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Thursday, 08 May 14
'TRIAL BY MEDIA, TRIAL BY LAW' - A REPORT FROM TRACK 1 OF BIMCO'S ANNUAL CONFERENCE DUBAI 2014
 KNOWLEDGE TO ELEVATE
Aiming to bring a very different type of event into their annual conference, BIMCO presented ‘Double Jeopardy – ‘Trial by Media, Trial by Law*’, simulating a marine casualty and arbitration to delegates at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, Dubai. A professional, innovative and creative production not only gave a realistic portrayal of the events following a maritime casualty but enabled the audience to participate with well posed questions by way of interactive voting meters.
Based on a true event, this realistic account of a maritime casualty was narrated by Lindsay East, Consultant, Reed Smith, London. The vessel ‘Idle Star’ having loaded with sugar in Thailand and heading to the discharge port, had grounded on a river bed on the West Coast of California in an area of natural beauty. While there were no human casualties, there was a significant bunker spill and with a fast flowing river the environmental implications to wildlife and the local community were huge.
As the story unfolded, the owner representative, played by John Tsatsas from London and the charterers representative played by Han van Blanken from Rotterdam, portrayed each stage from the initial Captain’s call. With the initial limited information, the chain of events were shown to unfold as the owner and charterer brought in assistance and sought advice from P&I, lawyers, classification society, hull and machinery insurers, local agents and representatives and demonstrated how the process evolved as more information became available, giving an overview of the practicalities involved in the process. The expert advice to the owner and charterer was provided by video clips of real practitioners in conversation with the two stage actors.
The casualty centred on whether the destination port was ‘safe’. It was known to have a low draft and underwater obstructions that shifted and were uncharted. The vessel therefore had to not only be of certain specification when laden but also the conditions of making the final part of the voyage through those water needed to be assessed with the latest information available to see if the port was suitable for discharge. The owners proceeded to complete the voyage and the vessel ran aground so who was liable? The Master for proceeding with the voyage despite concerns or the charterer for the choice of a difficult destination with the cargo in mind?
With neither the owner or charterer accepting liability and indeed blaming each other, this session focussed on two areas; media and how if not handled correctly incidents can become a media and public relations nightmare and legal arbitration, examining the legalities of the charter agreement and how this would be dealt with by the legal system.
The morning session focussed on ‘Trial by Media’ and with neither party having any crisis management or PR in place, the simulated public backlash of the environmentalists, shrimp farmers and the local community as pollution grew, quickly escalated without an appropriate, measured response. Julian Bray, Tradewinds Editor-in-chief portrayed the media, keen for a story, blame and clearly supporting the affected parties who were keen for compensation.
The clear message of the morning session was that handling media during such an incident is a serious matter and can easily spiral out of control. Media will always seek to sensationalise and exploit sensitive areas and it is very easy to say the wrong things however well intentioned. Advice was to be well prepared, seeking professional crisis management to enable you to get every step right and above all, be honest. By knowing the all facts, you can provide just enough factual information and slow the media frenzy down.
The afternoon session ‘Trial by Law’ consisted of a panel of three maritime arbitrators, presided by Jude Benny, from Singapore, Bruce Harris from London and Jack Warfield from New York.
The owner sought indemnity from the charterer and the case was to ascertain whether the port was unsafe, whether the charterer was in breach of the agreement by ordering the ship to go there and whether that caused the loss.
Chirag Karia, a QC from London, counsel for the owner, put forward a strong case after witness testimonies that the owner had expressed concerns to the charterer which has gone unresolved. There had been correspondence regarding the draft of the port and that the waters were uncharted and the charterer had been asked to arrange lightening and/or a harmless agreement to indemnify the owner from any losses should there be a problem. The charterer did not lighten and was confident there would be no issue with the voyage, however did not confirm any harmless agreement which the owner assumed from their conversations. He argued that by sending the vessel to its destination the charterers were sending the vessel to an unsafe port and the owners had been commercially pressured to continue.
