UK-based companies in the shipping sector which negotiate loans with overseas corporate lenders could benefit from a new Double Taxation Treaty Passport (DTTP) scheme recently introduced by the UK government, according to shipping accountant Moore Stephens.

Moore Stephens tax partner Sue Bill says: “Under the new scheme, which comes into operation on 1 September 2010, an overseas lender in a country with which the UK has a double tax treaty can apply for a DTTP. If this is granted, the passport holder will be entered onto a publicly available website with its unique DTTP number. The UK-resident corporate borrower can then verify the lender’s status on line, and thereafter apply the treaty rate of withholding tax from the start of the loan, relying on the lender’s passport status. When UK borrowers enter into a loan agreement with a lender registered as a Treaty Passport Holder, the lender will notify them of its passport holder status and reference number, according to Ms Bill. The UK borrower must then notify Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) within thirty days of the passported loan. Therefore, if a company is taking out a loan from an overseas bank or other lender, it should find out whether the lender is a passport holder and, if it is, notify HMRC within thirty days of the making of the passported loan.”

Moore Stephens points out that, previously, where a UK borrower paid interest to a non-UK resident lender, it was required to deduct withholding tax from the interest at twenty per cent and pay it to HMRC. Although the withholding tax liability could be reduced or eliminated if there was a suitable double tax treaty in place, advance clearance had to be obtained before any interest payments were made in order to prevent withholding tax liabilities arising – a potentially time-consuming process.

The previous rules did not apply where interest was paid to a UK bank or to the UK branch of an overseas bank and this continues to be the case.

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The event takes place at Gran Melia Hotel, Shanghai

Maritime London will be leading a delegation of UK maritime services providers to Shanghai in September. Taking place in Shanghai during UK financial services week, Maritime London and the Pudong government will be hosting a conference entitled "UK & China - maritime partners - services to shipping and shipbuilding".

Participating UK companies include Clarksons, Lloyd's Register, Braemar Seascope, the Baltic Exchange, Southampton Solent University, ICAP Shipping, Bankserve, Holman Fenwick Willan, Ince & Co and Norton Rose with support from UK Trade & Investment and the City of London.

The conference will be opened by the Lord Mayor of London and also feature an overview of the challenges and opportunities for English maritime lawyers in China by Lord Clarke.

There is still time to be involved as a participant, but please contact Maritime London as soon as possible.

A Chinese version of the UK Maritime Services directory is also being printed and there are still last minute slots available for companies wishing to place a half page advert, so please contact Maritime London if interested. The cost for a half page advert is £750 plus vat.

For further details contact Doug Barrow.

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Joe Angelo and Archie Smith

Attendees at Maritime London’s latest seminar were given an insight into the Deepwater Horizon clean-up operation by Oil Spill Response managing director Archie Smith.

The Maritime London member company has been part of the huge US Gulf operation providing its expertise and resources to BP and the US Coastguard. Attendees also heard from Joe Angelo, Intertanko’s Washington based adviser, on how US legislation currently working its way through the Senate and House of Representatives would potentially impact the shipping industry.

The event, hosted by Norton Rose, was chaired by Michael Grey and also included input from Philip Roche of Norton Rose and Chris Adams of Steamship Insurance Management Services.

Maritime London runs regular seminars and networking events for its members and guests. To learn more about joining Maritime London contact Doug Barrow.

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The death of a female South African cadet while serving on a UK-flag ship has sparked calls for an investigation by British police and also prompted wider concerns. It has also so emerged that while no formal guidelines on dealing with crime on board are currently available to most masters of UK ships, a new joint project by the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO), the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) and Hampshire Constabulary is set to fill this gap.

Seafarers' union Nautilus International has written to transport minister Philip Hammond and home secretary Theresa May calling for a full and transparent inquiry into the death and subsequent allegations of rape and harassment.

Transnet cadet Akhona Geveza died on 24 June after falling overboard from the UK-registered containership Safmarine Kariba off the coast of Croatia. South African newspapers subsequently reported claims that she had told a colleague she had been raped by a senior ship’s officer.

