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The Cargo Letter
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Section A: Trade, Financial & Inland News | Section
B: FF World Air News |
Section C: FF World Ocean News | Section
D: FF in Cyberspace |
Section E: The Forwarder Broker World
- Record Reef Crash Fine .......... as the owners of
the Malaysian freighter M/V Bunga Teratai Satuthat, with a load of
fungicides, pesticides & 1,450 tons of fuel oil, ran aground on the
Great Barrier Reef last year were fined a record US$220,000 for damaging the
reef. The Malaysian Int'l Shipping Corporation pleaded guilty in the Cairns
Magistrates Court to unlawfully causing serious environmental harm. The
charges, brought under Queensland's Environmental Protection Act, followed
the Nov. 2 grounding on Sudbury Reef, northeast of Cairns. Similar charges
against the ship's 1st mate, Mashkoor Hussein Khan, were later withdrawn.
The hearing against the company was told that Mr. Khan had taken control of
the vessel at 6.35 am knowing he would soon have to alter course, but became
distracted by his wife who was distressed by a phone call from her mother in
Karachi. It was while he was distracted from keeping an eye on the vessel's
position that it struck the reef. The 21,000-ton container ship was freed 12
days later by tugs with winches connected to anchors set on the seabed, but
only after the tops of three coral outcrops were blasted away.
- CP Ships Ships Out ........ as Canadian Pacific has
announced plans to spin off its CP Ships liner arm into a separate company
with its own stock market listing. CP Ships is, via its various subsidiary
brands, one of the largest container carriers in the world. Canadian Pacific
itself is to be broken up into 5 chunks, with hotels being the only business
retained on an owned basis. CP Ships includes ANZDL, Canmar, Cast, Contship
Containerlines, Lykes & TMM Lines under its umbrella, the latter 2 also
being subsidiary to Americana Ships. The firm's CEO Ray Miles said that
business would continue as normal while the company sought a listing &
independence from its parent conglomerate. Americana Ships' CEO Frank
Halliwell denied any suggestion that the move might see some of the firm's
brands being merged or disappearing.
- Panama Top Registry......... as the number of ships
bearing its flag grew to 9,940 by Dec. 31, 2000, keeping Panama the world
leader in ship registration, the Panamanian Maritime Authority (PMA)
announced. Figures from PMA's Merchant Marine General Direction show that a
total of 759 ships were signed last year in the Panamanian register. The
list includes 405 cargo ships, 136 tankers, 51 leisure yachts & 35 tug
boats.
- New Carissa Owners Blame Coast Guard ........ as
owners of the freighter M/V New Carissa have sued the Coast Guard for
US$96M, saying navigational charts omitted warnings about unsafe conditions
in the waters where the ship went aground & broke apart. The New Carissa
went aground in a storm on Feb. 4, 1999, on the north spit of Coos Bay.
About 70,000 gallons of the fuel oil that powered its engines spilled into
the ocean. The lawsuit seeks damages for the amount of the cost of the
cleanup & salvage operations. The owners claim that charts provided by
the Coast Guard and the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration
didn't warn that the anchorage was unsafe during winter and failed to
indicate that dredge spoils from the mouth of Coos Bay had been deposited
there, making the water shallower. For the entire story, visit our exciting
M/V Carissa feature with dramatic photos of U.S. Navy torpedo action:
https://cargolaw.com/New_Carissa_Ship_Disaster.html
- Latin America Ports Boom Back ......... as the
largest container ports of Latin America bounced back in 2000 by recording
large increases in container volumes. According to the Maritime Profile of
Latin America & the Caribbean report of the U.N. Economic Commission for
Latin American and the Caribbean, the port of Colon, on the Atlantic coast
of Panama, handled an estimated 1.35 million TEUs in 2000, up 15% over 1999.
Colon's largest container terminal, the Manzanillo Int'l Terminal, moved
1.01 million TEUs, thus becoming the 1st Latin American terminal ever to
move more than 1 million TEUs in a year. The U.N. Economic Commission for
Latin American & the Caribbean statistics exclude the large container
terminals of San Juan, Puerto Rico. The port of Buenos Aires, in Argentina,
saw its traffic volume rise 5% in 2000, to 1.27 million TEUs. However, the
2000 volume was still below the level of 1.40 million recorded in 1998,
before the recent Latin American economic crisis. The Brazilian port of
Santos handled an estimated 988,000 TEUs last year, compared to about
775,000 TEUs in 1999 and 799,000 TEUs in 1998. On the West Coast of South
America, the container traffic at the port of San Antonio, Chile, grew by
22% last year, moving almost 456,000 TEUs in 2000.
