If I was a Somali pirate chief, or perhaps the Business Development Director of one of those gruesome gangs causing mayhem in world shipping circles, as we are informed they are now well organised along such formal lines, I would have annotated my 2011 wall chart with some enthusiasm last week. The Volvo Ocean round the world race started in Alicante on Saturday with its six yachts, all professionally crewed, en route to Cape Town.
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It’s a fact that some ship types are endemically more vulnerable to disaster than others.
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“It will never work because there is no infrastructure!” I wonder how many times these words, or their 19th century equivalents, were spoken by sailing ship owners contemplating the move into mechanical propulsion.
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What’s the attraction in building “mega-containerships” , with these monsters being extruded out of far eastern shipyards in increasing numbers, at a time when demand is flatlining if not actually in decline? Who does it benefit?
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Around the commemoration of the 10th anniversary of 9/11, various clever people were trotted out on the media to criticise President George W Bush for his “war on terror” phrase.
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In the frenetic rush to get a big containership through a terminal, is there enough time to consider exactly what nasties might be in the boxes that are classified as dangerous deck cargo?
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The SatNav, with its dulcet tones urging you to “take the first exit from the roundabout” and “turn around, you have made a mistake!” has , we are told, spawned a generation unable to read a map and with only a passing knowledge of geography.
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As one who is dwelling in life’s twilight years, it is difficult not to be sensitive to all the angry articles about irresponsible baby-boomers who have spent their childrens’ legacies, and how the younger generation will be working their fingers to the bone to pay the pensions of these non-productive members of society.
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Clay’s latest blog is a stark reminder that as an industry, shipping really seems to be in denial about the reality of recession...
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My recent blog on weak walled ships seemed to have struck a chord with people who spend their time handling them.
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