Sailing record halted after year at sea

Nearly a year into a three-year voyage around the globe, seasickness finally has the better of American sailor Soanya Ahmad.

The 25-year-old rookie sailor was being rescued off Perth today after becoming too ill to continue her bid to circumnavigate the globe four times without stopping. Ms Ahmad set off on the 1000-day voyage with 56-year-old American adventurer Reid Stowe on April 21 last year aboard his 21-metre gaff-rigged schooner, the Anne. On their website, Mr Stowe says the pair set out to follow global trade winds and circumnavigate the southern hemisphere four times, non-stop. Together they had hoped to set a series of world records, including the longest sea voyage by a man and a woman and the longest voyage out of sight of land. Mr. Stowe will now sail on alone "since this is my life at sea". But Ms Ahmad was to leave the boat today, after 306 days at sea, because she has suffered recurrent and debilitating seasickness since entering the stormy Southern Ocean in November. The Anne was about 15 nautical miles off Perth today, waiting for Royal Perth Yacht Club general manager Stuart Walton to rescue Ms Ahmad. The boat was to maintain a position beyond sight of land so Mr. Stowe can continue his attempt to break records.
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Subprime loan problem slowing down newbuilding talks

Newbuilding talks in Japan are now at a standstill due primarily to the difficulty some owners are facing in the procurement of funds.

This occured because of the subprime problem, which involved the provision of loans to individuals with low creditworthiness, since the fall in 2007. Coupled with the sluggish dry market at the turn of 2008, shipowners are increasingly losing interest in placing orders for newbuildings. As for shipbuilders, they remain unable to figure out cost estimates for newbuildings until negotiations for steel prices in/after April 2008 are wrapped up. Amid the standoff between the two parties, there is a high probability that the newbuilding talks will be deferred to in/after March 2008 at the earliest. Japanese shipyards have been saying that, 'The tides have changed,' since around November 2007. The slowdown in newbuilding talks lingered well into the turn of 2008. One of the main reasons behind the decline is the subprime loan problem. Domestic and overseas owners, who used to actively engage in newbuilding deals, have manifested weakening interest in newbuilding talks due to the difficulty in securing necessary funds for the vessels.

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Cosco Corp wants to invest in overseas repair yards

COSCO Shipyard Group's main shareholder, Cosco Corp, will buy foreign shiprepair yards as China is getting too expensive.

CSG itself has become a major shipbuilder bagging $6.6bn of orders since it moved into newbuilds at the start of last year. According to Ji Hai Sheng, president of Cosco Corp and also chairman of CSG, it is facing higher labour costs, particularly following China's new labour laws, which were promulgated at the start of 2008. He said shiprepair was highly labour intensive. "We are really looking to the future for overseas expansion," Mr Ji said, adding that he wanted to buy into existing facilities rather than taking the Greenfield option. Cosco Group has been in negotiations in the Philippines about investing in yards and ports there.

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Gulf Finance House to form First Energy Bank

The first Sharia'a compliant bank focused on the investment, financing and service needs of the energy sector is now under formation after having obtained approval in principal of the Central Bank of Bahrain.

With a planned paid-up capital of US$750 million, First Energy Bank is the latest strategic business concept from Gulf Finance House (GFH). The institution is designed to capitalize on the huge anticipated demand for investment in the global energy industry. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA) report World Energy Outlook 2007, the energy infrastructure for the Middle East/North Africa region alone requires approximately US$56 billion per year from now through 2030. This implies the region's energy sector will need US$280 billion in investment within the next five years. Commenting on the formation of First Energy Bank, Chairman of the Founding Committee for First Energy Bank Esam Janahi said, "A great opportunity comes from the significant demand that is projected for investment in the global energy sector over the next 25 years. First Energy Bank is a response to this imperative and we're proud to be associated with a Sharia'a banking concept that will be the very first to offer exclusively tailored investment, financing and service solutions to the energy industry.
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Fishing pressure driving sharks towards extinction

Once plentiful sharks are vanishing from the world's oceans, and some species are even at risk of extinction a shark expert told fellow scientists at the annual conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

The global status of large sharks has been assessed by the IUCN-World Conservation Union, which maintains the Red List of Threatened Species. The assessment finds that many large shark species have declined by more than half due to increased demand for shark fins and meat, recreational shark fisheries, as well as tuna and swordfish fisheries, where millions of sharks are taken as by catch each year. 'As a result of high and mostly unrestricted fishing pressure, many sharks are now considered to be at risk of extinction,' said Julia Baum, a member of the IUCN's Shark Specialist Group and a postdoctoral fellow at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego. Of particular concern is the scalloped hammerhead shark, an iconic coastal species, which will be listed on the 2008 IUCN Red List as globally 'endangered' due to over fishing and high demand for its valuable fins in the shark fin trade.
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