South East Shipping News

Haiti faces 30-year recovery: U.S. official

Mike Blanchfield, The Canadian Press

Sunday, May 27, 2012 - 20:15

People walk inside the Jean Marie Vincent camp for people displaced by the devastating 2010 earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on May 10, 2012. It will take Haiti the better part three decades to become a middle income country on par with its Caribbean island neighbour, the Dominican Republic, says the top U.S. official on the file. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP - Dieu Nalio Chery

OTTAWA - It will take Haiti the better part of three decades to become a middle income country on par with its Caribbean island neighbour, the Dominican Republic, says the top U.S. official on the file.

But Thomas Adams, the State Department's special co-ordinator for Haiti, told The Canadian Press that "realistic" estimate should not be seen as daunting to countries like Canada that are heavily invested in helping the Western Hemisphere's poorest country, still struggling after its devastating 2010 earthquake.

Nor should it deter investors, who are crucial to Haiti's long-term recovery, Adams added, as long as the country builds credible democratic institutions.

"There is no reason why Haiti can't become a middle income country. But because they're starting so low, it's going be to be 25-30 years even if they have good economic growth," Adams said in an exclusive interview, after two days of meetings in Ottawa with various government officials.

"It's not a quick fix. These problems in Haiti - their educational system, their health system, cholera, the infrastructure - these aren't quick fixes," he added.

"It's good to be realistic. That's not to say we're not making progress each year … But overall, you're not going to see a Haiti the way you'd like it for a while."

Forty years ago, Haiti was slightly ahead of the Dominican Republic economically, said Adams, with 20 large American corporations setting up their Caribbean headquarters there. The two countries share the Caribbean island of Hispaniola.

Adams sees economic growth for Haiti in textiles, agriculture and tourism.

"Haiti needs private investment. All the donor money, as generous as it is - and I think Canada and a lot of countries have been very generous - isn't enough to fix Haiti."

The U.S. and Canada, said Adams, remain in lock-step when it comes to helping Haiti recover from the devastating January 2010 earthquake that left 300,000 dead and displaced 1.5 million. Canada has pledged more than $1 billion to Haiti, making it the second largest aid recipient after Afghanistan.

That co-operation extends to co-ordinated messaging of Haiti's political leaders, to break the political paralysis of the last year - a crisis that has raised serious questions about the country's ability to stave off corruption and govern itself effectively.

That crisis appeared to ease earlier this month when President Michel Martelly swore in a new prime minister, Laurent Lamothe, whose predecessor resigned in February after barely four months on the job.

The turmoil rendered Haiti's government rudderless and left billions of dollars of donor pledges in limbo.

"That's pretty much over," said Adams. "There's a truce between the president and the parliament. It seems they're willing to work together. The president has confidence in the new prime minister."

With Lamothe confirmed, parliamentary amendments will pave the way for elections of senators and local officials, as well as paving the way for reforms of the court system, said Adams.

Throughout it all, the Canadian and U.S. governments have continued to "give co-ordinated messages on some sensitive topics."

The underlying message can be boiled down to this: reign in the corruption and work together politically.

"That's one of our constant messages," Adams explained.

"We don't say, if you're not going to do X, Y, and Z we're going to cut off all of your aid. But we do say, and Canada says, and everybody else says, over time businessmen and donors are going to go elsewhere if you're not seen as making your best efforts to curb corruption to bring in the rule of the law and be democratic.

"I think they're hearing that."

Diane Ablonczy, Canada's junior foreign affairs for the Americas, said Haitians are "crying out for leadership" so Canada is urging its leaders to step up and provide it.

"We are really urging the new government as its formed to emphasize and really roll up its sleeves and emphasize the need to deliver results for strong institutions in Haiti."

Adams also lauded Canada's former governor general, Haitian-born Michaelle Jean, as a key player in that co-ordinated communication effort with Haiti's leadership.

Jean, now the UNESCO Special Envoy for Haiti, travels to Haiti again this week, for meetings will political leaders. She'll also take part in events to highlight programs that help curb malnutrition and poverty.

Earlier this month, Jean laid bare her frustration with the pace of change in her native country during a recent speech in Ottawa to government officials and non-governmental organizations.

"The aid and handout system has become kind of a business model, a scheme used by some to wheel and deal as it generates opportunities for embezzlement and corruption," Jean said the text posted on her website.

"It can't go on like this."

Adams said that's the message the U.S., Canada and other allies continue to deliver to Haiti.

"We're on the same message too. Again, cut the chaos," he said. "That's all we're saying there: come on guys, let's keep our eye on the ball here."

 

The impending return of the PRI to power and what it means for business in Mexico

 

 

 

Despite ruling country for 71 years between 1929-2000, Mexico’s Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI) has been out of power for almost 12 years and has only recently regained its footing in national politics.

 

The right-of-center Partido Acción Nacional (PAN) has been at the helm since taking over the presidency in 2000 in what was declared to be Mexico’s first democratic elections. While the PAN has been in power for two consecutive terms, first under Vicente Fox Quesada (2000-2006) and then under Felipe Calderón Hinojosa (2006-2012), Mexico’s Presidency is likely to revert back to the PRI in this year’s presidential elections.

 

The PRI’s candidate, Enrique Peña Nieto, a former Governor of the State of Mexico, is the clear favorite among the top three contenders, and the election is his to lose. How did the PRI regain prominence after over a decade out of power and what would a return to the presidency mean for the country and the economy?

 

The resurgence of the PRI under Enrique Peña Nieto

The prospects of the PRI’s return to power in July’s presidential elections has as much to do with the erosion of support for the other two main parties—the PAN and the leftist Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD)—as it does with the strong candidacy of Enrique Peña Nieto.

 

The erosion of support for the ruling PAN party

In the case of the PAN, there is an overall feeling of disappointment in the way the party has led the country for the past 12 years. Mr. Fox, whose campaign promised a "government of change," was in effect a lame-duck president who lacked the ability and political shrewdness to pass Mexico’s most needed structural reforms, which languished in the opposition-controlled Congress. Mr. Calderón scraped into office on the narrowest of margins in what remains a highly controversial election against his then-rival, Andrés Manuel López Obrador of the PRD. Calderón chose to focus his term on the fight against organized crime, and has been highly criticized for his administration’s tactics against the country’s principal drug cartels, which have yielded mixed results at best and have coincided with a rise in violence in several parts of the country (not to mention a significantly higher death toll than in years past, which has included many civilians).

 

The growing feeling of insecurity within the country has been compounded by a perceived increase in poverty and unemployment. And while nominal GDP growth reached 4% in 2011, Mexico needs much faster growth to absorb the sizeable number of unemployed workers and new job applicants entering the labor market every year—not to mention to make a dent in the sizeable informal sector. Moreover, the Calderón administration has been equally as unsuccessful in passing key reforms Mexico depends on to grow at its full potential and enhance its economic and business environment, mainly due to a lack of consensus among parties and the PAN’s lack of congressional majority.

 

Stalled reforms include, among others, much-needed changes to the tax system (to broaden the tax base and reduce reliance on PEMEX for government revenue); labor markets (to ease expansion and contraction of the labor force and reduce the influence of certain unions); the energy sector (to enable PEMEX to operate like a business and collaborate with private-sector firms); market competitiveness (to reduce the influence of monopolies and remedy critical skills shortages); and law enforcement (to improve the professionalization of the police, prison, and court systems in particular). As a result, it is unlikely that Josefina Vazquez Mota, the PAN candidate, will be able to keep her party in Los Pinos.

 

The decline of López Obrador

Meanwhile, Mr. López Obrador returns as the candidate for Mexico’s PRD. While Mr. López Obrador is a formidable campaigner and has traveled extensively across the country to canvas support for his candidacy after being declared the runner-up in 2006, his chances of getting elected this time around remain slim. He lost much goodwill and political capital with his harsh reaction to losing the 2006 election—which included condoning the takeover and organized sitin on Mexico City’s Paseo de la Reforma (one of the capital’s most prestigious and symbolic avenues) with paid protestors for over a month, and declaring himself the “legitimate president” in defiance of Calderón’s swearing-in as the new head of state. His actions at the time left him looking a like a sore loser and compromised political figure in the eyes of swing voters—a key electoral constituency in the upcoming vote (comprising an estimated 20% of voting-age adults in the latest polls). Furthermore, while Mr. López Obrador has recently—and somewhat belatedly—begun courting the private sector and key business leaders, many question how some of his political promises will withstand economic scrutiny and the pressure to honor longstanding trading relationships and open market principles.

