IN THIS ISSUE
1. Court of Appeal Decides Obligation to Pay Charterparty Hire is not
a Condition
2. Hanjin Global Overview
3. IIMS 25th Anniversary Conference
4. Kenneth A. De Ghetto
5. Close Enough
6. People and Places
The Maritime Advocate–A Growing Concern
This publication, nicknamed "the Avo" passed
a milestone this summer. It has passed the 20 000 subscriber mark, the
highest total since its foundation in 2001. As a result of hand-ons
and internal republications within firms, it is fair to assume a total
readership of around 60 000 located in 120 countries. This gives the
Avo a very wide footprint in the maritime world. If you have a message,
service or product to promote or circulate, the Avo can promise to get
the word out at affordable rates. Give us a try. Meanwhile we send out
our thanks to all our advertisers and supporters who have helped to
keep us a more or less going concern these many years.
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1. Court of Appeal Decides Obligation to Pay Charterparty Hire is
not a Condition
David Richards of Ince & Co has sent in this note on one of the
notable legal uncertainties of recent times:-
On 7 October 2016, the Court of Appeal handed down the eagerly awaited
appeal decision from the Commercial Court decision in Spar Shipping
A.S. v. Grand China Logistics Holding (Group) Co. Ltd. The Court of
Appeal dismissed the
appeal made by Grand China Logistics Holding (Group) Co. Ltd (“GCL”),
providing definitive guidance on the question
of whether the obligation to pay time charter hire is a condition. Answering
the shipping market’s unease that arose out of conflicting first
instance court decisions on the issue, the Court determined that a charterer’s
failure to pay its hire instalments punctually and in advance under
a time charterparty did not constitute a breach of condition. It also
provided helpful guidance on the legal principles surrounding renunciation
in the context of late and non-payment of hire under time charterparties.
Read the note in full here:-
http://tinyurl.com/sparspgcase
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2. Hanjin Global Overview
The firm of Clyde & Co have sent us a rather good exercise for
those pondering what they might do if they are affected by the Hanjin
collapse:-
The collapse of Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd, marked by its application for
rehabilitation relief in South Korea at the end of August 2016, has
given rise to a number of legal and commercial difficulties at an international
level. Click on the link below to read our review of the steps Hanjin
Shipping Co Ltd have taken in a number of jurisdictions around the globe
and the practical consequences of those steps.
In this update we provide brief summaries of the impact of the collapse
of Hanjin and recent developments in the litigation from our offices
around the world where Clyde & Co continues to act on behalf of
a wide range of parties involved in this important dispute:-
http://www.clydeco.com/insight/article/hanjin-global-overview
———-
Our North German Correspondent has sent in his views on the collapse:-
Your Readers might be interested to know that the Hanjin story is not
really a purely Korean one. It also concerns the 60 or so German entities
within the fleet, which now fall like dominos into the KG crisis. Nobody
in the press has thought or reported on this aspect. They are a little
challenged to know how to describe the problem. Getting to grips with
the problem may involve running before the legal wind as if in war conditions.
Those with skin in the game will have to bear their losses. But the
ways, means and rules of all this are not so straight forward. Take
for example the two tankers which for the past two months have been
detained by rebels in Aden. It all goes to show that so far as impossible
positions are concerned we have plenty of versions in shipping, with
hybrid vehicles which are a match for the way Putin conducts wars in
places like the Ukraine and Syria. A global rule of law no longer obtains.
The situation here is worth keeping an eye on. There is a 12 000 teu
Hanjin ship lurking around Hamburg which was unable to access its berth
at the Eurogate terminal, it being occupied by another ship. That ship
has been sent steaming off to Helgoland but another Hanjin ship is already
there being prepared for handling in Hamburg. Quite a mess!
———–
Meanwhile Singapore P&I Correspondent M Jagannath has written a
lengthy piece on the law and insurance implications of "the Hanjin
Debacle":-
http://nau.com.sg/articles_detail.php?id=118
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3. IIMS 25th Anniversary Conference
The IIMS these days seems to have mastered the science of running a
trade body for marine surveyors. It was hitherto thought to be not unlike
the demands of herding cats. We were asked along to there proceedings
in September in Regents Park to run a seminar on Social Networking for
Marine Surveyors and very lively it was too. A flavour of the papers
given at the Conference can be experienced on the IIMS YouTube channel
here:-
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChSLcBfSYEsRR_k-g1dEmCg
The IIMS website is also well worth a visit. You can see how the organisation
is making use of publishing old and new style and setting out the message
that it is the place to go if you are in the marine surveying business.
Much of your editor’s education in the realities of shipping has been
at the hands of marine surveyors in places and times too numerous to
list.
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Henry.Hill@worldwidecurrencies.com…………………….+44 (0)20
3326 4514
4. Kenneth A. De Ghetto
Reginald Hayden has passed us this obituary of a much admired man:-
Livingston, NJ – Kenneth A. De Ghetto, Ph.D, P.E., passed away peacefully
in his home in Livingston, NJ, on September 27, 2016, a retired Chairman
of the Board of Foster WheelerCorporation from 1982-1987 and a Navy
World War II Veteran.
