The deal made with China and the US over trade included soybean purchases from the US. However it seems to have handed Chinese businesses an advantage in negotiating with Brazilian shippers of soybeans. Brazilian export prices eased up as a result of the announcement, providing an opening for large purchases from Brazil.
The so-called US-China agreement on soybeans has yet to be confirmed by the Chinese side, so we still don’t know if it’s real. But the leverage for China over Brazil’s soybean producers has increased for real, and will for a while. This may be a much larger advantage for China as a whole than decreasing tariffs for US soybeans later on will be.
Stockpiles of soybeans are growing in the US as the harvest ends, with many unsold beans. The door to China trade may not come quick enough for many farmers, causing a need to store longer. Chinese soybean consumers and may get a better deal from both parties.
The island country of Mauritius was the scene of a ship breakup after grounding. The picture is below, from the article. The flag state was Panama, which conducted its own investigation. The crew was overdue for leave and waiting for a convenient port.
Wakashio broke apart causing a large oil spill resulting in a $2.5 billion cost the report find (IMO)
There were other technical problems as the ship approached the shore. But the master had 4 drinks and could not take command of the ship. There was no qualified lookout. Hands were at a party onboard.
But the court also found that the local Mauritius authorities were in complete confusion; they could have pulled the ship off the reef in the first couple of days, but did not, allowing the ship to destroy 96km of coral reef.
Maritime accidents are increasingly common. Many are due to issues with the captain and crew. The maritime industry and flag states have a lot to do to reduce the frequency of accidents. The culture of safety is often not present on ships; that is the fault of the master and the ship operator.
Cabotage refers to laws or regulations that insist that national carriers transport freight or passengers within a country. A new publication indicates it is becoming more prevalent.
Cabotage in the US has been a feature of air travel for many years; it’s why we don’t see foreign airlines flying US domestic routes. But it’s perhaps more important in the case of ocean freight. For instance, Hawaii needs to have US ships transport goods. Same with Puerto Rico.
The principal argument for cabotage is to protect a nation’s logistics capacity when there’s an outside threat. That includes having trained seafarers, and a supply of vehicles or ships under control of a nation’s firms.
Cabotage has been around for centuries. Great Britain in the 1700s and 1800s had strict cabotage laws as did most other European powers of the day; France, Spain, Portugal. The laws varied, but violations of them were considered piracy. It’s hard to enforce such laws everywhere on a coastline. During the 1700s and 1800s Ireland and France did a brisk trade under the radar; recall that the Irish were not happy about British supremacy there.
In the US cabotage requires building of ships in the US, so it supports the US shipbuilding industry. It also ensures that military cargoes have US ships to carry them in case of war, as well as some trained hands for the ships.
How effective it is for these purposes is not clear, as the number of US citizen mariners has been declining for years now. It’s not that attractive a profession for many; a hard life, and constantly traveling. As a veteran of a maritime academy faculty, I am well aware of the difficulty of getting students to choose this kind of education.
It seems that most nations have cabotage laws now. The report mentioned in the story indicates a large percentage of coastlines are affected by cabotage restrictions of various kinds, with over 105 nations reporting cabotage restrictions.
The new publication is the second edition of Cabotage Laws of the World, by Hilton Staniland and Deirdre Fitzpatrick. The latter is the CEO of Seafarers Rights International (SRI), an important organization in the maritime community.
Supply Chain and Logistics 