 

The rise of Peña Nieto

In contrast to the relative weakness of the PRD and PAN campaigns (which were the two leading parties who fought a neck-to neck race in 2006), The PRI has returned from the political wilderness with a strong, focused, and politically unified campaign centered around Enrique Peña Nieto as the sole, undisputed standard bearer of the party’s fortunes in the upcoming election. Bringing a rejuvenating face to the party that ran Mexico for over 70 years, Mr. Peña Nieto rose through the ranks of the PRI as the protégé of powerful party leaders, and has been groomed for high office ever since rising to prominence as Governor of Mexico State from 2005- 2011. Under the guidance of the PRI’s power brokers and the party elders he is aligned with, Mr. Peña Nieto has rallied other factions to his cause—in an unusual show of party unity—with the sole purpose of bringing the party back to power. Moreover, his staggering good looks, his marriage to a popular Mexican soap-opera actress, and his tightly scripted public appearances have made him into a celebrity public icon. His campaign staff quickly came to realize that these assets, combined with smart positioning of their candidate as the antidote to the general disappointment with the ruling PAN party, are the PRI’s best allies for a winning campaign.

 

So far, Mr. Peña Nieto has been shrewd about not making outlandish commitments; he remains at the top of the polls, with a 20-point lead over his nearest rival. Barring some dramatic missteps in the final 2-month stretch, he is likely to win by a significant margin. The question is, what will happen once the PRI returns to power? Can Mexico expect a return of old-school PRI politics or will Mr. Pena Nieto assert himself and chart a new course for the country?

 

 

What to expect under the PRI

That the PRI will return to power is not in and of itself indicative of the economic policies that a PRI administration would likely adopt for the coming six years. Indeed, no single economic philosophy defines the party: during its 71-year rule, the PRI—and the country—experienced a dramatic shift from left-wing, socialist economic orthodoxy to business-friendly, market-opening politics typically associated with right-of-center parties. President Lázaro Cárdenas del Río (in power from 1934-1940), for instance, promoted the nationalization of the oil industry and the creation of Petróleos de México (PEMEX)—the state-run oil company, which to this day still account`s for 33% of the federal government’s revenues. At the other end of the spectrum, President Carlos Salinas de Gortari (in office from1988-1994) promoted the privatization of state-run companies such as Teléfonos de México (Telmex) and the banking services, as well as Mexico’s entry into the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). That said, it must be noted that Mr. Peña Nieto is very close to Mr. Salinas de Gortari, who is commonly referred to as his political godfather, which may suggest he will remain aligned with the market-oriented policies of the former president (and his successors from both the PRI and the PAN in Los Pinos).

 

 

Policy areas likely to remain unchanged

Indeed, in many regards, a Peña Nieto administration would mean continuity for general economic conditions and the prevailing business environment:

•From the macroeconomic perspective, Mexico will likely experience continuity of its current policies, favoring a positive economic environment, low inflation rates, and an autonomous central bank.•As per foreign policy, the fight against organized crime and drug cartels would remain the center of bilateral relations between the United States and Mexico. The United States will remain Mexico’s leading trade partner, though Mr. Peña Nieto’s administration will likely seek to diversify exports, notably to other Latin American countries as well as China and Europe. He will rely on Mexico’s wide network of free trade agreements and will likely urge greater investment by China to facilitate the recovery of exports, especially as consumer demand strengthens in the United States. His administration will continue to reduce tariff and non-tariff barriers, but quotas will most likely persist for sensitive products such as clothing, footwear, the publishing industry, and agricultural products

 

.•Mexico will continue to have open policies towards foreign investment, especially in manufacturing. The financial services industry is likely to continue growing, attracting foreign direct investment, especially from private pension funds, as well as in debt and equity markets.

 

•While Mr. Peña Nieto recognizes the shortfalls of the education system, his administration would offer little-to-no prospect of substantive education reform, mainly because of the continued political clout of the powerful teachers’ union. The result will be continued skills shortages, favoring the proliferation of low-skill manufacturing jobs at the expense of R&D or other jobs requiring highly skilled workers.

 

•Mr. Peña Nieto also recognizes the need for comprehensive labor reform, and has campaigned for broadening social security, pensions, and unemployment insurance. However, his administration is unlikely to address such a politically sensitive reform.Select changes that could affect business

The more likely changes would likely come in select sectors and would be consistent with Mr. Peña Nieto’s previous priorities as Governor and representative of his ties to specific business interests:

 

•Infrastructure development will likely play a key role within Mr. Peña Nieto’s agenda, as his administration would seek to collaborate with private firms for the construction of multimodal infrastructure corridors, replicating an approach he widely used during his tenure as Governor.

 

•On the business front, Mr. Peña Nieto could well direct the competition commission to crack down on monopolistic practices, on the grounds that it will promote higher levels of competitiveness. Yet, in truth, his administration’s priorities in this regard would be dictated by his strong ties to select business interests. If he chooses to focus on breaking up monopolies, Mr. Peña Nieto will likely begin with an incremental liberalization of the telecommunications industry, which is currently dominated by TELMEX for landlines (80% market share) and Telcel for mobile lines (71% market share), but given his close ties to Televisa, the liberalization of media—and, specifically, television—markets will likely be a second-tier priority. It is unlikely that Mr. Peña Nieto will confront PEMEX; however, he may push for a greater degree of collaboration with foreign firms towards the end of his term (but only if he has sufficient political capital to warrant it).

 

•With regard to stimulating the business environment, there is good chance that Mr. Peña Nieto will press to reduce bureaucratic procedures for business startups, cutting back on red tape and promoting the expansion of fast-track schemes. This would be part of a more complete fiscal package that would seek to simplify the tax system, broaden the tax base, and place greater emphasis on VAT collection. Nevertheless, short-term tax collections will continue to rely on large companies and revenues from PEMEX.Continuity is more likely than dramatic change

 

The PRI is unlikely to secure a congressional majority within the next six years, which means that just like his two PAN predecessors, Mr. Peña Nieto will have to negotiate passage of key reform bills with opposition parties—most likely the PAN (especially on the economic front). Yet while the PAN may agree with some of these reforms on ideological grounds, the party may choose to obstruct Mr. Peña Nieto’s agenda on political grounds—just as the PRI itself has done repeatedly with presidents Calderón and Fox. The result would be further gridlock and watered down bills that Mexico can ill afford. Mr. Peña Nieto’s political maneuverability will be put to the test.

 

In general terms, should the PRI win the 2012 presidential elections on July 1st,

the next administration will hold more of the same for Mexico. Substantial changes in the business and economic environment will be slow to take hold. Nevertheless, “slow and steady” is sometimes welcome news, especially in a global market with high volatility.

 

 

 

Guillaume Corpart is the Managing Director of Americas Market Intelligence and a veteran of Latin American competitive intelligence and strategy consulting.

Logistics must become more nimble, more flexible and more creative

By editor on May 3, 2012 Andrew Austin, CEO of Priority Freight examines some of the latest trends affecting the logistics industry.

 

Logistics – or at least the traditionally narrower definition of Transport – was long known as the barometer for industry, and an indication of the well-being, or otherwise, of the economy.  Increasing demand for logistics services would normally be the immediate precursor to an improved sense of well-being, followed by an increase in consumption in the marketplace.

The relative simplicity of this model has been replaced by the more complex supply-chain, where the shipment of goods itself is only one part of the equation. The supply-chain itself involves the multiple stages of collection of raw materials, the manufacture of products, to the eventual distribution of these products for their eventual sale or use, as well as coordinating the related marketing and IT requirements that such goods may generate. This complexity, together with the distances involved over which the supply-chain operates, has, at times, highlighted the vulnerability of the constituent parts and the various participants themselves.

