IN THIS ISSUE
1. HFW Event During London Shipping Week
2. Longshoremen Unsuccessful Against Shipowners
3. Pilot Parlance
4. The Temptations Of The Brown Box
5. And Then There Were Three
6. People and Places
FOB Network News
During the rest of 2017 the Publishers are looking to raise some external finance in order to take our efforts to the next level by supporting more marketing and programming people.
Some FOB Groups already have sponsors – for example JLT (P&I), Bloomfield Law (West Africa Maritime), Chalos (Criminalisation). the Publishers are also looking for sponsors for existing Groups for example Hull & Machinery, Salvage, Piracy, Maritime Singapore/Cyprus/Norway, Superyachts, Surveyors and Major Casualty Investigation.
In addition there is plenty of scope for possible new Groups such as War Risks, Multi-Modal Insurance, Energy Insurance and many geographical areas eg Maritime New Zealand/Germany to name but a few.
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1. HFW Event During London Shipping Week
Sarah Clayton writes:-
During London International Shipping Week, international law firm, HFW, will be delivering a presentation focussing on the future of London’s maritime cluster, based on HFW’s Who Rules the Waves publication, launching in September 2017. This is the first of HFW’s Shipping Insight reports, a series of four publications focussing on a range of issues critical to the future of the shipping industry.
In the past year we have all learned to expect the unexpected and this seminar focuses on whether recent events and the emergence of other maritime hubs threatens London’s lead in maritime banking, broking, insurance and law. The speakers will discuss landmark cases which have shaped the evolution of shipping law in the last year.
Our speaker panel will be led by Global Head of Shipping, Offshore and Logistics, Craig Neame and Shipping Professional Support Lawyer, Rebecca Warder, as well as Singapore based Partner, Toby Stephens.
For more information on the event or to register your interest in attending the seminar, please email:-
2. Longshoremen Unsuccessful Against Shipowners
Kirk Lyons and Martin West of the firm of Lyons & Flood have passed us this trial update
Lyons & Flood recently obtained a defense verdict for a vessel owner in a jury trial in a Longshoreman & Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act § 905(b) lawsuit in federal court in Maryland. L&F represented three defendantsâthe vesselâs owner, commercial manager, and technical managerâthroughout the litigation. Prior to trial, L&F obtained summary judgment dismissals for two defendants, the commercial and technical managers. At trial, a jury found the remaining defendant (vessel owner) not liable for plaintiffâs severe and permanent personal injuries.
The plaintiff, a longshoreman, was injured during cargo discharge operations aboard a roll-on roll-off vessel. He was working in the lower hold of the vessel, using a forklift to load cargo onto a cargo elevator. Plaintiff’s co-worker was operating a forklift on the vessel’s âtween deck, and was moving cargo that had already been raised from the lower hold and staged on the âtween deck by the longshoremen. The co-worker lost control of his forklift on the âtween deck and as his forklift approached the opening in the âtween deck, caused by the lowered cargo elevator, he jumped from his forklift, for fear of falling into the opening. The abandoned forklift continued to move towards the opening and fell into the lower hold, striking plaintiff who was severally and permanently injured in the process.
Plaintiff alleged that the vessel owner was negligent under § 905(b) based on the alleged violation of two of the three Scindia duties. First, he alleged that the vessel owner had âactive controlâ over the cargo operation due to the ship stationing a crew member on the âtween deck to operateâraise and lowerâthe cargo elevator. Secondly, he alleged that a number of dangerous conditions which arose from the cargo operations on the âtween deck required the cargo elevator operator to intervene and stop the stevedoreâs cargo operations. Specifically, the plaintiff claimed that the forklift operators on the ‘tween deck were driving too quickly, were operating too close to the opening in the ‘tween deck created when the cargo elevator was in the down position, and that there was hydraulic fluid leaking from some of the forklifts, causing the deck to be slippery.
The vessel owner disputed these contentions, arguing that the cargo elevator operatorâs role was limited to raising and lowering the cargo elevator and that he did not direct how the longshoremen operated their forklifts on the âtween deck. The vessel owner further argued that none of the alleged dangerous conditions were so obviously improvident as to require the cargo elevator operator to intervene in the stevedore’s cargo operation.
Trial lasted over two weeks. In his closing, the plaintiff sought damages of $7.5 million. The jury deliberated for approximately 5 hours before returning a verdict for the vessel owner.
The trial judge has since denied the plaintiff’s motion for a new trial.
3. Pilot Parlance
Mark Vanhoenacker, a Senior Office with British Airways, is the author of these thoughts on the language of aviation. A real pleasure to read and right up our street. The piece appears in the ideas zine Aeon:-
http://tinyurl.com/pilotparlance
4. The Temptations Of The Brown Box
Courtesy of the Browser we enjoyed this piece by Jobie Turner which appears in Strategy Bridge. A sceptical tone of voice by the author who reminds us that logistics is a different walk of life when the other side is trying to blow you to pieces:-
Logistics are âthe apex of US military asymmetry and advantageâ. Nobody matches the US Army in shipping the millions of items needed to maintain distant bases and resupply frontline troops. Logistics is âa deep-seated cultural norm for Americans and the US military in particularâ. But the US model consumes huge resources. Is this still the best way of doing things? Is there an Amazon model for the military which leverages flexible spot deliveries over hard-wired supply lines?
https://thestrategybridge.org/the-bridge/2017/8/30/the-temptations-of-the-brown-box
5. And Then There Were Three
Andrew Craig-Bennett has been imagining the future of container shipping. Way back in the 1980s we used to try and imagine how many would be left standing. In the TT Club the joke was that there was no need for new filing stationary since the shipowner files kept being folded into one another. Then as now hardly a quarter went by in the box trades without Everblue or someone big taking over another lesser line.Read hi column in Splash 24/7 here:-
http://splash247.com/three-musical-chairs-containerships/
People and Places
The Society of Maritime Arbitrators, Inc. (SMA)
The Society of Maritime Arbitrators, Inc. (SMA) is pleased to announce the election, at its annual membership meeting, of Robert Shaw, as its President, and Nigel Hawkins as its Vice President. Mr. Shaw succeeds James Warfield, of Morgan Stanley. Mr. Warfield served as President of the SMA since 2013. As provided by the SMA’s bylaws, Mr. Warfield, as the organization’s immediate past President, will continue for one year as an ex officio member of the SMA Board of Governors. Mr. Shaw expressed the thanks of the SMA to Mr. Warfield for his exemplary service as President of the organization.