- Port of L.A. Stays No. 1 .......... as the busiest
containerport in the U.S., began the new year by handling 396,993 TEUs last
month, representing the highest Jan. container volume ever posted by the
Port. The Jan. 2001 total marked an 11% increase over the previous record of
358,235 TEUs moved by the Port in Jan. 2000, and established new import
& export cargo records for the 1st month of the year. The Port of L.A.
last year handled 4.9 million TEUs, reclaiming its position as the busiest
containerport in the nation.
- Port of Long Beach Increases It's Reach ......... as
it has an agreement with Shanghai's Zhenhua Port Machinery Company (ZPMC)
for the purchase of 20 cranes. The agreement, which, at US$140M, is the
largest single public works contract that the port has ever signed &
will produce cranes which will be the most modern in the world, able to work
containerships that are 22 containers wide. In Nov. the port handled 410,897
TEU, an increase of 3.4% over Nov. 1999. Of these TEU, 213,065 were imported
through the port, making Nov. the 8th consecutive month in which imports
have exceeded 200,000 TEU. Empty containers, bound primarily for refilling
at Asian ports, climbed more than 10% to 107,076 TEU.
- Crowley Maritime Corp. Gets A Marine ........ as it
has completed its tender offer and has accepted 6.1 million shares of Marine
Transport Corp. common stock. The shares represent 98% of Marine Transport's
total outstanding common stock, which Crowley is purchasing at US$7 per
share. Crowley said it plans to promptly complete the previously announced
merger and will acquire the remaining untendered Marine Transport shares,
subject to appraisal right. Marine Transport has four main business lines:
chemical parcel transportation, refined petroleum transportation, crude oil
lightering & ship management.
- NYK Gets New Wings ........ as it is changing the
emphasis on its traditional role as an ocean carrier with its `Pegasus
project', a new E-Commerce system that will enable NYK customers to monitor
& interactively manage online all the logistics of their cargo
shipments. In addition to NYK's currently available online cargo tracing
& schedule inquiry, printing of bills of lading for North American
export cargo will begin in March. The same capability will be available in
Europe & Asia within the 2nd quarter.
- Norasia Shuts HQ ........ as the Chilean shipping
group Compania Sud Americana de Vapores is closing down the Fribourg-based
headquarters of Norasia Container Lines, the Swiss shipping line it acquired
last year. CSAV's CEO Francisco Silva told staff that Norasia will shift its
headquarters from Fribourg to Hong Kong, where it will assume regional group
responsibilities, to strengthen the group's position in key markets and
bring about additional synergies. Norasia's Fribourg-based headquarters
employs about 200 employees.
- FMC Yanks Tickets ......... as it has revoked Ocean
Transportation Intermediary (OTI) licenses for failing to maintain a valid
surety bond. The companies whose licenses were revoked are: American Liner
System Inc., New York; Int'l Shipping Co., JFK Int'l Airport; General Cargo
Int'l Inc., Huntington Beach, CA; IMD Container Line, Burlingame, CA; Int'l
Cargo Services Inc., South San Francisco.; Int'l Express Cargo Services
Inc., MIA; Int'l Services Inc., Columbus, OH; Int'l Transportation Corp.,
New York; Int'l Transportation Network, Englewood Cliffs, NJ; M.A.P.
Worldwide Carriers Inc., Houston; Nimbus Services Inc., LAX & Sarah
Worldwide Shipping, Fairview, NC, Best Efforts Express Inc., Jamaica, NY;
Chemo Int'l Inc., MIA; Green Sea-Trailer Line, Eden Prairie, MN; Seven Seas
Mercantile Transport Co., New York, NY; Global Consolidation Services, LLC,
Carteret, NJ; Jolaco Maritime Services Inc., Houston; KAI Express Inc.,
Monterey Park, CA.; Lloyd Int'l Inc., Norwell, MA; Manna Freight Systems
Inc., Mendota Heights, MN; Oceangate Container Line, Gardena, CA.; Lana
Int'l, LAX; T.T.G. Int'l Freight Forwarders, MIA; World Express Air/Sea
Inc., Seoul, Korea; & Worldstar Cargo Management Inc., Walnut, CA --
Barnhart & Associates, Redondo Beach, CA, surrendered its license
voluntarily.
