40


Issue 5 2012


///FREIGHT BREAK Poetry in motion


Professor Michael Bloor of Cardiff University’s latest treatise on the treatment of seafarers certainly isn’t the first such report but it’s a fair bet that it’s the first to be set to poetry. Having just waded through


a 200-page document on the airfreight industry in the interests of editorial research, this is certainly an approach I can commend to other academics. The Rime of the Globalised


Mariner is an updated version of the Coleridge classic (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner for those who didn’t study it for O-level English) which reveals the oſten poor treatment of mariners, he says.


For instance, the Mariner tells


how his family paid for his place at a maritime training college with no equipment or time spent at sea. Unscrupulous crewing agents and local politicians all take a cut of the training scam:


They issued my certificates, But their paper had a price: My father’s hard-earned money Stolen once, then twice


The Mariner then goes on to


explain flags of convenience: The flag with the greatest tonnage Flies o’er the Panama Isthmus, When Panama votes for change, Then turkeys’ll vote for Christmas


Stowaway Pug-ugly This, apparently, is the world’s


ugliest dog - though there are plenty of pooches round our way who could give him a run for his money, to say nothing of their owners. Anyway, Virgin Atlantic Cargo added to its celebrity passenger list by helping Mugly, an eight-year-old Chinese Crested rescue dog from Peterborough carry off the title of ‘The Ugliest Dog in the World’, carrying him out to California to compete against 29 other distinctive dogs looking to claim the prize at the Sonoma- Marin Fair in Petaluma. Winning the title has catapulted onto


Mugly the world stage


with press and TV appearances scheduled and his own Channel 5 television documentary. There’s even talk of a book deal, which will no doubt put the ghost-written efforts of many a human celebrity to shame. Owner Bev Nicholson said:


“The Virgin team were great and helped to make Mugly feel like a star even before he was crowned We really appreciated the hands on care and attention he was given and he was certainly on top form when he arrived in the US.“ Helen Evans, who runs Virgin Atlantic Cargo’s pet travel service,


Staff at Davies Turner’s Dartford depot have earned the praise of the Cats Protection society, no less, for their vigilance and kindness in rescuing a Turkish tabby that had stowed away on one of its trailers. The six-week-old, now christened Yonda, had taken an ill-dvised cat nap in an Ekol trailer and ended up 2,000 miles away in Dartford, nine days later. Ekol paid £385 towards Yonda’s care, and staff at Davies Turner held a


staff dress down day to raise a further £230. Yonda now needs a home and owner and someone to pay her quarantine fees. To donate to the Yonda fund call


Cats Protection’s national Helpline on 03000 12 12 12 (lines open Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm). Any funds raised in excess of Yonda’s costs will be used to help other cats at Cats Protection’s Croydon branch.


Kinga raises four grand


FBJ readers may remember a few months ago when we ran a story about Woodland Group general manager Kinga Garner who bravely signed up for the 2012 Transaid Cycle Madagascar event in June. Kinga, pictured second from right, originally set herself a target to raise £3,300 for the Professional Driver Training


Project, which aims to improve driving safety standards in sub-Saharan Africa. And she embarked on a healthy eating programme and a gruelling training regime incorporating to prepare for the 500km ride. In the event, she raised over £4,000 for the project – and made it to the end in one piece.


points out though that Mugley hasn’t let fame go to his head. He is also a therapy dog who helps children with reading difficulties to build up their confidence.


Is this the age of the bike?


Your International Freight Forwarding Partner Africa – Middle East – Asia


Oil, gas and power our speciality


Call us on 020 8645 0666 or 0774 8505350 info@skyswiftuk.com | www.skyswiftuk.com


Cycling meanwhile has made an unlikely topic in the Russia state railways’ annual report. The average speed of the country freight trains in 2011 fell to 10.3 km/h, making them slower than bicycles, operator RzhD admitted in its annual report released in July. The company blamed aging locomotives and infrastructure for its poor performance. Here’s a suggestion – next time


Transaid needs to raise some money, instead of sweating it out across the plains of Africa, let’s all stay at home and sponsor a Russian freight train instead. And a new transport group has joined the massed ranks of lobbyists.


The European Cycle Logistics Federation, which represents around 30 companies that provide bicycle- based delivery solutions, met for the first time in Cambridge on 16 July. It says that half of all light goods and a quarter of all goods could be moved by cycle in cities, easing congestion from powered commercial vehicles. UPS meanwhile, has introduced


just such a vehicle – as well as “walkers” in its London operations, to help it cope with the Olympic Games. Following successful trials in the UK at the start of 2012, the express giant also plans to continue to use the bicycles after the Games throughout London.


It’s rather ironic, too, that the UPS


bike is pictured alongside one of the capital’s last remaining Routemaster buses, a type introduced in the late 1950s and early 1960s, just as the three-wheeled delivery bike was beginning to pass into history.


The poem ends with a call to


consumers to put more pressure on ship operators to improve labour standards.:


So come all you kind consumers, Who the honey’d wine have sipped, Take pity on the mariner Beware how your goods are shipped.


Professor Bloor has travelled


to the Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, India, Turkey and many other nations, interviewing seafarers, inspectors and ship operators, and even spending a month aboard a super-tanker. He is calling for public pressure to push ship operators to introduce better pay, higher manning levels and shorter hours for crews.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40