The impact of recent natural disasters on the effectivity of the supply-chain has been well documented, but significant disruption can resulted from human error, of course, as well as for overtly political reasons. Recent changes in the issuing of road haulage permits and in Russian customs procedures has led to significant queues of vehicles being formed on the approaches to the Russian border, thus delaying the effective transit of goods into that country. Apart from being expensive in terms of idle trucks sitting awaiting resolution, the capacity in the marketplace reduces.

Additionally, the recent explosion at the plant producing Nylon-12 resin in Germany - which is widely used as a product to coat automotive braking systems – has brought another challenge to the sector, and created a potential supply-chain interruption of some magnitude, due to the market share of production requirements that the product held, and the immediate difficulty in sourcing a replacement.

Some will read this and be unaffected by these two specific events, and others will be, of course, and that is the nature of this broad church of logistics. In reality they only serve to illustrate that all of us engaged in the supply-chain will, at some point, and possibly regularly, meet and have to deal with such challenges. That much is well known, but our response requires more than a knee-jerk response to the given situation, but instead a measured and determined one.

Much has changed in the logistics industry – global events carry more significance than they once did, and bring with them the need to understand the complexities of operating in these global markets.  Additionally, the cost and time components of the global supply-chain mean that logistics now receives a higher profile within most organisations, and with it, a commensurate expectation to deliver and perform appropriately.

It is as an industry, therefore, that those involved in logistics seek to exceed the expectations of those who commission us, and invest in the appropriate intellect and experience to provide the requisite continuous improvement within our businesses. Increasingly the sector is required to show that it has the wherewithal to operate efficiently on a global stage, with a comprehensive knowledge of local operating nuances, too.

All very well, you say, but I can’t afford that, and I can’t presume to argue with you. All I can say is that events over the last few years have shown us, as an industry, that we continue to need to be more nimble, more flexible, more creative. Logistics has got to keep on moving.

TESTIMONY-BY: PAUL COZZA, PRESIDENT CSL International

AFFILIATION: CSL INTERNATIONAL

 

 

Statement of Paul Cozza President CSL International

Committee on House Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation

April 26, 2012

I. Introduction

Good morning Chairman LoBiondo, Ranking Member Larsen, and distinguished members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for inviting me to testify. I am Paul Cozza, President of CSL International. We are a U.S.-based shipping company, concentrating in Self Unloading Bulk ships on international Short Sea routes. We are headquartered in Massachusetts, and are a subsidiary of Canada Steamship Lines based in Montreal.

CSL International specializes in the marine transportation and handling of dry-bulk. We also have offices in the U.K., Norway, Singapore, Australia, Indonesia, and Canada. We own and operate the largest fleet of self-unloading vessels in the world, serving clients in industries ranging from building and construction to agriculture. Self-unloading vessels serve a special sector of the dry-bulk shipping industry, with their self-contained and automated equipment offering high levels of speed, efficiency and environmental advantages.

I appreciate the opportunity to appear before you today to make two main points:

First, I will demonstrate the economic contribution and environmental value of the Short Sea Shipping industry. In summary, Short Sea Shipping is the coastal movement of cargo on the water that does not cross an ocean and could also in some instances be served by rail or truck transportation. We are able to transport cargo more efficiently and with far lower environmental impacts than trucks or trains. For instance, while a truck can carry one ton of cargo approximately 155 miles on a gallon of diesel fuel, and a train can transport that same cargo 413 miles, an average CSL vessel can outperform both, moving the cargo an impressive 1100 miles on that same gallon of fuel. Nevertheless, CSL is presently engaged in a major effort to recapitalize our fleet to make it even "greener."

Second, I would like to bring to the Subcommittee's attention the impact the North American Emission Control Area ("EGA.") will have on our industry and offer a solution that achieves equivalent environmental goals without sacrificing the environmental benefits that Short Sea Shipping provides. Implemented under Annex VI of the International Convention to Prevent Pollution from Ships ("MARPOL"), the ECA establishes sea- going vessel air quality standards for a 200-mile area around the coastline of the U.S. and Canada and sets limits on the sulfur content of fuel used within the ECA. The ECA standards are far more strict than will be imposed anywhere else in the world, both in terms of the distance the ECA extends from shore and the level of permitted fuel sulfur content. We are concerned the 200-mile ECA is too stringent for some vessels and may not provide any appreciable environmental benefit beyond 50 miles for lower horsepower ships, such as CSL's and those of other Short Sea Shipping companies.

More specifically, by August 1, 2012, sea-going vessels operating in the ECA must use fuel with no more than a 1% sulfur content. We at CSL are prepared to meet and support that standard despite the resulting, not insignificant, increase in operating costs. The 2012 fuel price impacts, for CSL as an example, while sustainable, will still be measured in millions of dollars.

By August 1, 2015, in accordance with the aforementioned Annex VI agreement, vessels operating within the ECA will be required to use an ultra-low 0.1% sulfur fuel which is a marine diesel. Significantly, prices for this ultra-low sulfur fuel to the extent the fuel is available will raise our cargo rates and challenge our business and more importantly the customers we serve. Marine diesel fuel has different flash point specifications than road diesel which means we can't simply adjust to a "generic" low sulfur diesel fuel. Because we trade in near-shore routes, typically not beyond 100 miles from the coast, our vessels must use the reduced sulfur fuel nearly all the time, as opposed to trans-ocean-going vessels which only need this fuel when transiting the ECA on the way into and out of port, which in many cases only represents less than 10% of a voyage. Outside the ECA, ships may use up to 3.5% sulfur fuel.

Although well-intended, flaws in current ECA regulations will jeopardize the Short Sea Shipping sector. Indeed, based on supply issues, we are concerned that compliant North American marine fuel prices could nearly double in 2015. The anticipated increase in 2015 fuel costs using the ultra-low sulfur fuel will hamper marine competition and could cause a modal shift from energy efficient short sea ships to higher emitting shore-based rail and truck modes, with the unintended consequence of creating more congestion (in systems that, in many cases, are already stretched to their breaking points) as well as increased air pollution closer to population centers.

CSL, working in concert with our customers, also forecasts that the resulting higher transportation costs in 2015 will negatively affect their businesses. Approximately two-thirds of the cargo that we ship is in support of the construction industry in the U.S.; therefore, this regulation mandated cost increase has strong potential to negatively impact both commercial and residential economic development in the U.S.

CSL fully recognizes and supports the value of reducing its carbon footprint as well as emissions of other pollutants associated with marine transport. To better understand the self- unloading vessel's impact on air quality, we commissioned a study to analyze our ships' emissions using the emissions modeling approach (the "CALPUFF" model) that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") itself used in the ECA development process. The study indicated that air quality impacts from lower horsepower ships diminished as the ships moved further away from the coast - with a sharp drop in impact at about 39 miles offshore.

Given these facts and objectives, CSL International believes efforts should be made to align the environmental goals of the ECA with the U.S. Maritime Administration's ("MarAd") 2010 Marine Highway Program. This program seeks to "use the waterways to relieve landside congestion and attain other benefits that waterborne transportation can offer in the form of reduced greenhouse gas emissions and energy savings."

As Mar Ad further explained, "From an environmental perspective... short sea shipping can offer air quality improvement, reduce traffic and mitigate noise pollution."1

Accordingly, we urge policy makers, namely Congress and the EPA in consultation with the U.S. Coast Guard and MarAd, to revisit the ECA boundary and reduce the 200 nautical mile ECA to 50 miles for 0.1% sulfur fuels (in 2015) for lower emitting ships of 20,000 horsepower and below. This revision will move away from the current "one size fits all" regulation and align with scientifically based approach which achieves the same environmental protection goals.

In summary, CSL supports and endorses environmental initiatives in marine transportation. For over 150 years, the CSL Group has pioneered technology that makes seaborne dry-bulk transportation more environmentally efficient. We are investing millions of dollars in a fleet renewal program that will significantly reduce our environmental footprint. We also firmly believe that the aforementioned ECA regulations, as presently prescribed, need to be modified as outlined. Through scientific testing, our proposal does not have a negative environmental impact on the coast and will not contribute to a modal-shift impacts or negative economic impacts to the building and construction industry.