Nevil Phillips a barrister from London, counsel for the charterer, argued the defence with regard to whether the port was safe at the time of nomination and that the owners had a responsibility to ensure the vessel was laden appropriately to ensure safe passage. The owners should have reduced the cargo and taken further action to avoid such an incident and the Master was negligent in not doing so, causing the vessel to ground. Ultimately it was the owner’s decision to continue with the voyage with the known risks and any negligence by the Master obliterates any question of safety.
The arbitrators retired to consider their findings, each from the perspective of their own jurisdictions, and the audience were able to vote on their own judgment, finding in favour of the owner. However on returning the arbitrators, giving three separate judgments found in favour of the charterer by two to one on the basis that the grounding was found to be in general down to the Master’s negligence. Jude Benny summing up said “There were sufficient red light warnings and with good seamanship this could have been avoided.”
There was a lively question and answer session to close the session and attendees found the day both enlightening and informative. The new style of interactive session proved popular with attendees and the final vote was to definitely repeat such an event next time.
Source: BIMCO / Hellenic Shipping
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Friday, 25 April 14
2ND MYANMAR ELECTRIC POWER CONVENTION 2014 IS THE GATEWAY TO MYANMAR POWER INDUSTRY!
Press Release: 2nd Myanmar Electric Power Convention (MEPC) 2014 is scheduled on 21-23 October, 2014 at Traders Hotel in Yangon, Myanmar. MEPC o ...
Friday, 25 April 14
DRY BULK MARKET LOOKING FOR NEW TRACTION - NIKOS ROUSSANOGLOU, HELLENIC SHIPPING NEWS
The dry bulk market seems to have gained its footing after the past few dissapointing weeks, during which the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) shedded mos ...
Thursday, 24 April 14
HANDY : A FLOW OF FRESH REQUIREMENTS LIFTING THE PACIFIC SLOWLY TO US$ 10-11 K BSS SINGAPORE FOR COAL ROUNDS
Handy
There is still no place to hide in the Atlantic for the smaller but flexible sizes. Slow and weak seems to be the headlines, although th ...
Wednesday, 23 April 14
EUROPE WOULD BE HARD PRESSED TO REPLACE RUSSIAN GAS, FITCH RATINGS SAYS
A ban on Russian gas imports to the EU would cause substantial disruption to Europe's economy and industry, Fitch Ratings says. In the immed ...
Wednesday, 23 April 14
KOMIPO INVITES BIDS FOR LOW VOLATILE BITUMINOUS COAL
COALspot.com : Korea Midland Power Co., Ltd. has invited bids through International open bidding for 90,000 Metric Tons (MT) of low volatile bit ...
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- Ind-Barath Power Infra Limited - India
- Singapore Mercantile Exchange
- Leighton Contractors Pty Ltd - Australia
- Coal and Oil Company - UAE
- Mjunction Services Limited - India
- The Treasury - Australian Government
- Kaltim Prima Coal - Indonesia
- Heidelberg Cement - Germany
- Bahari Cakrawala Sebuku - Indonesia
- Ministry of Mines - Canada
- Altura Mining Limited, Indonesia
- Malabar Cements Ltd - India
- Krishnapatnam Port Company Ltd. - India
- Parliament of New Zealand
- Riau Bara Harum - Indonesia
- Siam City Cement - Thailand
- Trasteel International SA, Italy
- Ministry of Transport, Egypt
- South Luzon Thermal Energy Corporation
- Timah Investasi Mineral - Indoneisa
- Eastern Coal Council - USA
- Bukit Baiduri Energy - Indonesia
- OPG Power Generation Pvt Ltd - India
- Tata Chemicals Ltd - India
- Georgia Ports Authority, United States
- Maheswari Brothers Coal Limited - India
