IN THIS ISSUE
1. South China Sea International Arbitration
2. Diary: The Company Lawyer
3. Truck Platooning Coming to Singapore
4. Digitalisation of Road Freight
5. Times of Change for Shipping
6. People and Places
The Maritime Advocate–A Growing Concern
This publication, nicknamed “the Avo” passed a milestone last 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 why don’t you..
1. South China Sea International Arbitration
Derek Luxford writes:-
I am attaching my article from the December issue of London based Maritime Risk International on the recent international arbitral ruling in the very hot dispute between China and The Philippines over China’s encroachments in the Spratly Islands area of the South China Sea. The Philippines was successful on nearly all issues in dispute, which by and large arose under the United Nations Law of the Sea Convention 1982 (‘UNCLOS”) to which Australia is a party. Among other things UNCLOS deals with the rights of navigation in international and territorial waters, the “freedom of the seas” and other aspects of international public law. The award of the ITLOS tribunal (based in Hamburg) was very long as there were numerous issues in contention. My article is only a summary and does not deal with all aspects of the award. There are some interesting if not quirky aspects to the award, such as when does a rock become an island, but the dispute captured the attention of many jurisdictions not just those with an obvious geo-political interest in the disputed area adjacent to major sea lanes. China’s subsequent dismissal of the award as “null and void” also demonstrates the practical (and political) limitations of trying to enforce such awards against sovereign nations, especially powerful ones.
http://www.hicksons.com.au/images/Between_a_rock_and_a_hard_place.pdf
2. Diary: The Company Lawyer
Courtesy of the Browser we read this excellent essay by Alexander Briant which appears in the London Review Of Books. We have never seen a better description of a sordid place where the interests of oil, crime and emerging nation local administration combine to make a murky brew.
Here is the prospectus:-
An oil industry lawyer travels to Port Harcourt to investigate allegations of corruption. “Next day the Goods Received Ledger that I have been asking for is delivered. Ideally, the warehouseman would faithfully record the movement of all goods in and out. I have got to it too late. It has been altered. It’s obvious that many of the pages have been removed and new ones, laboriously written out, put in their place. Whose handwriting is this? Who is responsible? None can say. Nobody knows
3. Truck Platooning Coming to Singapore
The Ministry of Transport (MOT) and PSA Corporation have signed agreements with two automotivecompanies, Scania and Toyota Tsusho, to design, develop and test-bed an autonomous truck platooning system for use on Singapore’s public roads. With this, Singapore moves another step closer towards autonomous freight transport. Truck platooning involves a human-driven lead truck leading a convoy of driverless trucks. In the Singapore trials, the trucks will transport containers from one port terminal to another.
“[…] truck platooning technology presents us with an opportunity to boost productivity in both the port sector and the trucking industry. It will also open up opportunities for truck drivers to take on higher-skilled roles as fleet operators and managers.” said Mr Pang Kin Keong, Permanent Secretary for Transport and Chairman of the Committee on Autonomous Road Transport in Singapore (CARTS).
The new technology also aims to overcome the truck driver shortage in Singapore and allows more freight movement to be conducted at night to ease traffic congestion.
[Source: Clecat News]
Henry.Hill@worldwidecurrencies.com…………………….+44 (0)20 3326 4514
4. Digitalisation of Road Freight
The online Lloyds Loading List, which has roots in the oily ragdom of land transport, often seems to feature very good writing on the industry of the future and other important subjects. Our eye was caught by this piece by former DHL Global Forwarding CEO Roger Crook who predicts the European market will evolve rapidly, driving out costs, inefficiency, and antiquated practices.
The transformation of the industry seems to us to be the subject of our times. The costs of local or regional on-carriage are often more than the cost of consigning goods to the other side of the ocean by sea carriage. We have seen estimates which say that the price of goods comprises 15 per cent relating to transport and handling.
Read the article here:-
http://tinyurl.com/digifreight
5. Times of Change for Shipping
We are grateful to Captain Robert Gordon, Managing Director & Principal Lecturer of SeaProf, for these thoughts on the nature of shipping and the future. A timely essay for early January of a year bristling with uncertainties.
http://seaprof.com/2017/01/08/the-shipping-times-they-are-a-changing/
6. People and Places
Robert Wilkins of the Canadian Maritime Law Association writes:-.
Alfred H.E. Popp, Q.C., an Honorary Member of the CMLA, has been appointed by the Governor General of Canada as a member of the Order of Canada.
The accompanying citation, although very brief, speaks volumes to those of us who have the pleasure of knowing Alfred and working with him over many years. It reads, quite simply:
‘For his contributions to maritime law as a lawyer, policy expert and administrator.’
https://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=11748&t=12&ln=Popp
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Jeremy Bolger has retired as a partner of Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, the successor firm of McMaster Meighen, but remains with the firm as Counsel.
