IN THIS ISSUE
1. The Aqasia – Meaning of a Unit
2. New SIAC Arbitration Rules
3. Hanjin Timetable Tweak
4. US Navy Fraud and Corruption Case
5. The Croydon Tram Disaster
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
or product to promote or circulate, the Avo can promise to get the word
out at affordable rates. Give us a try.
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1. The Aqasia – Meaning of a Unit
Gavin Ritchie of the Charterers Club has sent in this note:-
In a judgment handed down on 14 October 2016 the English Courts resolved
a 92 year long debate by deciding that the package limitation in Article
IV Rule 5 of the Hague Rules does not apply to bulk cargoes. It is now
settled English law that a carrier of bulk cargoes (who can also be
the disponent owner of the vessel, as in this case) cannot limit his
liability under the Hague Rules.
The decision settled a long-standing debate as to whether the word “unit”
in the English version of the Hague Rules is capable of referring to
a unit of measurement such as a freight unit or whether a “unit”
can only be a physical item or collection of items bundled together
for shipment.
Read the note here:-
http://exclusivelyforcharterers.com/the-aqasia-hague-rules-package-limitation/
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2. New SIAC Arbitration Rules
The firm of Norton Rose Fullbright seems to be ahead of the informational
curve with its on line lecture series discussing various aspects of
international arbitration. The most recent presentation sees a short
discussion between James Rogers from the London office and Lim Seok
Hui, CEO of the SIAC and SIMC, on the new SIAC Arbitration rules which
came into force on 1st August 2016.
Go to:-
http://www.nortonrosefulbright.com/knowledge/videos/144352/new-siac-arbitration-rules
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3. Hanjin Timetable Tweak
Kumar Sakhardande of Clyde & Co has sent us his firm’s update:-
Hanjin Shipping rehabilitation – changes to the rehabilitation
timetable
It has been just over two months since one of South Korea’s largest
shipowners and operators, Hanjin Shipping Co Ltd (“Hanjin”),
applied for court rehabilitation. On 1 September 2016, the Bankruptcy
Division 6 of the Seoul Central District Court (the “court”)
issued a decision accepting that application and commencing rehabilitation
proceedings.
————–
The deadline for all creditors of Hanjin to register their claims
with the court appointed receiver has now passed. Yesterday,15 November
2016, the court announced changes to the timetable of Hanjin’s
rehabilitation. Creditors should take note of the following key dates:
1. The claim investigation/adjudication period has been extended from
15 November 2016 to 5 December 2016;
2. Correspondingly, the one month deadline for creditors whose claims
have been rejected in the investigation period to appeal that decision
will now be 5 January 2016;
3. The first meeting of interested parties has been moved from 9 December
2016 to 1400 hours on 13 January 2017; and
4. The deadline for submission of the draft rehabilitation plan has
been extended from 23 December 2016 to 3 February 2017.
As we have mentioned in our previous updates, reports suggest that Hanjin’s
rehabilitation plan is unlikely to result in a full recovery for creditors.
Furthermore, there is considerable speculation in the press as to whether
the rehabilitation plan will succeed or whether Hanjin will become insolvent.
However, with the new time frame for the rehabilitation proceedings
issued by the court, it does not look like Hanjin’s future will
be known until February 2017 at the earliest.
please check our website for further updates:-
http://tinyurl.com/hanjinupdate
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Henry.Hill@worldwidecurrencies.com…………………….+44 (0)20
3326 4514
4. US Navy Fraud and Corruption Case
Dennis Bryant’s newsletter has drawn our attention to the latest instalment
in the Glenn Defense Marine Asia (GDMA) case. It comes in the form of
a Department of Justice release announcing the conviction of retired
Navy Captain Michael Brooks, 57, of Fairfax Station, Virginia, who pleaded
guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit bribery.
Read the release here:-
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/navy-officer-pleads-guilty-massive-fraud-and-corruption-scandal
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5. The Croydon Tram Disaster
Many of our Readers are seasoned students of accident investigations.
A good example from a well esteemed investigative distant cousin is
provided by this report which comes to us courtesy of the excellent
London Reconnections zine which supplies first class news and views
on all things from the world of steel wheels:-
The Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB) have released an initial
report into the causes of the recent fatal tram accident in Croydon
on 9 November 2016. The accident, which cost the lives of seven people
and seriously injured another 51, is one of the most serious rail accidents
in London since the Moorgate accident in 1975.
Read the full story here:-
http://www.londonreconnections.com/2016/initial-raib-report-on-tram-accident-released/
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6. People and Places
Vladimir Zubkov will be TIACA’s new Secretary General, replacing
Doug Brittin, who retires at the end of the year.
Zubkov has more than 40 years’ experience in the air transport
industry, including senior roles with the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO), and, most recently, as Vice President of the Volga-Dnepr
Group of Companies.
He has been a member of the TIACA Board since 2011 and is the Chairman
of the Industry Affairs Committee, as well as a member of the Global
Air Cargo Advisory Group (GACAG) and the International Air Transport
Association (IATA) Industry Affairs Committee.