- Semirara Mining and Power Corporation, Philippines
- Interocean Group of Companies - India
- Ministry of Finance - Indonesia
- Kohat Cement Company Ltd. - Pakistan
- Karbindo Abesyapradhi - Indoneisa
- Ambuja Cements Ltd - India
- Indian Oil Corporation Limited
- Samtan Co., Ltd - South Korea
- Kobexindo Tractors - Indoneisa
- ICICI Bank Limited - India
- European Bulk Services B.V. - Netherlands
- Iligan Light & Power Inc, Philippines
- Straits Asia Resources Limited - Singapore
- IEA Clean Coal Centre - UK
- Mercator Lines Limited - India
- Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Uttam Galva Steels Limited - India
- Kapuas Tunggal Persada - Indonesia
- Ceylon Electricity Board - Sri Lanka
- Indonesian Coal Mining Association
- Siam City Cement PLC, Thailand
- McConnell Dowell - Australia
- Parry Sugars Refinery, India
- Posco Energy - South Korea
- Power Finance Corporation Ltd., India
- Bhatia International Limited - India
- Bayan Resources Tbk. - Indonesia
- Electricity Authority, New Zealand
- Sindya Power Generating Company Private Ltd
- Australian Commodity Traders Exchange
- Vijayanagar Sugar Pvt Ltd - India
- The State Trading Corporation of India Ltd
- Metalloyd Limited - United Kingdom
- Kepco SPC Power Corporation, Philippines
- Global Green Power PLC Corporation, Philippines
- VISA Power Limited - India
- Energy Link Ltd, New Zealand
- Vedanta Resources Plc - India
- Tamil Nadu electricity Board
- Planning Commission, India
- MS Steel International - UAE
- India Bulls Power Limited - India
- Jindal Steel & Power Ltd - India
- Toyota Tsusho Corporation, Japan
- AsiaOL BioFuels Corp., Philippines
- Formosa Plastics Group - Taiwan
- Merrill Lynch Commodities Europe
- Wilmar Investment Holdings
- Directorate General of MIneral and Coal - Indonesia
- GVK Power & Infra Limited - India
- Wood Mackenzie - Singapore
- Indogreen Group - Indonesia
- Indika Energy - Indonesia
- SMC Global Power, Philippines
- Renaissance Capital - South Africa
- Meralco Power Generation, Philippines
- Salva Resources Pvt Ltd - India
- Meenaskhi Energy Private Limited - India
- Sical Logistics Limited - India
- Billiton Holdings Pty Ltd - Australia
- Rio Tinto Coal - Australia
- Filglen & Citicon Mining (HK) Ltd - Hong Kong
- Thai Mozambique Logistica
- Bukit Makmur.PT - Indonesia
- Jaiprakash Power Ventures ltd
- New Zealand Coal & Carbon
- Borneo Indobara - Indonesia
- Alfred C Toepfer International GmbH - Germany
- Attock Cement Pakistan Limited
- Neyveli Lignite Corporation Ltd, - India
- PetroVietnam Power Coal Import and Supply Company
- Xindia Steels Limited - India
- Therma Luzon, Inc, Philippines
- Larsen & Toubro Limited - India
- Star Paper Mills Limited - India
- Grasim Industreis Ltd - India
- Eastern Energy - Thailand
- London Commodity Brokers - England
- Orica Mining Services - Indonesia
- Coastal Gujarat Power Limited - India
- Aboitiz Power Corporation - Philippines
- Maharashtra Electricity Regulatory Commission - India
- Marubeni Corporation - India
- Sojitz Corporation - Japan
- GMR Energy Limited - India
- Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd
- Essar Steel Hazira Ltd - India
- Cement Manufacturers Association - India
- GN Power Mariveles Coal Plant, Philippines
- Banpu Public Company Limited - Thailand
- Sinarmas Energy and Mining - Indonesia
- Dr Ramakrishna Prasad Power Pvt Ltd - India
- Commonwealth Bank - Australia
- Price Waterhouse Coopers - Russia
- Thiess Contractors Indonesia
- White Energy Company Limited
- Barasentosa Lestari - Indonesia
- Truba Alam Manunggal Engineering.Tbk - Indonesia
- Binh Thuan Hamico - Vietnam
- Bangladesh Power Developement Board
- Romanian Commodities Exchange
- Simpson Spence & Young - Indonesia
- Orica Australia Pty. Ltd.