If you would like further information, I have left our full report and additional details in a longer written testimony. Thank you very much for this opportunity. I will be pleased to answer any questions that you have.

II. CSL International

CSL International has been permanently established in Beverly, Massachusetts since 1992. CSL International owns, co-owns, or manages through a pool agreement, 41 ships, most of which operate in North America. In addition to managing the extensive North American fleet, CSL International also oversees its international operations with offices in the United Kingdom, Norway, Singapore, Indonesia, Australia and Canada. Through Short Sea Shipping routes, CSL serves major North American industrial customers such as U.S. Gypsum, National Gypsum, GP Gypsum, Martin Marietta, Vulica, Polaris Materials, and RG Steel, to name a few.

Recognizing the environmental benefit, CSL has also already started using fuels with lower sulfur well ahead of international requirements. Last year, CSL's fleet averaged fuel sulfur levels under 2.2% when the world standard was 4.5%. We are still ahead of the curve even with a recent global fuel sulfur reduction to 3.5% which started in January of 2012.

Moreover, to improve our efficiency and further reduce our environmental footprint, we are currently recapitalizing our fleet with nine new state-of-the-art "Trillium"-classed ships. They will be equipped with the latest environmental protection technology and the lowest available emission engines. Our first new vessel will start trading on the East Coast this Fall. It will be among the cleanest-operating vessels on the market. The massive new building project is relatively unprecedented, especially in our current economy, but we think the time is right to enhance the efficiency and sustainability of our fleet.

III. Short Sea Shipping's Environmental and Economic Value

CSL also founded the Short Sea Shipping Coalition in 2011 to promote the environmental benefits of short sea trade. The informal coalition is comprised of industry leaders who depend on Short Sea Shipping, as well as short sea providers and non- government agencies. The coalition promotes tough, performance- based air emission standards for smaller and efficient vessels in the short sea trade. Current partners in the Short Sea Shipping Coalition include:

CSL International Martin Marietta

Polaris

Vulica

U.S. Gypsum

Desgagnse Transport

 

Short Sea Shipping's Environmental Value

Sometimes referred to in the U.S. as the "marine highway," Short Sea Shipping is the movement of people and cargo on water routes that do not cross an ocean that, in some instances, could also be served by truck or rail. Due to its coastal nature, North American Short Sea Shipping is commonly comprised of vessels Panamax size and smaller (can transit the Panama Canal (approximately 60-80,000 deadweight tons and 800+ feet in length)), typically not exceeding 20,000 propulsion horsepower. Short Sea Shipping is an important component of the global strategy to improve air quality by reducing land based congestion and subsequent air pollution from less efficient truck and rail carriers.

Policymakers have undervalued the inherent environmental value in transporting people and cargo via ship in the creation of the North American ECA. Marine transport offers three main environmental benefits: (1) increased energy efficiency, (2) decreased carbon and sulfur dioxide emissions, and (3) reduced congestion, especially in urban areas.

Modal Comparison

Regarding energy efficiency, according to Maritime Administration's 2011 Report to Congress: "Trucks, on average, can carry one ton of freight for approximately 155 miles on a gallon of diesel fuel (i.e., 155 ton-miles of freight per gallon - equivalent to 842 British Thermal Units (BTU) per ton-mile); Rail achieves 413 ton-miles of freight per gallon (i.e., 316 BTU per ton-mile); and A tug-and-barge operation can get as much as 576 ton-miles of freight to a gallon of fuel (227 BTU per ton- mile)."

Additionally, self-propelled oceangoing vessels, such as short sea ships, can have significant energy efficiencies over land- based modes beyond those achieved by tug and barge. Specifically, our vessels achieve rates in excess of 1,100 ton-miles of freight per gallon . This mode of transport is thus seven times more efficient than truck and two-and-a-half times more efficient than the rail industry.

While the aforementioned was offered in the Maritime Administration's 2011 Report to Congress, the below image represents a separate analysis by CSL which shows the same trends.

Further, as "the most energy-efficient means of moving cargo between two points," marine transport "offers corresponding reductions per ton-mile in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions." In fact, examining the range of typical CO2 efficiencies for various loaded cargo carriers; bulk ships produce an average of 2.7 grams of CO2 per ton-mile while trains range from 10-119 grams per ton- mile. Trucks, by comparison, are the most inefficient of the transportation options ranging from 80-181 grams of CO2 per ton- mile (data excerpted).2 Overall, "international shipping is currently estimated to have emitted 870 million tons of CO2 in 2007, no more than about 2.7% of the global total of that year."

According to the Maritime Administration's report to Congress delivered in April 2011, water transportation "is available to bring significant freight congestion relief along certain corridors. A study for U.S. Department of Transportation estimated that there were a total of approximately 78.2 million trailer loads of highway and rail intermodal cargo that moved between origins and destinations 500 miles apart along the United States contiguous coasts in 2003. This long-haul coastal truck and intermodal traffic accounted for 15 percent of total 527 million trailer loads of United States intercity truck and intermodal rail traffic in 2003."

C. Short Sea Shipping's Economic Value

In addition to its environmental benefits, the short sea shipping industry is also an important contributor to the North American economy. Based on an October 18, 2011 study titled: "The Economics of the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence Seaway System."

Short Sea Shipping on the Great Lakes alone annually contributes -

$33.6 billion in economic activity;

227,000 United States and Canadian jobs; and

$4.6 billion in United States and Canadian tax revenue

Additionally, Short Sea Shipping services many important domestic trade routes, moving a wide range of dry bulk cargo efficiently and affordably. Some of these trade routes are set forth below:

IV. Regulatory Background MARPOL Annex VI and the ECA

MARPOL Annex VI seeks to minimize airborne emissions from ships including Sulfur Oxides (SOx), Nitrogen Oxides (NOx), Ozone Depleting Substances, Particulate Matter (PM), and Volatile Organic Compounds.

Annex VI has been implemented along the following timeline:

1997: Annex VI (Regulations for the Prevention of Air Pollution from Ships) was added to the MARPOL Convention.

2005: The requirements of Annex VI internationally entered into force on May 19. Among the various technical and operational emission reducing measures outlined in Annex VI is the option for member states to establish ECAs in their domestic waters.

2005: Canada domestically ratified Annex VI allowing domestic enforcement and the eligibility to apply for any ECA.

2008: The United States ratified Annex VI.

2009: Annex VI entered into force domestically on January 8, making the United States eligible to domestically enforce the Annex and also to apply for an ECA. In the United States, Annex VI is applied via the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, 33 USC. 1901 etseq. ("APPS").

2010: The International Maritime Organization (IMO) approved a joint application by the United States and Canada for the creation of an ECA via Marine Environment Protection Committee (MEPC) 59/6/5 entitled "Proposal to Designate an Emission Control Area for Nitrogen Oxides, Sulfur Oxides, and Particulate Matter."

As explained above, the North American ECA is designed to reduce air pollution from shipping beyond the scope required for most portions of the globe. Strict 1% sulfur in fuel requirements will take effect in the new 200 nautical mile North American ECA on August 1, 2012. Starting in 2015, however, the ECA fuel sulfur limit is mandated to be not more than 0.1 percent. By comparison, a world-wide fuel sulfur limit of 0.5% takes effect in the year 2020.

In comparison, the U.S. adopted an ECA for the Caribbean Sea area around Puerto Rico in July 2011 with a geographical area of approximately 40 x 50 nautical miles. The U.S. used very similar environmental and health statistics to justify the 50 nautical mile ECA for this region as it did when justifying the 200 nautical mile North American ECA on both coasts of the United States and Canada.

V. Independent Study

In an effort to best understand the ECA-related air quality issues, the Short Sea Shipping Coalition commissioned Drs. Ranajit Sahu and H. Andrew Gray to formally study low horsepower ships as a demographic of the larger maritime community for which the ECA was designed. (Dr. Sahu's and Dr. Gray's curriculum vitae are included in Exhibit A of the Report, and a copy has been formally submitted to the Subcommittee for the record.) The resulting report, entitled Modeling the Air Quality Impacts of Short Sea Shipping Emissions and the Implication for the North American Emission Control Area (ECA), analyzes short sea ship emissions using the same CALPUFF and meteorological modeling the EPA used to justify the current 200 nautical mile ECA. Additionally, 12 ships were selected to represent the "typical" short sea shipping vessel (from a propulsion horsepower perspective and therefore emissions basis). The study analyzes the impact of "worst case" short sea shipping vessels' emissions data on shore air quality.