Mr. Shaw is a managing director of Sea Trade Holdings Inc., a privately-held dry bulk shipping group, and is an independent director of Höegh LNG Partners LP, a New York Stock Exchange listed limited partnership that owns and operates floating storage and regasification units. From 2001, he was an officer and director of Navios Maritime Holdings Inc., from which he retired as president in 2006. From 1980 to 2000, he practiced maritime and commercial law at Healy & Baillie. He is a past Chairman of the Carnegie Council and the Hellenic American Chamber of Commerce and has served as US Shipowner Representative on the BIMCO Documentary Council.
Mr. Hawkins recently retired as Vice President, N.W. Johnsen & Co., Inc., 2000-2016. From 1990-2000, he was the President of “K” Line International (USA) Inc., a firm engaged in chartering of dry cargo and tanker ships. From 1977-1990, he was Vice President, at Trigon Chartering, Inc. From 1965-1977, he was with Howard Houlder & Partners Ltd., of London, and from 1970 was stationed in New York and Tokyo. Mr. Hawkins was the chairperson of the ASBA committee that overviewed the most recent revisions to the New York Produce Exchange form of time charter.
Following the annual meeting, the elected members of the SMA’s Board of Governors are:
Lucienne Bulow
Michael Fackler
Thomas Fox
Molly McCafferty
Bob Meehan
Klaus Mordhorst
Bengt Nergaard
Soren Wolmar
As provided in the SMA’s bylaws, Mr. Shaw appointed two SMA members, Michael Northmore and Evangelos Venturas, to the SMA’s Board of Governors, and appointed Bob Meehan, as Treasurer, and Soren Wolmar, as Secretary, of the organization.
The short professional biographies of all the SMA’s members, including its officers and the members of its Board of Governors, are available for review at the SMA’s website:
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 had a look round for references to box line consolidation but found rather more references to leviathan, gigantism and so forth, This one appears in Issue 570 of June 15th, 2013 with a suitable historical flavour:-
Here They Come
The week elapsed saw the naming of the first of the Maersk Triple E Ships. Here is a clip from the naming ceremony
Your editor recalls from his time in Hong Kong in the 1990s, the approach of the comparative tiddler Regina Maersk as she first made her way East. She was soon called “the Hoover” by freight forwarders for her ability to attract every stick of cargo available in the ports where she called. The Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller is getting on for three times the size, marking a new scale of magnitude for the good ship Leviathan.
This ship is calculated to attract attention for years to come. Maersk seems to accept that show boating is part of the package. You can follow the ship and sign up for a newsletter at this site:-
http://www.worldslargestship.com/.
Meanwhile we expect a great deal of information and contention as the casualty and salvage implications of these new ships occur to our Readers.
Hamburg Football Match Between Bankers and Shipowner
Dear friends of good football and food,
English Premier League club Huddersfield and Altona 93 prepared the field on Sunday for the upcoming major football match between bankers and owners:
06.09.2017
at
18:00 hours
at
Adolf-JĂ€ger-Kampfbahn in Hamburg-Altona again.
Enjoy a beer and some good food with friends from the shipping community. As usual the best fans will win tickets for the St. Pauli football club. And our spectator tombola prize is a Bayern Munich shirt with the original signatures of the players .
Looking forward to seeing you and your colleagues!
All the best
Organization Team
https://www.bankers-vs-shipowners.com/
Boy and Girl Nouns
From the Washington Post Style Invitational in which it was postulated that English has male and female nouns, readers being asked to assign a gender to nouns of their choice toand explain their reason.
The best submissions:
Detective Novel — f., because you’re not supposed to peek at its end the minute you pick it up.
Swiss Army Knife — m., because even though it appears useful for a wide variety of work, it spends most of its time just opening bottles.
Kidneys — f., because they always go to the bathroom in pairs.
Penlight — m., because it can be turned on very easily, but isn’t very bright.
Hammer — m., because it hasn’t evolved much over the last 5,000 years but it’s handy to have around and is good for killing spiders.
Tire — m., because it goes bald and often is over-inflated.
Hot air balloon — m., because to get it to go anywhere you have to light a fire under it. And, of course, there’s the hot air part.
Web page — f., because it is always getting hit on.
Web page — m., because you have to wait for it to reload.
Shoe — m., because it is usually unpolished, with its tongue hanging out.
Copier — f., because once turned off, it takes a while to warm up. Because it is an effective reproductive device when the right buttons are pushed.Because it can wreak havoc when the wrong buttons are pushed.
Magic 8 Ball — m., because it gives monosyllabic answers that usually indicate it did not pay attention to your question.
Ziploc bags — m., because they hold everything in, but you can always see right through them.
Sponges — f., because they are soft and squeezable and retain water.
Critic — f. What, this needs to be explained?
Subway — m., because it uses the same old lines to pick up people.
Hourglass — f., because over time, the weight shifts to the bottom.