- Manunggal Multi Energi - Indonesia
- Kumho Petrochemical, South Korea
- Antam Resourcindo - Indonesia
- Gujarat Mineral Development Corp Ltd - India
- Anglo American - United Kingdom
- Economic Council, Georgia
- Sree Jayajothi Cements Limited - India
- PNOC Exploration Corporation - Philippines
- Jorong Barutama Greston.PT - Indonesia
- GAC Shipping (India) Pvt Ltd
- Medco Energi Mining Internasional
- Dalmia Cement Bharat India
- Makarim & Taira - Indonesia
- ASAPP Information Group - India
- CNBM International Corporation - China
- Pendopo Energi Batubara - Indonesia
- Port Waratah Coal Services - Australia
- Indo Tambangraya Megah - Indonesia
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
- Miang Besar Coal Terminal - Indonesia
- PTC India Limited - India
- San Jose City I Power Corp, Philippines
- Bharathi Cement Corporation - India
- Cigading International Bulk Terminal - Indonesia
- Indian Energy Exchange, India
- Latin American Coal - Colombia
- Aditya Birla Group - India
- Intertek Mineral Services - Indonesia
- Carbofer General Trading SA - India
- Globalindo Alam Lestari - Indonesia
- Lanco Infratech Ltd - India
- Petron Corporation, Philippines
- TNB Fuel Sdn Bhd - Malaysia
- The University of Queensland
- Mintek Dendrill Indonesia
- Baramulti Group, Indonesia
- Bulk Trading Sa - Switzerland
- Videocon Industries ltd - India
- Central Electricity Authority - India
- Asia Pacific Energy Resources Ventures Inc, Philippines
- Africa Commodities Group - South Africa
- Chamber of Mines of South Africa
- Goldman Sachs - Singapore
- SMG Consultants - Indonesia
- Offshore Bulk Terminal Pte Ltd, Singapore
- LBH Netherlands Bv - Netherlands
- Sakthi Sugars Limited - India
- Petrochimia International Co. Ltd.- Taiwan
- Madhucon Powers Ltd - India
- IHS Mccloskey Coal Group - USA
- Global Business Power Corporation, Philippines
- Savvy Resources Ltd - HongKong
- Holcim Trading Pte Ltd - Singapore
- Vizag Seaport Private Limited - India
- SN Aboitiz Power Inc, Philippines
- Minerals Council of Australia
- Deloitte Consulting - India
- Gujarat Sidhee Cement - India
- Energy Development Corp, Philippines
- Bukit Asam (Persero) Tbk - Indonesia
- TeaM Sual Corporation - Philippines
- Asmin Koalindo Tuhup - Indonesia
- Semirara Mining Corp, Philippines
- Chettinad Cement Corporation Ltd - India
- Coalindo Energy - Indonesia
- Global Coal Blending Company Limited - Australia
- Bhoruka Overseas - Indonesia
- Kartika Selabumi Mining - Indonesia
- Agrawal Coal Company - India
- CIMB Investment Bank - Malaysia
- Kideco Jaya Agung - Indonesia
- Karaikal Port Pvt Ltd - India
- Pipit Mutiara Jaya. PT, Indonesia
- Australian Coal Association
- International Coal Ventures Pvt Ltd - India
- Central Java Power - Indonesia
- Bhushan Steel Limited - India
- Edison Trading Spa - Italy
- Dong Bac Coal Mineral Investment Coporation - Vietnam
- PowerSource Philippines DevCo
- Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited - India
- Oldendorff Carriers - Singapore
- Sarangani Energy Corporation, Philippines
- Mercuria Energy - Indonesia
- Directorate Of Revenue Intelligence - India
- Kalimantan Lumbung Energi - Indonesia
- Standard Chartered Bank - UAE
- Independent Power Producers Association of India
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