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Ken Rohlmann, Senior Director – Dangerous Goods, Hapag-Lloyd, has been elected to the position of Deputy Chairman of CINS, the Cargo Incident Notification System (www.cinsnet.com) – the international association whose aim is to increase safety in the supply chain, reduce the number of cargo incidents on-board ships and highlight the risks caused by certain cargoes and/or packing failures. Mr. Rohlmann has been on the Board of CINS since 2013 and his term of office as CINS Deputy Chairman will run until the end of 2019.
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Maritime London’s Chief Executive Doug Barrow will be stepping down in March 2017 after 11 years in the role. He has been appointed as Director of the UK Ship Register by the Maritime & Coastguard Agency.
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.
We searched for references to futurists but came up with meagre fayre. This item appeared in Issue 553- dated January 28th, 2013
In-built Vehicle Breathalyser
Here is one for the futurists among us: why stop we ask at the ignition key of the van driver. Could easily be adapted for marine use we imagine:-
London, UK, 24th January 2013 – Concateno, a leading drug and alcohol testing provider, today announces a partnership with Alcolock? GB to increase the professional and public use of the Alcolock GB Breathalyser Immobiliser System. By putting the brakes on drink driving, Alcolock will help to reduce the number of alcohol-related road accidents, which in 2011 increased for the first time in over a decade.
Easily fitted to ignition systems, the Alcolock breathalyser stops intoxicated individuals from even starting their cars, vans or trucks by requiring drivers to pass a self-administered breathalyser test at the wheel.
Only after the user has proven that they are below the legal alcohol limit will the engine start. Should a driver test above the limit for alcohol, the vehicle is immobilised and the individual prevented from driving.
Alcolock GB, manufactured by Lion, was originally released in 2006 and is used by several transport industry companies to ensure the compliance of staff with drink driving laws.
Alcolock comes equipped with wireless fleet management capability to enable managers to keep track of vehicles. Each device can be linked to web-based management software to provide live results and data direct to transport professionals via the internet or SMS for the effective monitoring of fleet progress and performance.
Dr Claire George, Concateno laboratory director, comments: In 2011, deaths caused by drink driving were up 12 per cent – an increase of 30 fatalities. [1] The Alcolock device can help to significantly reduce the number of alcohol related road accidents in the UK.
The government has recognised the worrying trend of rising alcohol-related motor accidents by calling for a review of drink driving laws. Concateno encourages transport decision makers to consider devices such as Alcolock to prevent road death statistics rising further.
The price of the Alcolock device ranges from £675.00 for the basic unit ready for public installation to £1544.74 for a completely managed service with daily information for efficient business fleet management.
[So far as we can tell, the product did not resound with success–ed]
Snow and Steel Wheels
Nominated for an Academy Award in 1965, the late British director Geoffrey Jones’s Snow uses a kinetic visual style and percussive, locomotive-inspired music to reimagine how British Railways workers coped with the ‘Big Freeze’ of 1962-63, one of the UK’s coldest winters on record. Expertly edited to highlight the contrast between the comforts of train passengers and the tireless labour of the workmen, Jones’s film illustrates the tremendous efforts necessary to keep civilisation moving in the face of nature’s enormous indifference.
[They don’t make em like this anymore-ed]
http://tinyurl.com/snowsteelwheels
{Source: Aeon zine]
Hose Specifications for Ships & Submarines
1. All hose is to be made of a long hole, surrounded by rubber centered around the hole. Holes are permitted on the outside as long as they fit circumferentially over the cover.
2. All hose is to be round and hollow throughout the entire length.
3. All hose is to be of the very best quality stuff, preferably tubular or hosular stuff.
4. All acid-proof hose is to be made of acid-proof rubber so the un-acid-proof holes won’t fall through the very best stuff.
5. The ID of the hose must NOT exceed the OD, otherwise the hole will be on the outside of the hose.
6. All hose is to be supplied with nothing in the hole so that water, steam, or other stuff can be put inside at a later date.
7. All hose is to be supplied without abrasions, cuts, gashes, or gouges as these can be more readily added in the flex hose shop or on the ship.
8. All hose tubes are to be cleaned free of covering such as mud, tar, barnacles or any form of manure before the outer cover is added, as these objects will make the cover lumpy. The result is lumpular hose.
9. All hose over 500 feet in length but less than two miles must have the words “LONG HOSE” clearly painted on each end so that the pipefitter will know that it is a long hose. Hose over 2 miles in length must also have these words painted in the middle so that the pipefitter will not have to walk the entire length of the hose to determine if it is a long hose or not.
10. All hose over 6 inches in diameter is to have the words “LARGE HOSE” painted on it, so that the pipefitter will not use it for a small hose.
[Source: Paul Dixon]