Other Transnet cadets were quoted making allegations of male and female rape, pregnancy and bullying and harassment. Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson says the case should serve as ‘a wake-up call’ to the international shipping industry. “It is essential for the shipping industry and for the UK register that no effort is spared to establish the truth of the allegations and – if true – to ensure that appropriate action is taken,’ Mr Dickinson states.

South African reports gave the impression the incident may have been under investigation the UK authorities, either by the Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) or a British police force. London Matters has contacted the MCA, MAIB, ACPO, the Metropolitan Police and Hampshire Constabulary and found that none of these organisations were either investigating the case or knew of an investigation.

The MCA did however point to work being carried by itself, ACPO and Hampshire Constabulary to develop a manual on dealing with crime at sea. Andrew Cherrett, assistant director corporate governance and risk explained that the project was developed following a symposium a couple of years ago. The manual completed last year has been distributed in CD form with the initial focus on cruise ships.

Mr Cherrett said that it was still at a pilot project stage and not yet been rolled out across the whole UK commercial fleet. However, the intention is to eventually provide guidance of relevance to masters of all UK ships.

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The Baltic Exchange is to switch to calculating its Tanker Time-Charter Equivalent Assessments (TCEs) based on bunker prices in line with the bunker swaps market. The Baltic says the move is designed to stimulate freight derivative trading. In future the basis for TCE conversions on its various routes will be Rotterdam 380 cst, Rotterdam 380 cst max 1 per cent sulphur or Singapore 380 cst. Diesel or gasoil requirements will not be taken into consideration and the parameters of the Baltic Exchange calculations have been amended accordingly.

The changes took effect on 2 August 2010. Price information is provided by Bunkerworld. All TCE voyage descriptions continue to be available on www.balticexchange.com together with port costs supplied by Cory Brothers Shipping and exchange rates used in the calculations provided under licence by XE.com.

The calculation process is a transparent one with subscribers to the Baltic Exchange’s freight market services now able to access a voyage calculator which shows all the parameters set when arriving at the TCE rates. They can also adjust parameters in the voyage calculator to reflect details of their own business. The Baltic’s TCE calculations were previously based on a range of bunker prices including Aruba, Augusta, Fujairah, Philadelphia and Wilhelmshaven.

The Baltic Exchange has been providing average dollar pricing conversions for VLCCs, suezmax and aframax tankers derived from a range of routes expressed in Worldscale since 2008.

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Offshore wind farms can pose a hazard to shipping

The Chamber of Shipping has responded to Crown Estate leasing announcements regarding UK offshore windfarms by noting that some of the leased zones are sited in areas of significant shipping activity and so any development needs to be carefully considered.

The Chamber says it fully supports the government’s policy to encourage properly planned, well coordinated offshore renewable developments, recognising that renewable energy is a vital part of the power generation mix in a low carbon future. It also acknowledges and welcomes the fact that these developments may offer new business opportunities for ports, survey vessels, offshore construction and support vessels, jack-up rigs, maintenance vessels and cable layers.

It adds, however, that developers must respect the safety of navigation and work to cause minimal disruption to shipping routes while meeting the UK’s commitment to follow the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Saurabh Sachdeva, nautical consultant at the Chamber of Shipping comments: “The shipping industry is currently faced with a rapidly developing renewable energy industry, which if badly conceived, could result in hundreds of turbine structures obstructing shipping routes, or in the worst instance, could lead to a major disaster.”

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According to the latest figures released by the UK Ship Register, 14 ships with a combined gross tonnage of 156,975 GT joined the flag in the past quarter. Of these new registrations 12 were new builds, whilst the remainder transferred in from other flags. These new registrations include one container ship; one general cargo ship; one oil/chemical tanker; four standby safety/offshore vessels and seven vessels of other types.

Companies registering ships with the UKSR in the last three months include CPO Tankers, Meridian Marine, CMA Ships, North Star Shipping and Serco Denholm Marine Services.

