Page 23: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (January 2002)

News I

EU Ministers Fail To Agree On Shipbuilding Aid

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This year's European Council meeting of

European industry ministers, which occurred on

December 5 focused on shipbuilding and the

Commission that was presented to the Industry

Council in May 2001 on the situation of world shipbuilding.

Once again, the conclusions pointed to anti- competitive practices by South Korean ship- yards such as: debt forgiveness, debt moratoria. advantageous refund credits, fresh credits and guarantees, allowing them to offer ships at below-cost prices.

Efforts to address these unfair practices through bi-lateral talks with South Korean authorities failed, and the Commission adopted a two-pronged strategy to improve the situation: a request for dispute settlement at the World

Trade Organization and a Temporary Defensive

Mechanism for the EU shipbuilding industry.

The Commission has insisted that both ele- ments of the proposed strategy would have to be implemented in combination.

In the Council, however, there has been unan- imous support for the first element but not for the second. Indeed, on the issue of EU ship- building aids, the Member States have been divided into two blocks: the Scandinavian coun- tries, the U.K. and the Netherlands, who contin- ued to be firmly against the granting of any aid, and the Southern countries (Greece, Spain and

Italy) and Germany, who were in favor, with

France, being rather indecisive, in the middle.

The Temporary Defensive Mechanism would allow aid to those market segments in which the

Commission investigation found that EU indus- try has been considerably harmed by unfair

Korean trade practices, namely container ships and product and chemical tankers.

The Commission has emphasized, however, that the new mechanism must not result in dis- tortion of competition within the European

Union.

The main problem remains, however, that the

Council as a whole feels it is now up to the

Commission to launch a complaint against

South Korea at the WTO without waiting for new aid regimes to be implemented in Europe.

So far, the Commission has declined to separate the two.

M/V Industrial Challenger

Welcomed To U.S.-Flag Fleet

U.S. Secretary of Transportation Norman Y.

Mineta and Maritime Administrator Bill Schu- bert announced that Industrial Maritime Carri- ers will transfer a Challenger Class heavy-lift vessel from the Bahamian flag to the U.S. flag.

The 8.000 dwt vessel has two 200 mt electro- hydraulic cranes, a service speed of 16 knots and is ideally suited for project and heavy lift cargo.

M/V Industrial Challenger is the latest ship to benefit from an agreement between the U.S.

Coast Guard and the Maritime Administration (MarAd) that significantly reduces the time required to reflag certain vessels into the U.S. registry.

M/V Industrial Challenger will maintain the same name under the U.S. flag and will enroll in the Voluntary Intermodal Sealift Agreement (VISA) program sponsored by the MarAd and approved by the Department of Defense as its principal sealift readiness program.

CP Ships Secures Financing

CP Ships is in the process of closing a secured five-year revolving credit facility, $250 million of which is being underwritten by Citibank N.A.

Expected to be $350 million in total, closing of the underwritten portion of the facility is expect- ed by the end of the year.

The facility, which has been placed with banks with extensive experience of lending to the ship- ping industry, will be used primarily to finance

CP Ships' previously announced $800 million ship investment program.

The investment program, which continues as planned with deliveries of 10 new ships expect- ed from mid-2002 to mid-2003, will replace chartered ships with more economic ships specifically designed to match the requirements of CP Ships' regional trades.

CP Ships also has in place a secured $175 mil- lion revolving credit facility, which became effective on August 2, 2001.

The new facility replaces a planned $255 mil- lion private placement announced on September 21 by CP Ships' former parent, Canadian Pacif- ic Limited.

RCRA Violation Settled For $11.2 Million

Joint Press Releases were issued by the U.S.

Attorney for the Eastern District of New York and the Environmental Protection Agency stat- ing that hazardous waste charges under the

Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) have been settled with ExxonMobil

Corporation. ExxonMobil has agreed to pay $11.2 million, to perform cleanup at the facility, and to comply with applicable hazardous waste laws and regulations. The defendant operated a barge cleaning and vacuum-

Why wait for a welde 20 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News