The study indicates that the smaller ships (with corresponding lower horsepower propulsion systems) used in short sea trades, have virtually no environmental impact on the East or West Coasts of North America beyond 50 miles. More specifically, the results indicate that ships fitted with propulsion systems of 20,000 horse power (14,913 kW) or less had no (or negligible) air quality impact on the coasts even when using fuel with a sulfur content of 2.6% (i.e., with concentrations that the fuel CSL International currently uses) at 50 miles and beyond.

In addition to the greenhouse gas emissions discussed above, our sponsored study focused on sulfur dioxide (SO2), the major pollutant whose emissions will be affected by the fuel sulfur requirements in the ECA.

The S02 Standard

As background, the U.S. EPA has promulgated various National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)3 and thereby defined acceptable levels of major air pollutants, including for SO2 in the ambient air to which the public has general access. The purpose of the NAAQS is to protect the public health, including the health of "sensitive" populations such as asthmatics, children, and the elderly. The SO2 NAAQS were recently (June 2010) modified to add a 1-hour average standard of 75 parts per billion (ppb). This corresponds to a concentration of 196 micrograms per cubic meter. It is currently the most stringent SO2 standard in the U.S.

Analysis

Our analysis conservatively predicts that SO2 concentrations are well below the numerical value of the 1-hour SO2 NAAQS even when ships are at port. Moreover, this prediction is based on applying a fuel sulfur level of 2.6%, which, as stated above, is expected to drop to 1% fuel sulfur level in August 2012. The study also indicates that SO2 concentrations along the coasts drop off dramatically as the distance from the ship to shore increases. Thus, based on the modeling analysis, the outward extent of the ECA could be much smaller (on the order of 50 miles or smaller), while still not adversely impacting coastal air quality.

1. Eastern Domain

The largest ship (in terms of rating) used in the study for the eastern domain has an engine size of approximately 12000 kW. For a 12000 kW engine, the maximum hourly SO2 emissions using 2.6% sulfur in fuel is 9.91 * 12000/1000 = 120.6 kg/hr. The S02 emission rate using 1% sulfur in fuel is 3.81 * 12000/1000 = 46.4 kg/hr.

The calculated SO2 rates above are also conservative in that the engine load is typically 75% of its maximum power during a voyage (as opposed to 100% assumed in the study), and which is even lower as the ship approaches port. While in port, engine power may be a small fraction (20% to 40%) of its maximum power. Thus, the actual SO2 emission rates would be 20% to 75% of the rates calculated in the study or in the range of 24 kg/hr - 95 kg/hr for a 12000 kW ship with 2.6% sulfur in fuel and in the range of 9 kg/hr - 35 kg/hr for this same 12000 kW ship with 1% sulfur in fuel.

2. Western Domain

Similarly, the largest ship studied in the western domain is rated around 11500 kW. Using the same types of calculations above, the range of S02 emissions from a ship of this size will be 23 kg/hr - 91 kg/hr (maximum of 114 kg/hr) with 2.6 % sulfur in fuel and in the range of 8.6 kg/hr -34 kg/hr (maximum of 44 kg/hr) with 1% sulfur in fuel.

3. Results

Using the highest expected SO2 emission rate discussed above of 120.6 kg/hr (for the largest ship, at maximum power, emitting at exactly the meteorological conditions that would provide the highest impact, and assuming a fuel sulfur content of 2.6%), the highest modeled port 1hour SO2 concentration would be 1.156*120.6 = 139.4 micrograms/cubic meter: far lower than even the numerical value of the EPA SO2 NAAQS of 196.

The results demonstrate how insignificant the impact of these short-sea ships is on coastal air quality.

East Coast Offshore SO2 Dispersion

VI. Creating a "Win-Win"

The anticipated significant fuel cost increase in 2015 may trigger a modal shift, causing an unintended increase in land- based congestion and emissions that far exceed current short sea emissions.

This can be avoided by reducing the 2015 ECA to 50 miles for 0.1% sulfur fuels in 2015 for smaller ships.

A reduction in the ECA boundary for the 0.1% sulfur fuels in 2015 will deliver the same environmental benefits suggested while supporting an industry which is already a greener alternative. The flexibility in fuel options will assure economic sustainability to those companies already under strain from the recent recession.

Maximize the Marine Highway Program

The North American ECA, as currently defined, stands as an obstacle to realizing the environmental and economic potential of the Marine Highway Program. Again, referencing MarAd's 2011 Report to Congress, "Between 1980-2003 the tons per mile moved by inter-city truck increased by 128%. Also during this period, vehicle miles in the United States have increased by 50% creating more road congestion and noise than ever before."

Considering an average long haul truck can carry 26 tons of cargo and a Handy Size (approximately less than 60,000 dead weight tons with a length of 550-650 feet) short sea vessel can carry a pay load of over 50,000 tons, the short sea trade removes 1,923 trucks from American and Canadian roads, easing congestion and the emissions they produce. Similarly, the same ship would remove 819 rail cars, assuming a capacity of about 61 tons per rail car.

Enhanced Short Sea Shipping has the potential to keep additional low efficiency trucks from the road; lessen higher emitting rail volume; and improve social benefits including reduced road congestion and noise - all while maintaining the improved marine air quality standards called for in Annex VI. Unfortunately, this potential will not be realized if the industry is forced to comply with the ECA as it currently exists.

Precedents for Effective Alternatives

There have been several other examples of recent practical solutions entertained by the EPA, Transport Canada and Environment Canada in achieving mutual clean air goals.

1. Steamship Exemption

Following the adoption of Annex VI and the creation of the ECA, the United States recognized, the unique challenges faced by older steamships. The older vessels' obsolete technology proved to be incompatible with using ultra low sulfur marine distillate fuels. Thus, the United States formally exempted the entire demographic of steamships from the ECA requirements until 2020.

The United States' submission4 to the IMO was adopted at the 62nd session of the Marine Environmental Protection Committee in July of 2011.

Great Lakes Steamship Repower Incentive Program

Again, as the environmental and economic realities of the North American ECA continued to be assessed, the EPA recognized the environmental advantages of waiving the lower sulfur fuel requirements for Great Lakes steam ships [that were] repowered with more efficient modern diesel propulsion. In January of 2012, the EPA amended Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 1043 to incentivize Great Lakes steamship owners "to repower those steamships with cleaner marine diesel engines. The simplified program will automatically permit the use of residual fuel, through December 31, 2025, in a steamship if it has been repowered with a certified Tier 2 or later marine diesel engine, provided the steamship was operated exclusively on the Great Lakes and was in service on October 30, 2009."5

Fleet Averaging

Transport Canada, in an effort to ease devastating impacts to Canadian Great Lakes ship owners, proposed a Fleet Averaging Program which provides an alternative to improving air quality. The Fleet Averaging Program requires Canadian Great Lakes vessels to gradually reduce their fuel sulfur content from 2012-2020. The program permits a company's fleet of vessels to collectively meet pre-established annual fuel sulfur targets through the use of lower sulfur fuels, exhaust gas treatment, or a combination of measures. Transport Canada will oversee and monitor the industry to assure compliance. By 2020, each ship must individually meet the ECA 0.1% fuel sulfur content standard.

C. Recommendation

As responsible carriers, CSL and the Short Sea Shipping Coalition proudly support and promote the North American ECA. If properly drawn, it can serve as a valuable tool to reduce maritime contributions to global emissions. For the reasons set forth above, we seek to align the 2015 ECA to a sustainable size while exceeding air quality goals set by the EPA and Environment Canada through a performance-based approach.

Our study indicates that vessels of 20,000 horsepower are capable of meeting and exceeding desired air quality goals when using fuel with sulfur content of 2.6% at a distance of 50 miles.

