ShipCrunch

BBC Box abandoned, broken up on Bengali beach

By Ryan Skinner (email)

What began as a visionary media stunt to demonstrate the complexity of global trade has ended on the rusty steel-strewn shores of India. After it became lost some time in the second-half of 2008, the BBC Box suffered a short career as contraband mule before it was abandoned and sold for scrap by an unidentified Macau-based party, reports say.

Culture difference, but why?

By Ryan Skinner (email)

Today I met a guy who has worked in the offshore supply boat business both in the US and in Norway. If I wasn't used to it, I would have been shocked by how he characterised the show stateside.

Yo Yamal

By Ryan Skinner (email)

Never heard of Yamal? You're not alone. Neither had I until today. And no wonder - even in the micro-lect language of the six and a half people who live there the name translates to "end of the world". OK, I jest. It has more than 6.5 residents. There's also a 37,000 year old mammoth calf - it's what's for dinner.

So we'd all be pretty shocked if Yamal ended up sparking off the next world war, wouldn't we? Hyperbole? Sure, but follow me for a sec.

Reporting from an ice tank

By Ryan Skinner (email)

Helsinki, Finland -- Tomorrow's agenda includes interviews with Aker Arctic's director Mikko Niini, Arto Uuskallio of ABB and Kari Laukie of MacGregor. The topic: Arctic shipping. Depending on who you ask, this is hot.

4 March - DN's marine headlines (hint of a narrative)

By Ryan Skinner (email)

Today, if you read the headlines of DN (Norway's leading biz daily)  in a particular order, or in the correct lighting, or on an empty stomach, you will get the sense of a narrative. I list three stories (one macroeconomic, one shipping and one offshore) that illustrate this narrative.

CNN at Nor-Shipping 2009?

By Ryan Skinner (email)

Almost. Former CNN Finance anchor Todd Benjamin (left) will come to Oslo this June to lead a high-profile summit of maritime industry leaders on the topic of shipping and climate change. The conference, which opens Nor-Shipping's week-long industry event, brings together big names from among shipowners, charterers, state leaders and the IMO. Read more...