you use that Visa card now,
Professor ‘I-Don’t-Give-A’s-In-Computer-Science!'”
Trip Report
Two nuns, Sister Mary and Sister Ruth, are traveling through Europe
in their car.
They get to Transylvania and are stopped at a traffic light.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a diminutive Dracula jumps onto the hood
of the car and hisses through the windshield.
“Quick, quick!” shouts Sister Mary. “What shall we do?”
“Turn the windshield wipers on. That will get rid of the abomination,”
says Sister Ruth.
Sister Mary switches them on, knocking Dracula about, but he clings
on and continues hissing at the nuns. “What shall I do now?”
she shouts.
“Switch on the windshield washer. I filled it up with Holy Water
in the Vatican,” says Sister Ruth.
Sister Mary turns on the windshield washer. Dracula screams as the
water burns his skin, but he clings on and continues hissing at the
nuns.
“Now what?” shouts Sister Mary.
“Show him your cross,” says Sister Ruth.
“Now you’re talking,” says Sister Mary as she opens the window
and shouts, “Get the @@@@ off our car!!”
Thanks for Reading the Maritime Advocate online
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