Born April 1, 1924 in Clifton, NJ, following his graduation from Clifton
High School in 1941, he entered a four-year program at the U.S. Merchant
Marine Academy at Kings Point, LI.Eighteen months later, at the onset
of World War II, he became a cadet Midshipmen in the Atlantic transporting
war supplies in 1942 to Glasgow, Scotland, and Casablanca. On New Years
Eve 1942 he experienced his first German bomber raid. Returning to the
academy, he received 3rd Assistant Marine engineers license.
At the age of 19 ½ he was activated as an Ensign in the U.S.
Navy and assigned to the USS Cimarron AO22 in the Pacific Theater, where
he participated in seven major battles, before being reassigned as Engineering
Officer aboard the USS Taconic. Having received the rank of Lieutenant,
in 1946 he resigned from the Navy and entered Rensselaer Polytechnic
Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY, graduating with a BMEC in June of 1950.
He holds Professional Engineering licenses in the states of New York,
New Jersey, Washington and Alaska.
Ken began his career with Foster Wheeler Corporation in 1951 as a Project
Engineer, retiring 51 years later from a consulting agreement. His career
included three years as CoChair of Foster Wheeler Italiana in Milan,
Italy, and eight years as Managing Director and Chairman of Foster Wheeler
Limited in London, England. In 1975 he became Chairman of
Foster Wheeler International, followed by Chairman of the Board.
On November 5, 1944, he married Helen Nee Schack, his wife of 72 years,
who survives him along with his daughter, Donna MacConnel of Rhode Island
and son Glenn De Ghetto of Tennessee, three grandchildren and four great
grandchildren. A pillar in the community, Ken was currently serving
as a Director of the Metro YMCA of the Oranges (since 2003), active
member of the Rotary Club of Livingston Foundation, and Advisory Board
member and fundraiser of the Engineering Department of RPI. As Chair
at Kings Point Challenge he, with the help of Academy Superintendents,
raised over $12 million for the Alumni Association Foundation Endowment.
He is also a member of Sigma XI, honorary scientific society, Tau Beta
Pi honorary engineering society and Pi Tau honorary mechanical engineering
society, and a fellow of the FIMechE and ASME. Long time member of the
Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews Scotland and past president
of the engineering Golfing Society of the UK, he participated in annual
golf events until 2015. He loved golf and was often seen with the dawn
patrol as a member of the Montclair Golf Club.
A private funeral was held. At Ken’s request, please consider
making a contribution to the Metro “Y” of the
Oranges, 139 E. McClellan Ave, Livingston, NJ 07039.
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5. Close Enough
From Aeon, the online ideas e-zine and author James Palmer comes this
wryly observed description of what a bodger’s paradist has grown up
in modern China. Some of it we find unsurprising. China has only recently
emerged from an ideological past where skill and craftsmanship were
despised by the denizens of the marxist leninist commanding heights.
Ugly design, astonishishingly poor workmanship and the systematic persecution
of middle class artisans was, it may be recalled, an authentic characteristic
of communism, may it rest in piece. Read the piece on Chabuduo here:-
http://tinyurl.com/sinobodging
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6. People and Places
London evening classes for shipping professionals:
Maritime Education & Training Ltd (METL) is open for enrolment
for the new academic year 2016-2017 in preparation for the Institute
of Chartered Shipbrokers examinations in May 2017. Evening classes are
held at our venue at King’s College, Guy’s Campus, behind London Bridge
station from 5th September 2016 until 30th March 2017. Details are available
from:-
———-
Our friends at Shelterbox have launched an appeal for funds to help
people affected by Hurrican Mathew:-
———-
Following our item on the OED in the last edition of the Avo, lexicographer
Michael Quinion originator of the World Wide Words zine has mentioned
Green’s Dictionary of Slang, a three-volume creation by Jonathon
Green, which one writer has called the OED of slang (53,000 headwords,
110,000 slang terms, 410,000 examples of usage). The work is going live
online on 12 October with comprehensive search facilities. If you wish
only to check a headword, an etymology and a definition, the site is
free; if you want to access the full work and timeline of development,
you can take out an annual subscription, currently £49.00 ($65.00)
for single users, £10.00 ($15.00) for students. Just like the
OED, online publication means that the work is continually being updated;
nearly 30% of the print book has been revised, augmented and generally
improved..
https://greensdictofslang.com/
———-
InterManager, the third party and in-house ship management association,
has appointed Bjørn Jebsen as its President. effect. Mr Jebsen
is Chief Executive Officer of Jebsens, one of the oldest family-run
shipping companies, with over 220 onshore personnel and over 8,000 seafarers
in its pool serving the global shipping industry.
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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.