Therefore, we recommend:

-- a 200 nautical mile ECA for 1% sulfur fuels, effective August 1, 2012 (as currently accepted);

-- a submission to the IMO Marine Environmental Protection Committee; an amendment to reduce the North American ECA to 50 miles for 0.1% sulfur fuels on vessels of less than 20,000 horsepower in 2015; and

-- a mechanism to indemnify vessel owners who are unable to purchase low sulfur (0.1% sulfur) fuel due to regional unavailability.

This alternative dovetails with the Maritime Administration's 2010 Marine Highway program and will best serve the coastal environment by comprehensively improving air quality while reducing risk, hazard, and inconvenience of over-used road and rail systems.

Copyright 2012 Congressional Quarterly, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Haiti: Where did the money go?

March 19th, 2012 | by Isabeau Doucet | Published in All Stories, Bureau Recommends

An estimated 50,000 Haitians set up camp on Port-au-Prince Golf Grounds

After the Caribbean fault lines ripped apart Port-au-Prince, one of the poorest and most densely populated capital cities in the world, over two years ago, Haiti became the recipient of the most generous outpouring of solidarity in the form of disaster relief donations in the history of the United States. One out of every two American households gave a stunning $1.4 billion to a total of 23 major charities, and the international community came together pledging an unprecedented $5 billion – the largest pot of post-disaster reconstruction money ever.

‘People [in Haiti] are very poor, but they’re not stupid. They’re very, very aware that the money was raised with their suffering and their poverty and it’s not being spent on them.’
Linda Polman, journalist and author. 

Here’s the catch: The vast majority of the jackpot was not donated directly to the Haitian people or their elected government, but rather to a proliferation of international NGOs with sophisticated PR apparatuses whose urgent emotional appeals, user friendly donation methods and humanitarian brands made them seem like the natural broker of the emergency aid funds.

The film Haiti: Where did the Money Go? has been aired on dozens of PBS channels across the US, on Capitol hill, in tent camps of Haiti and will today be screened at University of London Union (ULU), tomorrow in Oxford and should be available online in the coming weeks. Though it’s not the most in-depth piece of reporting on post-earthquake accountability in Haiti, and glosses over the country’s complicated history with NGOs, the film’s naiveté does an excellent job of communicating the shocking disparity between the outpouring of money and what’s actually spent on emergency relief for victims of the quake. More importantly, the wide-reach of PBS broadcast has sparked a much-needed debate on the transparency and effectiveness NGOs, which Haiti advocates and the congressional black caucus hope will lead to a congressional inquiry into the work of big NGOs.

A storm of criticism

The American Red Cross and Catholic Relief Service, among those interviewed at length in the film, hit back at PBS criticising the film for “inaccuracies”, “false statements” and “distortions” but their statements have only backfired to reveal how little they actually knew about conditions on the ground.

“We could have been so much harder on the American Red Cross” filmmaker Michele Mitchell told The Bureau of Investigative Journalism, but rather than admitting any regret, says Mitchell “they went nuclear on us.”  They would have been wiser to let the storm of criticism blow over, as their embarrassingly defensive reaction to the film has only confirmed the criticism that they’re more concerned about protecting their brand’s reputation than doing right by the intended beneficiaries of their aid.

During two visits to Haiti ten and twenty months after the earthquake, Mitchell interviews internally displaced camp residents, NGO spokespeople, aid workers, academics and human rights advocates, trying to track down the aid money in the tent camps where as many as 1.5 million displaced Haitians languished at the time.

Viewers accompany her through a visceral journey into a city that looks like it’s been shelled like “Beirut in the 70′s”, a city where the gagging stench of 6 latrines reveals them to be shared by 5,000 camp residents, where people often paid for their tarpaulins and were provided with water that made them sick.

Her first visit coincides with a period when Haiti was facing three full-blown humanitarian emergencies: post-earthquake internal displacement, the outbreak of cholera and hurricane Tomas. Though such simultaneous crises were unprecedented challenges for the UN and NGOs, they had 10 months to prepare for hurricane season and the high possibility of a cholera epidemic, and yet no plans were in place other than instructing camp residents to drop their tents and evacuate to higher ground as the hurricane passed.

Humanitarian code of conduct

There does exists a humanitarian code of conduct for the minimum needs of displaced populations, known as the SPHERE standards, however “there’s no legal requirement” to adhere, says Peter Walker of Tufts University who helped initiate the standard. Nor is there “an industry association that you’re a member of which requires you to deliver to those standard.” The SPHERE was never adhered to in Haiti and accountability often came down to the threat of bad press from journalists.

Haiti was famous for being the republic of NGOs and a graveyard of failed NGO projects even before the earthquake. In the aftermath, at the donor conference in New York where the international community came together to raise money to rebuild, “they swore on the graves of their mothers that this time it would be different” says Linda Polman, Dutch journalist and author whose caustic pen has produced several damning critiques of the NGO “aid caravan”, UN peacekeepers and the relief and reconstruction complex. “People are very poor, but they’re not stupid. They’re very, very aware that the money was raised with their suffering and their poverty and it’s not being spent on them.”

Most aid workers genuinely want to do good, but they also want to have a good time and don’t want to forsake their first world living standards, unfortunately that can look offensive, wasteful, parasitic to the victims on the ground whose tragedy pays their salary.

When asked where the money has gone one resident of an IDP camp says it has gone to “paying for beautiful hotels to sleep in.” The UN themselves say rents have gone up 300%. Mark Schuller, American Anthropologist at CUNY, who has conducted the most definitive field studies of aid in Haiti’s tent camps says “You can call it non-profiteering if you like, you can call it disaster capitalism if you like, but that’s what’s happening right now in Haiti.”

Across the street from a squalid camp where three latrines service an estimated 7, 000 people, fleets of white SUVs line the streets as aid workers and Haiti’s tiny elites frequent a luxury restaurant with an extensive wine menu, tuna tartar, escargot and New York steak at $34. Most aid workers genuinely want to do good, but they also want to have a good time and don’t want to forsake their first world living standards, unfortunately that can look offensive, wasteful, parasitic to the victims on the ground whose tragedy pays their salary.

The films biggest flaws are its over-reliance on American voices to tell of Haiti’s plight, only featuring Haitian voices as victims, while ignoring any Haitian government officials and their critiques of the relief effort.  Limited by the time spent shooting on the ground, the film’s critique of NGOs perhaps doesn’t go far enough, but its mainstream reach is bringing under scrutiny the very important topic of disaster and aid accountability.

March 2, 2012

Business as Government: Capitalizing on Disaster in Post-Earthquake Haiti

by DeepaPanchang

by Deepa Panchang and Beverly Bell

“I am optimistic that in 18 months, yes, we will be autonomous in our decisions. But right now I have to assume... that we are not.”[i] With these words, Haiti’s Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive watched a swath of his government’s decision-making power shift into foreign hands in early 2010.

• Sign from a Port-au-Prince protest in October 2011, declaring “IHRC = Occupation. Long live a sovereign Haiti.” Photo: Ansel Herz. •

It's one thing to privatize government services. Since the earthquake, US firms have actually been involved in privatizing governance – in fact, the governance of another country. Corporations with little to no knowledge of Haiti were brought in as volunteers to plan, kick off, and even staff the team with the single greatest operational influence over shaping the reconstruction model for the year after the quake, the Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission (IHRC).

