BIMCO’S latest idea
BIMCO’S latest idea
BIMCO has added an electronic version of the GENWAYBILL General Sea Waybill and Japan Shipping Exchange’s NIPPONSALE 1999 Memorandum of Agreement to its online document editing system, idea. These latest additions join the existing range of documents available on idea including conventional charter parties, such as GENCON 1994, and more specialised forms for shipmanagement and bareboat chartering, such as SHIPMAN 98. Subscribers to idea can open the GENWAYBILL and NIPPONSALE 1999 templates online which can then be completed on screen and e-mailed.
www.bimco.dk
Baltic unveils new look website
REPRESENTING over 500 shipbrokers, owners, operators and charterers, The Baltic Exchange has a lot of people to keep happy. It’s new website appears to fit the bill perfectly. Sporting new colours and a simple new design, the site tells you everything you ever wanted to know about the exchange, including its history, how to become a member, and a lot more besides.
The site also gives you access to market information including daily assessments on 42 wet and dry routes, weekly sale and purchase and demolition assessments and daily forward prices. Access to FFA information is available by subscription only but you can try before you buy with a free online trial. You can also find the answer to that constantly-posed question – what is an FFA?
Elsewhere on the site you will find an archive of press releases, contact details, copies of speeches given by the great and good of the Exchange and access to the latest issue of the Exchange’s official publication, The Baltic.
www.balticexchange.com
Wallem gets simulated
WALLEM Ship Management Ltd has opened a new maritime training centre in Mumbai. The new facility offers three new state-of-the-art simulators – Full Mission Ship Handling Simulation, Full Mission Engine Room Simulation and Liquid Cargo Handling Simulation.
“An important feature of the new simulators is that bridge and engine room can be linked so that bridge and engine room teams can be tried, tested and trained together. We can simulate faults in navigation choke areas such as the Singapore Straits and gauge how each of the teams react to the problems presented, ” explains Rob Grool, Wallem Group managing director. “This is a major step forward and will make a tremendous contribution to maritime safety.”
Wallem believes that the new facility will do much to add to the confidence of their seafarers as they face the increasingly difficult environment and play a vital role in building team-working and man-management skills within the managed fleet.
Shortly after the opening of the new centre, the Wallem Group signed a joint venture agreement with Qingdao Cosco to form Cosco Wallem Ship Management Company Ltd. The new company, which will offer third-party ship management services from the ship, has 13 ships, mainly bulk carriers, which are internationally-flagged, manned with Chinese crew and owned by third parties.
www.wallem.com
Web Watch corner
FOR over 75 years, International Transport Intermediaries Club (ITIC) has been providing specialist insurance to intermediaries in the transport industry. In recent years, a number of additions have been made to the club’s website. One of the most useful and innovative is the Credit Management Centre.
It’s not unusual for intermediaries, such as ship agents and managers, to provide services to companies that are completely unknown to them. Using the Credit Management Centre, members of ITIC can check online whether or not a ship or principal they are dealing with has ever been involved in a claim with the Club. As the Club points out, establishing who the principal is and whether they are a reliable payer is of great importance.
Members can also use the website to notify the Club of an unpaid debt online and authorise ITIC to contact the debtor on their behalf. They can also automatically e-mail any documents supporting their claim directly to the relevant ITIC account executive.
Verdict: As intermediaries, agents, brokers and owners can never be too careful when it comes to dealings with new vessels or owners. ITIC members at least have the reassurance of checking them out first, before it’s too late.