Clay Maitland

On a quest for quality in shipping

LIVE FROM POSIDONIA: A class birthday party

On Friday night, to mark its 250th anniversary, Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, whichjustifiably calls itself “the world’s first classification society”, threw a gala evening fiesta at Athens’ Astir Palace hotel, and invited the great and the good of the Greek shipocracy, led by the indispensible Capt. Tsakos, as well as government. officials still willing to appear at such events within the eurozone, to join the shoreside celebration. Continue reading

LIVE FROM POSIDONIA: Will the EU bail-out be repaid?

Greek bankers here at Posidonia are so far shtum, silent and otherwise not talking, at least in my hearing, about repayment of the recent euroloan, or bail-out. Will it ever be repaid? Can it be repaid–ever? Should it even be repaid? Continue reading

LIVE FROM POSIDONIA: Class to benefit from new US laws

At a Posidonia presentation by one of the leading classification societies, it was noted that the uncertain legal and legislative climate in the United States would generate a real need for a legally prescribed and elaborate risk management structure, plus government oversight, for shipping companies as well as offshore oil drillers doing business in the US. Continue reading

LIVE FROM POSIDONIA: US bankers remain bullish

Judging from the comments made to me by ship finance specialists, the markets in Singapore, London and New York have discovered –perhaps belatedly– their inner thirst for quality, and a marked aversion to risk. Continue reading

LIVE FROM POSIDONIA: Lenders treading with care

Last evening, I attended the American Club’s famously elegant party at the Byzantine Estate, in the back country of suburban Attica. My first Posidonia was in 1976, so I have some experience in the matter. Continue reading

Changes in climate

I’m taking a few days off before the stress of Posidonia, the biennale of shipping staged for the past 40-some years by Greece. Continue reading

Deepwater Horzion: Should we blame the engineers?

From the Titanic to the current Deepwater Horizon crisis, the nagging question is: could the disaster have been averted, and if so, how? Continue reading

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