KATHARINA STANZEL
We have not met or spoken to Katharina Stanzel, managing director of the tanker owners’ group, INTERTANKO. How we wish we had the opportunity. Ms Stanzel was the 2012 Personality of the Year Awardee of WISTA (Women’s International Shipping & Trading Association). WISTA-UK president Maria Dixon was kind enough to furnish us with some information about her that paints the picture of a multi-talented woman and visionary. (more…)
The escalating brutality of Somali pirates is appalling. But we don’t know what to make of the new anti-piracy campaign that was launched on the 1st of March by the same groups behind last year’s End Piracy Now! drive. The campaigners have dubbed it “Save Our Seafarers (SOS)” and they’re calling on people power – by the millions – to pressure governments to crack down on the maritime thugs. Have they been mesmerised by the revolt in Libya against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi? (more…)
The international shipping community is loudly cheering the recent rescues of the hijacked chemical tankers Samho Jewelry and Bunga Laurel. We’re glad as well, but we’re not about to hyperventilate. The successful commando operations are small triumphs in the protracted war on piracy. The problem is that more people may now look upon the use of force as the best – and even the only – way to deal with the Great Plague. Unfortunately, BIMCO and three other shipping associations do little to counter this gung-ho attitude in their joint press release, which we reproduce here in full. ~Barista Uno (more…)