Searching the archive for a reference to slang, we ran across this
piece in Back Issue 10 of February 2000 by co-founder Manfred Arnold
who then as now followed the editorial policy of this zine of shewing
a close interest, ranging on the obsessive, in the usage of of the English
language:-
Watching your Ps and Qs
The lessons of creative writing
AS years go by, the excuse about being a foreigner sounds less and
less convincing. When I came to the US more than 35 years ago, I had
difficulty with the language. Not so much with the writing part, because
you could always look up the correct word or phrase in a dictionary
or thesaurus. Speaking the language was the difficult part. American
idioms or slang were not taught in German schools in those days, and
we did not have the ready access to American television and movies that
exists today.
I tried a short-cut by reading Mickey Spillane and James Jones but
ultimately they were no great help because I could not find many of
the unknown words in my school dictionary. Therefore, whenever I got
an expression wrong or pronounced it incorrectly, I blamed it on being
a foreigner. But how long can that last? By now it is a family joke,
and I still get good ntured ribbing about my erstwhile pronunciation
of ‘southern’, when I am overwhelmed by the ‘th’ sound.
I remember an incident in 1976 when a panel chairman, known as an authoritarian,
with the demeanor of a fleet commander (which he in fact was), submitted
an award to me for signature. I made a number of grammatical changes
and returned it, prompting the outcry, "I thought I spoke the Queen’s
English, and here comes this foreigner with his bloody corrections".
There was another case, in 1980, when I was the chairman of a consolidated,
five-man arbitration. The difficult part of that arbitration was not
to reach a decision, but to reconcile the writing styles of four prominent
New York arbitrators.
These two recollections address the essentials of writing – style and
grammar. Style is part of the creative aspect of writing. It is a gift
that some have, and for them it comes naturally. Others struggle, and
sometimes, in order to solve their problems, end up adopting someone
else’s writing style.
In the end, it becomes a personal choice, whether to write like Ernest
Hemingway or Thomas Mann. As far as the writing of the arbitration awards
is concerned, we know that the style of e e cummings is out and, for
all practical purposes, one should not adopt Thomas Mann’s style either.
Charter party language is archaic enough, and we need not compound it
with run-on sentences or Schachtelsaetze (sentences within sentences).
When in doubt, keep it short and in logical sequence.
For bad grammar, including typographical errors, however, there is
little excuse. Grammar is the mechanical part of writing and can be
taught more readily. It is also that part of writing over which one
has the easiest control. When in doubt, look it up or have the computer
spell-check it. Proofreading may not be stimulating, but it is necessary.
At this stage I enjoy writing, and – like everybody else – I may have
at least one book in me. For the time being, however, I will continue
to write arbitration awards and to champion clear and concisely written
decisions. Nobody will ever win a Pulitzer Prize for the best-written
arbitration award but, on the other hand, arbitrators do get paid better
than aspiring authors do. This is also one of the reasons that, in my
opinion, arbitrators/panels should endeavour to produce near-perfect
writings.
I have seen arbitration awards where the authors have capitalised and/or
excessively underlined words for emphasis. One should keep in mind that
awards are not comic strips. The logical order of thought and writing
should lead to the conclusion, which, if properly drafted, should become
obvious to the reader. There should be no need to import advertising
gimmicks or cartoon language into an arbitration award. It is a serious
document that deserves a serious approach and treatment.
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At the Pearly Gates
After a long illness, a woman died and arrived at the Gates of Heaven.
While she was waiting for Saint Peter to greet her, she peeked through
the Gates. She saw a beautiful banquet table. Sitting all around were
her parents and all the other people she had loved and who had died
before her. They saw her and began calling greetings to her "Hello!
How are you! We’ve been waiting for you! Good to see you!"
When Saint Peter came by, the woman said to him, "This is such
a wonderful place! How do I get in?" "You have to spell a
word," Saint Peter told her.
"Which word?" the woman asked.
"Love."
The woman correctly spelled L-O-V-E and Saint Peter welcomed her into
Heaven.
About six months later, Saint Peter came to the woman and asked her
to watch the Gates of Heaven for him that day.
While the woman was guarding the Gates of Heaven, her husband arrived.
"I’m surprised to see you," the woman said. "How have
you been?"
"Oh, I’ve been doing pretty well since you died," her husband
told her. I married the beautiful young nurse who took care of you while
you were ill. And then I won the lottery. I sold the little house where
you and I lived and bought a big mansion. My wife and I traveled all
around the world. We were on vacation and I went water skiing today.
I fell, the ski hit my head, and here I am. How do I get in?"
"You have to spell a word," the woman told him.
"Which word?" her husband asked.
"Czechoslovakia."
[Thanks to Paul Dixon]
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At the Pub
An 18th-century vagabond in England, exhausted and famished, came to
a roadside Inn with a sign reading: "George and the Dragon."
He knocked.
The Innkeeper’s wife stuck her head out a window. "Could ye spare
some victuals?" he asked.
The woman glanced at his shabby, dirty clothes. "No!" she
shouted.
"Could I have a pint of ale?"
"No!" she shouted.
"Could I at least sleep in your stable?"
"No!" she shouted again.
The vagabond said, "Might I please…?"
"What now?" the woman screeched, not allowing him to finish.
"D’ye suppose," he asked, "that I might have a word
with George?"
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