The average age of vessels flagging-in during the last quarter was two years whilst the average age of vessels leaving the register was 22. As at the end of July 2010 the UK Ship Register stands at 1,537 ships with a gross tonnage of 17,019,635.

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Superintendents and other former seafarers seeking shore-side jobs are being prevented from doing so because of work permit and visa restrictions, according to shipping industry recruiting agency and Maritime London member Spinnaker. It says that despite a widely perceived shortage of former master mariners and chief engineers when seeking to fill jobs ashore, restrictions on the issue of visas and work permits hamper the work of getting such jobs filled.

“It’s not about race,” says Spinnaker chairman Phil Parry. “It’s not even so much about immigration rules where the job’s based, but practicality – travel to visit vessels often happens at short notice. Some nationalities, particularly westerners, need fewer visas, some get them quickly…others don’t.”

According to Spinnaker many employers insist on having a certain number of western superintendents to ensure they have enough people to travel quickly. “One employer also recently pointed out to Spinnaker the remarkably high cost of obtaining visas for other nationals each year – it ran into many many thousands of dollars.”

“After all, if you need to attend an incident, it is not possible to wait three weeks for visa clearance,” Mr Parry adds.

He believes it is vital that maritime trade organisations lobby governments hard to address this issue. Spinnaker says that this isn’t a new issue but, as seafarer shortages continue to bite and the western demographic continues to lessen, there must be a very real risk that shipping companies will be unable to get in-house technical expertise out to vessels in the event of an incident.

As time goes on, there is also a risk that salary discrimination along nationality lines will re-emerge.

“The gap between western staff and those from developing nations has got smaller in recent years,” says Spinnaker, “but unless travel visa rules for shipping companies are made more user-friendly the gap could widen again.”

Given the number of newbuildings scheduled for delivery, even if there are cancellations or delays, there remains a substantial shortfall of seafarers to man the new ships, and to fill shore-side positions when they come ashore.”

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Training is more important to maritime industry professionals than ever before, according to a survey by Maritime London member Halcyon Recruitment. Just over half of respondents indicated that they do not receive any training as part of their job, but considered future career prospects more important than salaries.

Conducted in collaboration with Coracle Online, the objective of the research was to understand what is important to employees in their current positions and to ascertain what factors were likely to influence them when considering a career move.

According to the report, 63% of respondents indicated that promotion prospects was their most important consideration when considering a career move, followed by an employer’s reputation, the relationship they perceived they would have with their new line manager and work life balance. In the 2009 survey, salary and benefits were clear leaders as the key motivators when considering a career move, yet this year benefits didn’t appear once as a major motivating factor, but did feature as being a source of great dissatisfaction.

According to the report’s authors, employees have accepted that following the boom years, the time of inflated salary increases and large bonuses are over.

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BMT ARGOSS, a subsidiary of international maritime design, engineering and risk management consultancy of BMT Group, has deployed its marine manoeuvring simulator, PC Rembrandt, to assist the Port of Itajai in Brazil.

The port was struck by a flash flood two years ago which silted the harbour by up to 4m in some areas and resulted in the port authority reducing the size and draught of vessels that could enter the port. This reduction in vessel size hit the port’s revenue severely, especially at a time when the world’s shipping economy was experiencing a severe downturn in trade.

Now, following one of the largest surveying and dredging operations in Brazil, the Port of Itajai is once again open for business to large container vessels. In order to refresh their pilots’ ship handling knowledge and experience of large containerships, Itajai Port Authority commissioned Coastal Planning and Engineering of Brazil (CPE Brasil) and BMT ARGOSS of the UK to provide a PC Rembrandt marine simulator workshop at the port’s offices in Brazil.

The workshop provided the pilots with a simulated model of a 290m container vessel which had been fully validated against previous ship trials data. The Port of Itajai was recreated in PC Rembrandt using the standard British Admiralty chart and the port’s latest bathymetry and hydrodynamic data including tides, and currents were incorporated from information gained through CPE Brasil’s recent surveying work.