The IHRC was created by the Haitian parliament in April 2010 to direct post-earthquake reconstruction. Its mandate was to oversee rebuilding efforts through the $11 billion in pledges of international aid, including approving policies, projects, and budgeting. The World Bank was to manage the money. In creating and investing this body with its broad power, Parliament conducted a constitutional coup on April 15. Whereas the constitution mandates shared governance by an executive, a parliament, and a judiciary, the IHRC shifted it to the executive and the international community. The Parliament voted to give the IHRC the power to do, effectively, whatever it wanted. The only oversight measure left the Haitian government was veto power by the president.[ii]

Given the corporate philosophies of the firms that designed it, the resultant features of the IHRC were hardly surprising. The IHRC’s 26 board members were elected by no one and were accountable to no one. Half were foreign, including representatives of other governments, multilateral financial institutions, and non-governmental organizations. An international development consultant contracted by the IHRC, speaking with the Haiti Support Group, said, “Look, you have to realize the IHRC was not intended to work as a structure or entity for Haiti or Haitians. It was simply designed as a vehicle for donors to funnel multinationals’ and NGOs’ project contracts.”[iii]

McKinsey and Company, a US management consulting firm, was one of the firms that came in to help "design" and "launch" the IHRC.[iv] A background interview with an official very close to the process showed the Haitian government at the beck and call of McKinsey as it structured the commission and determined membership and decision-making processes. (All these aspects later received vehement criticism from Haitian civil society.) At the very first meeting, according to official minutes, it was McKinsey’s lead consultants who “made a presentation to the Board regarding the mission, mandate, structure, and operations of the IHRC.”[v] The consultants sat in on subsequent meetings as well.[vi]

McKinsey & Co. performed its services pro bono. Whether paid or not, the post was a lucrative one; it well-positioned the firm both to influence future contracts and to shape a climate favorable to business. A 2010 World Economic Forum document explicitly stated that “McKinsey helps coordinate with partners to channel interest from the private sector and connect would-be donors and investors to opportunities in Haiti.”[vii]

McKinsey was a natural choice for the job because of its former managing director’s long-time personal and political ties to Bill Clinton, who serves as UN Special Envoy to Haiti and was co-chair of the IHRC board. The firm was also a prime candidate because it advances the paradigm of ‘government as business,’ serving many governments around the world.[viii] As one example, McKinsey played a key role in developing the framework for the reconstruction commissions in Indonesia and Sri Lanka after the Indian Ocean tsunami which, as with the IHRC, involved infusing foreign private sector individuals into policy-making. This was another case in which the local population was excluded from having a say in its own future following another disaster; civil society groups denounced the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Agency (BRR in Bahasa) for being extremely centralized and discounting civil society voices.[ix]

McKinsey came under fire again after Hurricane Katrina and the flood of New Orleans for work it had done prior to the storm. McKinsey helped major insurance companies develop tactics that stalled court proceedings and delayed payments that, in practice, allowed them to avoid paying out claims to their clients who suffered in natural disasters or accidents. Lawsuits against insurance companies asserted that McKinsey’s pre-Katrina advice, particularly to Allstate, effectively helped insurers cheat their customers.[x]

Another US firm, Korn/Ferry International, came on board to head-hunt the executive director of the IHRC. This was to replace the initial staffing that had been provided by the Clinton Foundation, International Development Bank, and the governments of the US and Canada.[xi] Korn/Ferry circulated a job announcement, in English, through politically connected circles in the US and Haiti, as though it were hiring for any profit-oriented business instead of for a team that was making major decisions in the name of a nation and its well-being. The announcement noted that, “Leadership experience in highly efficient and structured organizations, such as the military, is an advantage.”

Korn/Ferry provides recruitment services for both corporate and government positions, and keeps its finger on the pulse of the increasing overlap of the two. It even published a report encouraging companies to hire leadership with government and policy backgrounds and vice versa, in what it called a "new marriage between business and government.”[xii]

Vesting foreign enterprises with political power is fundamentally anti-democratic. If US firms’ performance in post-earthquake governance is any example, it is a frightening indicator of what might emerge with even greater participation in decision-making, as mandated by the redevelopment blueprint published in March 2010 by the Haitian government and international community.

As ineffectual as the Haitian government may be, its functions can’t be outsourced. Haiti needs a government with responsibility to the citizenry who elected it and the ability to protect their rights. The pursuits of foreign firms – making governance decisions about rebuilding, paving the way for other firms’ Haitian debuts, racking up humanitarian clout – have been at the expense of Haitians still struggling for basic needs and democratic power.
The public good requires a public sector which can guarantee health, education, adequate food, water, housing, employment, agriculture, and civil liberties. It requires more than unaccountable foreign agencies and private business that can and do pull out when they like.

Deepa Panchang is the Education and Outreach Coordinator for Other Worlds. She has worked in advocacy for human rights in Haiti since the 2010 earthquake.

Beverly Bell has worked with Haitian social movements for over 30 years. She is also author of the book Walking on Fire: Haitian Women's Stories of Survival and Resistance and is working on the forthcoming book, Fault Lines: Views across Haiti’s New Divide. She coordinates Other Worlds, which promotes social and economic alternatives. She is also associate fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies.
You can access all of Other Worlds’ past articles regarding post-earthquake Haiti here.

Copyleft Other Worlds. You may reprint this article in whole or in part. Please credit any text or original research you use to Deepa Panchang and Beverly Bell, Other Worlds.

   

 

 Ya just have to teach a cruise ship captain to back in between two bollards 

 

By PHIL REIMER, The Gazette February 11, 2012    Every new major invention that comes along is viewed with some skepticism in this space until it is proven. That was true with all the hype surrounding Oasis of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world at that time.

 

Did the ship match the hype? In that case, it did.

 

Usually technology is not the mandate of Ports and Bows. The column is designed to keep you informed about ports to visit, unique cruises, new ships, pricing, ships designed for all demographics . well, you get the idea.

 

Every once in a while, something unique comes along.

 

For example, the "something unique" in this column - if it's successful and if the item I'm about to describe can do what inventors claim it can do - could eliminate a lot of tendering.

 

It could also open up newer ports for less than 50 per cent of what is currently being spent on port infrastructure, and could be ready to go in nine months, rather than two years.

 

This invention is called SeaWalk. This portable walkway reaches out to a ship, like a gangway to a plane, only on water.

 

The ship backs into port, is attached at the bow to a fixed buoy, and is locked onto two bollards at the stern. SeaWalk then expands across the water, from shore to the nearest passenger exit, and is secured in short order, with space for passengers to walk to and from the ship throughout the day - with little or no environmental impact.

 

That last promise comes from Phil Crannell, President of Ports and Maritime Group International, and the man who will be selling it in North and South America.

 

According to him, "It's so innovative in moving passengers that I liken it to the first moving gangways that entered service in the port of Los Angeles in the '60s. The technology is suitable only for ports that have a protected ingress, and adequate water depth for a ship to come close to shore."

 

The team that invented SeaWalk is Asbjorn Nes, a partner in Cruise Ventures, along with Ole Heggheim and Arthur Kordt of European Cruise Service. The naval architect is Kai Levander.

 

Although they have no financial interest in the company, Carnival Corp. has shown interest in Sea-Walk.

 

Carnival Corp.'s Giora Israel saw the potential for SeaWalk and is making experts from his company's operations and nautical teams available to offer advice on its development.

 

If SeaWalk can be moved quickly in stormy weather, Carnival believes the invention has possibilities at ports in countries around the world.

 

After months of testing, the first unit will be going into the water this spring, and the first ship will be trying it out in August in Skjolden, Norway. That city is located in northern Norway and is that country's innermost port at the head of the longest navigable fjord, called Sognefjoren.

 

With the first ship expected to make official use of SeaWalk in August, that's when we will start to find out how paying passengers feel about using it to come and go during their day in port.

 

Visit portsandbows.com for daily updates on the latest cruise news, best deals and behind-the-scenes stories from the industry. You can also sign up for an email newsletter on the site for even more cruise information. Phil can be contacted directly at portsandbows@gmail. com

 

© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette

 

 

Customs and International Trade Law Blog - How to Export Your Motor Vehicle From the United States

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How to Export Your Motor Vehicle From the United States Posted: 02 Feb 2012 01:56 PM PST  Melissa Groisman   Exporting your Motor Vehicle out of the U.S. - A Quick Guide So you are moving abroad and want to bring your car with you? To comply with the provisions of 19 CFR Part 192, you will need to report this export to the Federal Government by presenting both the vehicle itself as well as a specific set of documents to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at least three (3) days prior to export. The following documents are required when exporting a traditional used motor vehicle abroad: Original Certificate of Title Original Letter of Intent - for vehicles exported by sea or air, a letter provided by the carrier and identifying the date of export (be aware of 72 hour rule), destination, vehicle owner, vehicle identification number, and authorized signature Export Power of Attorney - If the owner of the vehicle to be exported is not presenting the documents to CBP, a CBP Export Power of Attorney must be submitted and notarized, identifying the person submitting the documentation and signed by and identifying the ultimate purchaser/owner and the vehicle (by VIN). Letter of Authorization - If the vehicle to be exported is owned by a corporation, company or business entity, it must be accompanied by a notarized letter on official business letterhead authorizing an agent to act on its behalf. Lienholder Authorization - if the vehicle is leased or has a lien against it, there must be specific authorization allowing for the export of the vehicle on company letterhead. Copy of the photo identification of the person presenting the export documents. Copy of the photo identification of the owner of the vehicle if different from the presenter. As always, if you are unsure, consult with a professional. Penalties for failure to comply with CBP’s export requirements, aside from the inability to export your vehicle, could include monetary fines, liquidated damages, seizure of the vehicle, and/or demand for redelivery of the vehicle.   For any questions, contact Melissa Groisman at mgroisman@becker-poliakoff.com.