- U.S. Customs Charges More To Get There ........ as
it has increased its navigation fees to more adequately reimburse the
government for its costs to enter & clear vessels, starting March 14.
The agency said the current fee schedule was last revised in 1985, and
"does not reflect the current salary & benefit costs and other
appropriate costs." The fee to enter vessels of 100 net tons or more
has been raised from US$18 to US$37. For a complete list of the new fee
schedules:
http://frwebgate2.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/waisgate.cgi?WAISdocID=0001820918+1+0+0&WAISaction=retrieve
- Following The Chassis Trend .......... as the Med
Pac Conference, a carrier group in the Mediterranean/U.S. West Coast trade,
is the latest conference to introduce a chassis usage charge -- US$60 per
chassis, at U.S. West Coast ports on March 15. The carriers of the Med Pac
Conference are Italia/D'Amico & Zim Israel Navigation.
- Operation Riverwalk Hopes To Kick .......... as
authorities are pledging to inspect every vessel that enters the Miami
River, in a 2 year operation to thwart drug smuggling called Operation
Riverwalk. Its goal is to intercept ships that bring drugs into the country
& dock along the river. The Miami River has been known as a place to
dump dead bodies & dead refrigerators. Last year, U.S. Customs seized
6,480 pounds of drugs on the river, twice the amount confiscated 2 years
earlier. Previously, agents only inspected vessels that appeared suspicious.
- Evil Spirits ......... as 5 North Korean sailors
died of alcohol poisoning Feb. 8, on board the North Korean cargo M/V
Kangsong 3, sailing home from Singapore, but a Vietnam hospital said it had
managed to save 3 of their colleagues. The ship made an emergency stop in
southern Vietnam last week to seek treatment for the sick sailors. The
sailors died after drinking an alcoholic spirit on board the ship. A doctor
at Le Loi Hospital in Vietnam's southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau said
the sailors were brought in with headaches, stomach aches & digestive
troubles. The North Korean vessel resumed its voyage.
- Evil Spirits ......... as 5 North Korean sailors
died of alcohol poisoning Feb. 8, on board the North Korean cargo M/V
Kangsong 3, sailing home from Singapore, but a Vietnam hospital said it had
managed to save 3 of their colleagues. The ship made an emergency stop in
southern Vietnam last week to seek treatment for the sick sailors. The
sailors died after drinking an alcoholic spirit on board the ship. A doctor
at Le Loi Hospital in Vietnam's southern province of Ba Ria-Vung Tau said
the sailors were brought in with headaches, stomach aches & digestive
troubles. The North Korean vessel resumed its voyage.
- This Month In U.S. Nay History ......... as on Feb.
16, 1804, the U.S. frigate Philadelphia, held captive by the Barbary pirates
at Tripoli, was destroyed by an American party led by Stephen Decatur. Also
on Feb. 16 1944, Allied aircraft bombed the Japanese naval base at Truk,
Caroline Islands, in a raid that destroyed 201 planes.
Visit our new Vessel Casualties & Pirate Activity Database .........
where daily updates of these ship news are posted. Stay up to date!
https://cargolaw.com/presentations_casualties.html
We're sorry, but there were so many sinkings, explosions,
pirate attacks, fires, cargo mishaps & other disasters at sea that we do not
have room to print even the highlights this month. We have over 35 stories for
Feb. 2001 alone !
You can read all this month's disasters at our special
Internet web feature which provides full details of each event, including the
crash of Los Angeles Class submarine USS Greeneville.
SPECIAL NOTE: The Cargo Letter has received dramatic U.S. Navy
photos of USS Cole disaster & the USS Greeneville. Please view these
pictures at our special "Gallery of Cargo Loss" website feature.
https://cargolaw.com/gallery.html
Our Daily Vessel Casualties & Pirate Activity Database is
updated for you twice daily! You can also search ship wrecks & losses of the
past in our extensive index.
Bookmark the site and visit every day! Thousands of visitors
can't be wrong!
https://cargolaw.com/presentations_casualties.html
NOTE: The historic dangers of carriage by sea continue to be
quite real. Shippers must be encouraged to purchase high quality marine cargo
insurance from their freight forwarder or customs broker. It's dangerous out
there.
Please click below for other sections:
Section A
Section B
Section D
Section E
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Written from wire stories, the Associated Press,
Reuters, Hong Kong Shipping News Lloyds & other world sources.