IN THIS ISSUE
1. Chinese Version
2. Shipping Must Contribute to Helping Tackle Wildlife Trafficking
3. Trading with Iran
4. Unmanned Ships
5. 63 Month Sentence for US Navy Contract Fraudster
6. People and Places
FOB Network News
The current count of Members is 3857.
The papers given at the recent London Shipping Law Centre’s
Conference on Demystifying Salvage can be read by joining the Salvage
Group.
FOB Network is a kind of facebook for the maritime classes.
It is designed for use by people who are very often quite shy of opining
in wide open internet platforms. The exchanges are polite, moderated
and untainted by boorish online presences. Only registered members can
see what goes on in the groups and we have yet to request anyone to
moderate their tone.
———–
Registration for FOB is gratis for individuals. Businesses
can take out a page for a small supporting contribution and we welcome
firms prepared to sponsor Group pages or advertise with us. This helps
to keep FOB a going concern and puts a smile on the face of our programmers
and accountants..
FOB is a project designed to adapt the new ways of using the internet
for the sorts of people who read The Maritime Advocate.
You are welcome to join
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1. Chinese Version
Daniella Horton, the Honorary Secretary of the LMAA writes:-
The LMAA is pleased to advise that it has added to its website a Chinese
Translation of LMAA Law Review 2013-2015.
Our thanks go to Frederick Hui and his colleagues Lei Niu, Chenbiao
Li and Jie Chen at Zhong Lun law firm, Hong Kong for their time and
effort taken in kindly preparing this translation for the Association.
http://www.lmaa.london/Other-Papers.aspx
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2. Shipping Must Contribute to Helping Tackle Wildlife Trafficking
Alastair Fischbacher the CEO of the Sustainable Shipping Initiative
(SSI) writes:-
A key challenge for shipping in order to become truly sustainable is
to build a reputation for being a trusted industry; one that is known
for taking responsibility and contributing to solving some of the many
social, environmental and economic issues that touch the communities
that shipping is involved with around the world. It is a key pillar
of the SSI’s Vision of shipping being sustainable by 2040.
This is why on 14th March the SSI joined other leading companies from
the transport sectors to sign a Declaration promising to tackle global
wildlife trafficking routes.
The United for Wildlife Transport Taskforce Buckingham Palace Declaration
is a landmark agreement; a commitment to taking real steps to shut down
the routes exploited by traffickers of illegal wildlife trade, moving
their products from killing field to market place. It was unveiled by
the Duke of Cambridge, President of United for Wildlife, after 12 months
of development led by the transport sector, to crack down on illegal
wildlife trafficking routes.
The declaration outlines 11 commitments, which have been collaboratively
developed over the last 12 months by members of the United for Wildlife
Transport Taskforce. The commitments aim to help support the private
sector in fighting the illegal wildlife trade, and include:
" Increasing passenger, customer, client, and staff awareness
about the nature, scale, and consequences of illegal wildlife trade
" Promoting the Declaration and its Commitments across the entire
transport sector and encourage all in the sector to sign up to the Declaration
" Improving the training of staff within the transport sector
to enable them to detect, identify and report suspected illegal wildlife
trade, and acknowledge staff who champion this cause
" Notifying relevant law enforcement authorities of cargoes suspected
of containing illegal wildlife and their products and, where able, refuse
to accept or ship such cargoes
Over 40 organisations from the transport industries have signed the
Declaration, including a number of leading shipping organisations such
as Maersk Group, China COSCO Shipping, Dubai Ports World and the UK
Chamber of Shipping. Although a number of trade routes are used for
the smuggling of wildlife products, shipping is a significant transporter.
The signing of the Declaration is a necessary and important step in
the fight against illegal wildlife trafficking. Fundamentally, it further
supports shipping’s critical objective of becoming a more sustainable
industry, and a more responsible and trusted partner to global communities.
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3. Trading with Iran
Nothing seems to be straight forward when it comes to Iran. Our friends
at the Steamship Mutual have sent in this helpful circular:-
Further to Club Circular L.272 concerning the lifting of EU and US
sanctions under the JCPOA, the Club has published a follow-up circular
addressing P&I cover issues in connection with trade to/from Iran,
and outlining the terms of a fall-back reinsurance cover arranged by
the Group Clubs to protect members against possible shortfalls in cover.