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Here comes those expert TSA terror watchers 

While two-out-of-five Americans are going to try to avoid air travel this holiday season to avoid TSA pat-downs, strip searches and never-ending security line-ups, they might not find comfort in the glimmering Greyhound stations across the US.

Don’t think a bus or train ticket will keep Uncle Sam from making your vacation this year uncomfortable. The Transportation Security Administration says that they are turning up the heat on potential problem-causers by installing more agents in not just airport checkpoints but in terminals for terrestrial traffic as well.

"We are not the Airport Security Administration," Ray Dineen, the air marshal in charge of the TSA office in Charlotte, tells the Los Angeles Times. "We take that transportation part seriously."

How serious? The TSA’s secret counter-terrorism team that tries to topple crimes in transportation centers have run more than 9,000 unannounced checkpoints and other search operations in 2011, and the Department of Homeland Security are asking for an extra $24 million for 2012 to organize even more teams to put in bus stations and Amtrak terminals next year.

Currently the TSA commands 25 “viper” teams — what they call the two-dozen-plus Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response units that conduct the checkpoints from coast-to-coast. The TSA can’t prove that the increase in 2011 did anything to keep crime down on the ground, but George Washington University’s Homeland Security Police Institute’s Frank Cilluffo tells the Times that they need to keep the terrorists “on edge.”

As a result, however, millions of law-abiding Americans that rely on public transportation to get around — whether plane, train or bus— are also being agitated. 93 million residents are expected to use airplanes to get around this holiday season, but more and more Americans are saying they are fed up with the intrusive and questionably legal procedures that the government is conducting to try to thwart terrorism. Even after recent weeks saw a scandal brew out of New York’s JFK International Airport after three elderly passengers complained in just as many days of overzealous pat-downs performed by the TSA, the Administration announced that “the vast majority” of travelers this year can expect to see increased security in airports.

Opponents of the increased security presence don’t see it as a safety precaution, however, and some say that it is only propelling America further into a totalitarian police state.

“This program represents nothing less than a direct assault on the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution,” Jay Stanley of the American Civil Liberties Union wrote on Tuesday. “It’s also an exceedingly dumb security measure. But never underestimate the mindless force of a government bureaucracy seeking to expand its power, domain, and budget.”

From a legal standpoint, the TSA fires back that “the Supreme Court has repeatedly upheld suspicious-less searches based on the government’s need to ensure the safety of mass transportation,” recalling a handful of court cases that support the fact. That being said, if you feel like a surprise pat-down while waiting for your bus isn’t only out of the question but against the law, the TSA is ready to take you to court and win.

Across the Potomac from downtown Washington, Arlington National Cemetery exists as national shrine to the history of freedom.

 

 

 

 

 

FEARS BAHAMAS 'IN IMF'S HANDS' WITHIN 3 YEARS

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Published On:Friday, December 09, 2011

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

A FORMER Bahamas Chamber of Commerce president yesterday made the apocalyptic prediction that this nation's economy would "be in the hands of the IMF" within three years, the next government's primary job being to halt the fiscal "bleeding from day one".

Khaalis Rolle, who is also the opposition Progressive Liberal Party's (PLP) candidate for Pinewood in the upcoming general election, said yesterday's Tribune Business disclosures regarding the Bahamas' national debt and fiscal deficit projections showed this nation was headed in the same direction as Greece.

That southern European nation has been forced to implement painful austerity measures (tax hikes, spending cuts and public sector lay-offs) in a bid to address a debt-to-GDP ratio that is hovering around 150 per cent, and Mr Rolle told this newspaper the Bahamas was making "every single decision" that Greece made in the run-up to its sovereign debt crisis.

"I see Greece on the horizon," he told Tribune Business yesterday. "When you start to finance consumption with debt and it's ongoing, there's absolutely no way your economy can survive. In three years we'll be in the hands of the IMF if we continue along the same path.

"If the IMF is warning us, if the credit rating agencies are warning us....... Greece started out this way. You will see that every single decision we made, Greece made. We're making the same mistakes Greece made, and it doesn't seem as if we're learning a lesson from the past. There's a clear indication that where we are now is where Greece was, and we've not heeded any warnings."

The IMF's projections are that the national debt will exceed $5.5 billion by end-June 2016 unless the Bahamas alters its fiscal/public policy course, with another $1.64 billion added over the four years following the 2011-2012 fiscal year-end.

The Fund is forecasting that the Bahamas will run recurrent deficits of between $171 million and $134 million over the next five years. Throw in the annual $250 million capital spending deficit that the Government incurs, and the total fiscal deficit is forecast by the Fund to vary from a $389 million low to a $440 million high between 2012-2013 and 2015-2016. That will add a total $1.64 billion to the national debt.

As a result, the total national debt is projected to increase from $4.151 billion at the 2011-2012 fiscal year-end to $5.631 billion at June 30, 2016.

Mr Rolle, meanwhile, sidestepped the issue of what policies a Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) government would enact to deal with the Bahamas' looming debt crisis, saying he could not speak for the party or any plan it might develop.

Dealing in generalities only, he nevertheless told Tribune Business: "From day one the job of the PLP government will have is to stop the bleeding. This is a deep wound we're going to get, and from day one we have to stop the bleeding."

Mr Rolle also criticised the Ingraham administration's failure to apply the correct supply-side economics, and suggested that by borrowing for today when it came to infrastructure investments, it was compromising the Bahamas' ability to re-invest in the future.

Focusing on the New Providence Road Improvement Project (NPRIP), which is projected to now cost $155 million, the ex-Chamber president said that given the general quality of Bahamian roads, it was likely all corridors being worked on now would require further maintenance spend within the next three-seven years.

As a result, the Government would neither be able to amortise the NPRIP's capital spend over a 20-year period, nor have considerable sums to invest in ongoing maintenance.

"There are a lot of things we can do to improve infrastructure that are less costly than what we're doing now," Mr Rolle said. "The amount of roadworks is far more that what was practical and reasonable.

"With the new access ways, I don't see any dramatic improvement in productivity and traffic flow. I've seen marginal improvements."

And he added: "The US cycle of investing in roads is seven-10 years, but look at the quality of the roads you get in the US compared to the Bahamas. If their lifespan is seven-10 years before they do major roadworks, ours is probably three-five, or three-seven.

"So, when we need money to reinvest in our roads, we won't have any. When we need money to invest in something else, we can't have it. Our cost of borrowing will soon be so high that we will not be able to borrow anything to finance crime-fighting, education, health."

Questioning whether the current administration had engaged in long-term planning, Mr Rolle said the various infrastructure projects initiated by the Government should have been financed primarily by cash flow, rather than debt.

That might have been difficult to do amid the recession, and the Government's falling revenues, but Mr Rolle said the "quality" was simply not there to enable these infrastructure projects to be capitalised/amortised over a 20-year period. If it was, then he would have no objection to them.

The PLP candidate added that the tax increases implemented by the FNM government during the 2010-2011 Budget showed it did not understand supply side economics.

"I believe in supply side economics, and you can't raise taxes and get something," Mr Rolle said. "In a difficult period you're not going to get anything, especially if you increase taxes on businesses.

"We're implementing all sorts of initiatives that have not generated results. Name one initiative that puts us in a better position than we were in. A part of management is that when you implement solutions, those solutions should have good results."