Porter honoured

Wednesday 15 October 2008

LLOYD’S LIST chief correspondent Janet Porter has been presented with the ‘Personality of the Year Award’ by the Women in Shipping & Trading Association UK.

The well deserved accolade has been awarded to Janet for her contribution to the shipping industry.

Her high profile stories are many, but her most notable was the award winning scoop of Maersk’s acquisition of P&O Nedlloyd.

Further glory beckons as her name will go forward to the international WISTA ‘Personality of the Year Award’ at the organisation’s annual bash this week.

Janet (left) is pictured receiving her award from the president of Wista UK, Maria Dixon.

Shakespearean twist

THE Duke of Gloucester is visiting the Port of Dover on Friday to officially open Kent’s marine festival, designed to attract more recruits for job opportunities at sea. The festival, to be toured by hundreds of young people interested in employment on the seven seas, will also be attended by Admiral the Lord Boyce, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

They will be welcomed to the venue at the modern cruise terminal by Dover Harbour Board’s chief executive, Bob Goldfield, who will conduct the VIPs on a tour of the 70-strong exhibition stands relating to the marine sector.

The cruise terminal is in the lee of Shakespeare Cliff, which might persuade the Duke to recall his namesake, Gloster, who according to William Shakespeare’s 17th century play King Lear had him and his son Edgar on the clifftop studying the gatherers of samphire — “that dreadful trade”— hanging on the cliff face as they collected the herb for pickling.

Shakespeare’s yarn gave birth to the naming of the 250 ft-high cliff and the gatherers to the naming by Eurotunnel and others, in the 20th century, of the acres of reclaimed land below — Samphire Hoe — now a popular leisure centre for anglers and walkers. It was formed from 4.9m cu m of chalk marl dug to create the Channel Tunnel.

Not over till it’s over

IT’S not over for the Polish shipyards, the Brussels rumour mill says.

Despite the firm intention of European Union Competition Commissioner Neelie Kroes to reject Warsaw’s ‘last chance’ restructuring deal, people even higher up the food chain are not so keen.

European Commission president Jose Barroso is one player to watch.

Barroso wants a second term in Brussels and so will want Poland on board when the decision is made. Saving the shipyards would make him a hero in Warsaw.

The French EU presidency is also nosing around, we hear. President Sarkozy is a believer in economic nationalism and would have a chance to prove it by intervening, as he loves to do.

Add in reports of daily improvements to the last and final offer: another €100m ($137m) in state aid has been taken off the table, we hear, and you get the picture that Kroes might be outmanoeuvred.

Beacon of light

NATIONAL Maritime Services of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, hosted a reception for friends of the London market at Trinity House at the end of last month.

The event underlined the importance of London as the premier maritime centre. Those attending included several eminent lawyers and P&I practitioners, including maritime lawyer of the year James Gosling. Also in attendance was Doug Barrow, chairman of Maritime London. Trinity House was an ideal venue with its rich history, and no-one was more appreciative than National’s Don Soutar whose great grandfather was born in a lighthouse.

Jailhouse rock

GOOD news — or not? We hear Birketts lawyer John Winn has escaped from jail despite his colleagues’ efforts to throw away the key.

Counting is still going on but Winn, a consultant with Birketts’ shipping team in Ipswich, has raised at least £1,400 ($2,460) for the town’s St Elizabeth Hospice — well over the £1,000 ‘bail’ required to gain his release. “About £1,400 has been pledged and/or paid — a sterling effort at a time when credit has been so severely ‘crunched’ and a remarkable ransom for a consultant,” he says. Winn says his release was secured despite his lawyer in the ‘case’, Birketts’ John Gynn, delivering the worst possible speech in mitigation: “You have him... we do not want him back.”

Winn says: “Many thanks indeed to all of the donors. For those who have yet to deliver on their promises — I know where you live!”

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