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Heinrich Schoeller

Mr. Schoeller said: “On behalf of my fellow Directors I would like to thank Otto Fritzner for his great service to the Club. During his Chairmanship the Club has grown financially stronger and I take over with the Club in an excellent position. I look forward to playing my part in helping the Club progress further over the coming years.”

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The International Salvage Union (ISU) says that Rob Wallis will take over from Archie Bishop as its new legal adviser at the end of the ISU Annual Meeting 21-23 September.

ISU president Todd Busch said: “I should like to pay tribute to Archie for his many years of loyal and professional service to the ISU. His vast experience of salvage law has been of huge value to us over the years and his reputation in the marine market is second to none.” W

elcoming Mr Wallis, Mr Busch added: “At the same time I am delighted to welcome Rob Wallis. He also has great experience of salvage law and is a well-known and much-respected lawyer in the shipping markets. We are honoured that he is joining us and that he will bring his 35 years of maritime law experience and expertise to bear on issues of common interest to marine salvors.” Mr Bishop will continue to represent the ISU at the Comite Maritime International (CMI) and on the issue of environmental salvage awards. It will ensure continuity in discussions to which he has been party to for a number of years.”

Mr Wallis is a Law graduate of Leicester University and qualified as a UK solicitor in 1975 and joined the law firm of Elborne Mitchell specialising in Maritime Law, particularly "wet" work - salvage and collision - as well as aspects of marine insurance and re-insurance. In 1988 Mr Wallis joined the London office of Hill Dickinson as a Partner and was chairman of Hill Taylor Dickinson from 1999 to 2004 prior to the re-merger with Hill Dickinson in 2007.

Among his many other commitments Mr Wallis is a trustee of the Maritime London Officer Cadet Scholarship.

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The Liberian International Ship & Corporate Registry (LISCR), the US-based manager of the Liberian Registry, has appointed Jonathan Spremulli as general manager of its London office. He took over from Stuart Williams last week.

Mr Spremulli joins LISCR from leading classification society RINA, where he was group quality manager, based in Genoa, Italy. Prior to that he was with Lloyd’s Register for 18 years as its marine training manager in London following a number of roles, including a significant period in Asia surveying ships during construction. He is a chartered engineer with extensive seagoing experience as an officer with, among others, P&O Lines and Mobil Shipping.

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The organisers of the Kent Maritime and Marine Festival are looking for companies to showcase their services at Dover Port on 14 October. The event is aimed at 14-19 year olds and is designed to open their eyes to the employment opportunities offered by the industry.

There are currently 75 interactive stands from marine engineering to extreme water sports, as well as specialist workshops on logistics and navigation. The students will also be able to tour ships are harboured at the Cruise Terminal.

See www.ebpkent.co.uk for further details.

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London Matters runs a short piece each issue covering a maritime related charity. If you have a charity story or campaign you would like to see highlighted to London Matters' 11,000 + readers, please contact the editor Bill Lines. E: blines@maritimelondon.com

This week the Sailors' Society writes:

The Cairngorms

Global giant, Technip, are the latest of a long line of companies from the energy and shipping industries to sign up to the new Wilderness Challenge on behalf of international charity, the Sailors' Society.

The event, sponsored by Lloyd's Register, will see teams of four take on a 50km bike ride through the stunning Rothiemurchus Forest, a 3km canoe across the beautiful Loch Morlich and a 10km run at the Cairngorms National Park - and all in a single day.

Technip, who provide engineering, technology and project management services to the oil and gas industry, have entered three teams into the charity Challenge and have voiced their support to the Sailors' Society.

"We are really excited to be taking part in this unique Challenge event for the Sailors' Society. This is a cause close to our hearts as seafarers are a vital component in Technip's business and we're delighted to give something back to them."

Technip will be joining other organisations such as GAC, Brookes Bell, Dril-Quip, Ince & Co, DOF UK, Rigel Shipping and Casper Shipping in this demanding challenge event.

If you would like to take part in the Wilderness Challenge or would like any further information, then please contact Felicity Patterson at fpatterson@sailors-society.org or telephone 023 8051 5957.

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