———-
Lloyd’s has appointed Angela Kelly as Lloyd’s country manager,
Singapore, and CEO of Lloyd’s of London (Asia) Pte. Ltd.
Kelly joins Lloyd’s from Swiss Re where she was chief executive
officer of Swiss Re International SE Singapore Branch and head of Casualty
for Swiss Re Corporate Solutions, Asia Pacific
———-
Captain Peter Hall, Chief Executive of the International Bunker Industry
Association (IBIA) has decided to retire. He will remain in post until
his successor is appointed and settled in.
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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.
The issue of package limitation appears in the archive in extenso.
This article, which appeared in Issue 47 of 18th March 2002 is quite
representative:-
Packaged confusion
HOW can package limitation be so complex?
Last year, New York law firm De Orchis Walker & Corsa told us that
shippers had found an easy way round the COGSA 500 dollar package limitation.
The loophole opened when some US courts decided that the limitation
for containerised cargo should be applied to the number of items listed
by the shipper that qualified as any sort of package, regardless of
their small size and regardless of the fact that such items may have
been palletised or shipped in master cartons or crates.
More recently, however, the Atlanta-based US eleventh circuit has upheld
a carrier’s right to change the shipper’s description of cargo. In "Group
Chegaray v P&O Containers", the court overruled a decision
of the Florida district court that the 500 dollar COGSA limit applied
to each of 2,268 cartons of perfume and cosmetics packed in 42 pallets
– a claim totalling 505,000 dollars. The carrier, acting without the
permission of the shipper, had changed the bill of lading to read 42
"packages" containing the 2,268 cartons, rather than "pallets".
The eleventh circuit reduced the damages to 22,000 dollars.
Veteran New York maritime attorney M E De Orchis tells us, "After
54 years of having fun in maritime law, I still tell my associates,
‘Ask not what the law is, but what it should be’. Eventually, maritime
law will catch up – even with containers. The eleventh circuit case
is an example."
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They Don’t Make Them Like Groucho Marks Any More
Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Room service? Send up a larger room.
Those are my principles. If you don’t like them I have others.
He may look like an idiot and talk like an idiot but don’t let that
fool you. He really is an idiot.
I never forget a face, but in your case I’ll be glad to make an exception.
A child of five could understand this. Fetch me a child of five.
From the moment I picked your book up until I laid it down I was convulsed
with laughter. Someday I intend reading it.
You know I could rent you out as a decoy for duck hunters?
You’ve got the brain of a four-year-old boy, and I’ll bet he was glad
to get rid of it.
A man’s only as old as the woman he feels.
Why should I care about posterity? What’s posterity ever done for me?
Why, I’d horsewhip you if I had a horse.
Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.
Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms.
One morning I shot an elephant in my pajamas. How he got into my pajamas
I’ll never know.
There is no sweeter sound than the crumbling of your fellow man.
I must say that I find television very educational. The minute somebody
turns it on, I go to the library and read a book.
I have had a perfectly wonderful evening, but this wasn’t it.
If I held you any closer I would be on the other side of you.
I must confess, I was born at a very early age.
I don’t care to belong to a club that accepts people like me as members.
I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury.
Either he’s dead or my watch has stopped.
Remember men, we’re fighting for this woman’s honor; which is probably
more than she ever did.
Women should be obscene and not heard.
Why was I with her? She reminds me of you. In fact, she reminds me
more of you than you do!
Behind every successful man is a woman, behind her is his wife.
As soon as I get through with you, you’ll have a clear case for divorce
and so will my wife.
Well, art is art, isn’t it? Still, on the other hand, water is water!
And east is east and west is west and if you take cranberries and stew
them like applesauce they taste much more like prunes than rhubarb does.
Now, uh… Now you tell me what you know.
Marry me and I’ll never look at another horse!
I married your mother because I wanted children, imagine my disappointment
when you came along.
Whatever it is I’m against it.
A woman is an occasional pleasure but a cigar is always a smoke.
Outside of a dog, a book is man’s best friend. Inside of a dog, it’s
too dark to read.
Quote me as saying I was mis-quoted.
[Paul Dixon]
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Lost Wrecks of the Black Sea
Since all things are inter-connected and we are always interested in
marine archeology, we are obliged to the Browser for mentioning this
piece by Willam Broad which appeared in the New York Times of 11th November
2016:-
In “one of archaeology’s greatest coups”, submarine
drones have found at least 40 wrecked ships dating from the ninth to
the nineteenth centuries in the Bulgarian waters of the Black Sea, all
excellently preserved because the sea has very little oxygen in its
stagnant lower depths. Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey and Ukraine,
which control other parts of the Black Sea, may now be inspired to co-operate.
The sea as a whole “undoubtedly holds tens of thousands of lost
ships”
http://tinyurl.com/blackseawrecks
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Maritime Advocate Online is a weekly digest of news and views on the
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