SPANISH FISHERMEN BLOCKADE OF GIBRALTAR
A dispute between Britain and Spain over fishing rights off Gibraltar that has led to a blockade of the colony’s only border crossing.
Scuffles broke out as about 200 fishermen and their supporters effectively cut off the disputed British colony from the mainland. Vehicles waiting to leave the Rock for Spain were delayed for hours and eventually many drivers with British passports were turned back.
Tension has been mounting this week over fishing rights, since British and Gibraltar police seized a Spanish boat on Wednesday for illegally fishing with nets just outside the Royal Navy dockyards.
The crew and ship were released on bail but the following night further Spanish vessels
were prevented from laying their nets by the Gibraltar authorities.
OUT OF CONTROL CARGO SHIP SLAMS INTO SHANGHAI WHARF
A Chinese cargo ship sped out of control and slammed into a wharf in Shanghai port Jan. 21, 1999, the first accident of its kind in the city, local media and officials said on Thursday.
The accident on Tuesday shook nearby buildings and left a 20-meter crack in the cement wharf, forcing its closure and gouged a hole in the bow of the ship.
The impact of the ship, loaded with sugar damaged several small ships anchored at the port and shook nearby buildings but there were no reports of deaths or injuries. The name of the ship was not available but it was described as an 8,000-tonne vessel carrying sugar and was owned by the Nanjing Oceangoing Transportation Co.
Shanghai’s port is one of the world’s 10 biggest with an annual cargo handling capacity of more than 160 million tonnes.
UNIONS SUPPORT GREENPEACE
The International Transport Workers Federation (ITF) and the International Metalworkers Federation (IMF) jointly support the action of Greenpeace and the Basel Action Network against the scrapping of ships on the coast of India and other Asian countries.
Activists from the environmental groups escorted the toxic-contaminated ship Encounter Bay as it arrived in Singapore harbour this morning, to protest against the export of toxic waste to Asia. Singapore is the fifth city where environmentalists have protested against the ship as it makes its final journey before being scrapped.
The Encounter Bay was sold by the Dutch/UK company P&O Nedlloyd en route to Singapore and is contaminated with high levels of toxic and hazardous materials, including heavy metals and asbestos, the unions stated. It is due to go to ship-breakers in China where its toxic materials will pollute the environment and endanger the health of workers during the scrapping process.
According to the transport unions and Greenpeace P&O Nedlloyd’s action clearly contravenes the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal, which entered into force in 1992 and regulates the export of toxic materials, in particular to the developing world.
Following protests by Indian trade unionists about ship-scrapping on the Indian coast, the ITF and IMF are considering alerting unions in other ship-breaking countries in the Asian region, namely Pakistan and Bangladesh.
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DISCOVERED SHIPWRECK COULD BE KING CHARLES
I's BARGE
A royal barge that sank in 1633 carrying treasure belonging to King Charles I, may have
been discovered researchers said Friday.
The Blessing of Burntisland sank in the Firth of Forth, a sea inlet on the East Coast of Scotland, shortly after the king’s Scottish coronation. The cargo is believed to have included his wardrobe, jewels, kitchen equipment and a 280-piece silver dinner service commissioned by King Henry VIII.
The vessel, 60 feet long by 12 feet wide, is buried under silt, which the archaeologists say would help preserve the cargo, even leather and cloth.
The area has been designated an archaeological site to stop looters, and the trust hopes eventually to bring the wreck to the surface.
Charles I, king of England, Scotland and Ireland, was the grandson of Mary, Queen of Scots and a member of the House of Stuart. His reign, which began in 1625, became a long struggle between king and Parliament, which resulted in civil war. Charles was tried in a High Court controlled by his enemies, convicted of treason and beheaded in 1649, exactly 350 years ago Saturday.
This issue edited from information distributed by:
Cargoweb (http://www.cargoweb.nl), - Hugin (http://www.huginonline.com),
LookEast, Bangkok
Bureau, Navin Mansion, Soi Navin, 63/4 Cheopleons Rd, Yannawa, A special thanks goes to Bruce Cheesman, Bangkok.
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