Please see below link to the Club Circular L.273 which is now available
on the Steamship Mutual website:-
http://www.steamshipmutual.com/Downloads/Circulars-London/L.273.pdf.
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4. Unmanned Ships
Around the inns and taverns where shipping people congregate a really
terrible maket for freight is acclaimed. The leviathan container ships,
it is said, are not delivering the economies of scale they were supposed
to and the light at the end of the tunnel is an oncoming train loaded
with poor trading figures, oil industry turmoil and rock bottom container
rates. Owners are reluctant even to incur the costs of arbitration and
legal resolutions. Is this a good time to talk about the coming era
of unmanned fleets of ships? Rolls-Royce thinks so. It has has unveiled
its vision of land-based control centres that it believes will remotely
monitor and control the unmanned cargo ships of the future. Looking
at the trend of aviation the idea of desk masters controlling more than
one ship at a time beckons.
In a six minute film, Rolls-Royce presents a vision of the future in
which a small crew of seven to 14 people monitor and control the operation
of a fleet of vessels across the world.
The crew uses interactive smart screens, voice recognition systems,
holograms and surveillance drones to monitor what is happening both
on board and around the ship. See the film here:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgOA9Ve7SxE
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5. 63 Month Sentence for US Navy Contract Fraudster
Word reaches us via Dennis Bryant that one of the principal players,
Alex Wisidagama, a former executive of the Singapore-based defense contracting
firm Glenn Defense Marine Asia has been sentenced to 63 months in prison
for his participation in a brazen fraud scheme that over-billed the
US Navy by more than $34 million for ship husbanding services. Here
is a release from the US Dept of Justice:-
http://tinyurl.com/USNavyFraud
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6. People and Places
The WISTA (Women’s International Shipping and Trading Association)
UK Southampton branch was launched recently at Lloyd’s Register’s new
premises in Southampton. The evening was opened by Tom Boardley, Marine
Director of Lloyd’s Register, followed by a talk from Dr Kate Pike,
Senior Research Fellow at Southampton Solent University who will be
leading the new WISTA UK branch. Joining Dr Kate Pike as part of the
new Southampton team will also be Emma Broadhurst and Natalie Vigar
from Southampton Solent University, and Teresa Stevens of Guardian Maritime
Services Ltd.
———-
essDOCS, the of paperless trade specialists, have appointed Ashley
Skaanild as their Chief Commercial Officer. He succeeds Nigel Pusey,
who previously served as both CCO and CFO, and will continue to serve
as CFO.
———-
Peter Ulber has been nominated as the new Chairman of the Board of
Panalpina, succeeding Dr Rudolf W Hug, who is planning to retire at
the AGM in May. Stefan Karlen has been nominated as the new CEO. Ulber
has been with Panalpina since 2013 and prior to that held a number of
senior management posts with Kuehne & Nagel.
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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 for for further fraud stories from the South China Seas we
ran across this item, which appeared in Issue 197
of March 22nd, 2005:-
Fake Identity
THE investigation department of the TT Club, Signum Services, has issued
an alert about a smuggling operation in south-east Asia, in which containers
are given fake identities.
The gang obtains a container from a shipping line in the usual way
but loads contraband cargo into it. The cargo is declared as something
else and is ostensibly destined for a distant port. But the container
has to be transhipped at a specified transit port in a third country.
It is this third country that is the true destination of the contraband.
In the third country, the gang obtains a second container from which
it removes all identity marks, and replaces them with ones corresponding
to the first container. It is then stuffed with the cargo as originally
declared. A shipping line seal is then attached in the usual way. Although
it is similar in appearance, its number does not correspond with the
one shown on the shipping documents.
After the first container has arrived at the transit port, the second
container is brought illegally into the port area and switched for the
first one. Fake release documents are also created to enable the first
container (with the contraband cargo) to be removed. The second container
is then picked up by the intended vessel and shipped to its destination.
Should anyone notice the seal change, an inspection of the contents
will show that they are in conformity with the bill of lading.
