MARKET COMMENTARY – JULY 2009

YOU TUBE's most popular video is a Madonna tribute to Michael Jackson. If you´re getting a little tired of hearing “I'm gonna this” and “I'm gonna that”, have no fear, for the International Shipping Federation has launched its own You Tube blockbuster, grippingly named “Careers in International Shipping”

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WEST OF ENGLAND APPOINTS JERRY WESTMORE

We'd like to congratulate Jerry Westmore on his recent appointment as a Director of the West of England P&I Club's management arm. From 1st September, Jerry will be responsible for business and product development at the Club

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THE SIX BIG CRASHES

LAST month we published an article about the five big economic crashes in history. Roger Holt of Knightsmart Ltd has written in to tell us that we forgot about the South Sea Bubble (precursor of the Bubble Act and dotcom “bubble”) of the 1720's

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RESIDUAL VALUE INSURANCE SAVES BANKERS…?

RVI is a simple concept and one anyone who's leased a car should be familiar with. In short, it's insurance against the future value of something falling below a certain level. Sound good? You bet. Imagine if all those sub-prime mortgages had been backed by RVI policies…

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THE END OF THE LINE

OVERFISHING will bring an end to the world's seafood market by 2048. So says a new film “The End of the Line”, released on World Ocean Day (8th June)…

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HEBEI SPIRIT OFFICERS FREE AT LAST

AT LAST, the “Hebei Two” were freed by the Appeal Court in Korea, after 550 days there, some of them spent in prison. They still face charges of causing pollution. For those of you who don't know, the Hebei Spirit was stationary – at anchor – when hit by a crane barge that was under tow when a towline parted

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MARITIME RECRUITMENT OPTIONS

WHEN we set up Spinnaker in 1997 to be a dedicated maritime recruitment agency focusing on commercial, technical, legal and insurance recruitment, the only other option available to maritime employers was press advertising. Lloyd's List was the market leader and Tradewinds the young pretender…

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CUTTING YOUR CLOTH

IT'S amazing how short term our memories are. The economic boom of the last few years was just that, a boom. Why then is it human nature to kid ourselves that it's the norm?

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PENSION TRAPS (& LOOPHOLES FOR HIGH EARNERS)

IF you are a UK worker earning more than GBP100,000 it may be worth dragging your eyes away from the sports or fashion pages for ten minutes to think about your pension contributions. The Budget in April reduced the tax relief available on pensions to those earning over GBP150,000 from 2011. The UK tax authorities have put in place measures to avoid people chucking loads of money into their pensions in the meantime in order to get round the change

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