Signum points out that the scam can only work with the connivance of
several people at the transit port. It is thought that the change of
the second container’s identity takes place in workshops that also deal
with legitimate container repairs, since all the numbers (including
the ones on the roof) are replaced in a professional manner, so that
they appear genuine.
www.ttclub.com
http://www.avoarchive.com/searchBI.php
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Dear Milkman
"Dear Milkman, I’ve just had a baby, please leave another one."
"Please leave an extra pint of paralysed milk."
"Please don’t leave any more milk. All they do is drink it"
"Milkman please close the gate behind you because the birds keep
pecking the tops off the milk."
"Sorry not to have paid your bill before, but my wife had a baby
and I’ve been carrying it around in my pocket for weeks."
"Sorry about yesterdays note. I didn’t mean one egg and a dozen
pints, but the other way round."
"When you leave my milk knock on my bedroom window and wake me
because I want you to give me a hand to turn the mattress."
"Please knock. My TV’s broken down and I missed last nights ‘Big
Bother’ . If you saw it, will you tell me what happened."
My daughter says she wants a milkshake. Do you do it before you deliver
or do I have to shake the bottle."
"Please send me a form for cheap milk, for I have a baby two months
old and did not know about it until a neighbour told me."
"Milk is needed for the baby. Father is unable to supply it."
"From now on please leave two pints every other day and one pint
on the days in between, except Wednesdays and Saturdays when I don’t
want any milk."
My back door is open. Please put milk in fridge, get money out of cup
in drawer and leave change on kitchen table, because we want to play
bingo tonight."
"Please leave no milk today. When I say today, I mean tomorrow,
for I wrote this note yesterday…or is it today ?"
"When you come with the milk please put the coal on the boiler,
let dog out and put newspaper inside the screen door.
PS. Don’t leave any milk."
"No milk. Please do not leave milk at No. 14 either as he is dead
until further notice."
[Source: Paul Dixon]
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More Letters
Dear Noah,
We could have sworn you said the ark wasn’t leaving till 5.
Sincerely, Unicorns
Dear Icebergs,
Sorry to hear about the global warming. Karma’s a bitch.
Sincerely, The Titanic
Dear J.K. Rowling,
Your books are entirely unrealistic. I mean, a ginger kid with two friends?
Sincerely, Anonymous
Dear Boyfriend,
I can make your girlfriend scream louder than you can.
Sincerely, Spiders
Dear Voldemort,
So they screwed up your nose too?
Sincerely, Michael Jackson
Dear Yahoo,
I’ve never heard anyone say, "I don’t know, let’s Yahoo! it …"
just saying…
Sincerely, Google
Dear girls who have been dumped,
There are plenty of fish in the sea… Just kidding! They’re all dead.
Sincerely, BP
Dear 2010,
So I hear the best rapper is white and the president is black? What
happened?!
Sincerely, 1985
Dear Windshield Wipers,
Can’t touch this.
Sincerely, That Little Triangle
Dear Taylor Swift,
If it is of any interest to you, Romeo and Juliet both kill themselves
in the end.
Sincerely, Shakespeare
Dear Soccer Fans,
B B B B B B Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z Z
Z Z Z Z Z Z Z!
Sincerely, Vuvuzelas
Dear Saturn,
I liked it, so I put a ring on it.
Sincerely, God
Dear Rubik’s Cube,
Done!
Sincerely, Colorblind
Dear Boys Wearing Skinny Jeans,
We. Can’t. Breathe.
Sincerely, Your Gonads
Dear Sleeping Beauty,
I had to join the army, dress up like a man, defeat the hun army and
totally save China for my man. All you had to do was wake up.
Sincerely, Mulan
Dear Fox News,
So far, no news about foxes.
Sincerely, Unimpressed
Dear Sex Educators,
Abstinence is only 99.99% effective.
Sincerely, The Virgin Mary
Dear Toaster,
Just gonna stand there and watch me burn?
Sincerely, Toast
Dear Edward,
I really hope that one day, I can find my way into your heart.
Sincerely, a stake
Dear Prince Charming,
You’ve got some explaining to do!
Sincerely, Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, and Sleeping Beauty
[Source: Paul Dixon]
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