Olive Branch News

Chinese ships are no longer at the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea and Philippine boats can resume fishing, the Philippine defence minister said on Friday, calling the Chinese departure a "welcome development". Philippine fishermen can access the shoal unimpeded for the first time in four years, Defence Secretary Delfin Lorenzana said, capping off a startling turnaround in ties since his country rattled China by challenging its maritime claims at an international tribunal. The departure of the Chinese coast guard ships comes after President Rodrigo Duterte's high-profile visit to Beijing and his repeated requests for China to end its blockade of the shoal, a tranquil lagoon rich in fish stocks.

The world is closely watching several contentious flash points that have potential to ignite. The behavior and rhetoric of China and Russia regarding vital shipping lanes in international waters have been alarming. Disputed sovereignty claims and efforts to enforce them have the maritime world on edge. China’s nine-dash line claims about owning the entire East and South China Sea have created a dilemma for themselves and the other nations in the region. The Philippines v. China case with the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague commenced on Jan.

1862 - Navy ship USS Ethan Allen, commanded by acting-Lt. William B. Eaton, captures the schooner Olive Branch at sea off the Florida coast. 1943 - Submarines USS Pollack (SS 180) and USS Gato (SS 212) attack and cause the sinking of two Japanese ships. 1945 - TF 38 aircraft attacks Japanese shipping and airfields on Formosa and in the Pescadores, sinking approximately 15 vessels. 1954 - The world's first nuclear submarine, USS Nautilus (SSN-571) is christened and launched at Groton, Conn.

1882-An Act of Congress (22 Stat. 1932- Northern Pacific Halibut Act re-enacted Act of 7 June 1924, after Convention with Canada and made it unlawful to catch halibut between 1st November and 15th February each year in territorial waters of United States and Canada and on high seas, extending westerly from them, including the Bering Sea. Coast Guard enforced this Act. 1942-Coast Guard plane V-167 rescued two from a torpedoed freighter. 1942-Coast Guard prewar search and rescue procedure discontinued for security reasons. 1943-CG-58012 exploded and sank off Manomet Point, Massachusetts. No lives lost. 1995-Part of the Upper Mississippi and Missouri Rivers rose above the flood stage, flooding areas in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky.

Drewry’s latest Container Forecaster is optimistic that a market‘recovery is underway but cautions that close monitoring of key market drivers is essential as the patient is not off the at-risk list yet. The latest container trade data suggests we may have entered a real recovery phase but comparisons with the depth of the recession in 2009 must be treated with caution. With a major carrier failure thus far averted and container volumes on the upturn, many believe this year will see a return to better times and profitability. But, it is still early days; a large number of post-Panamax vessels are due for delivery this year and most of the all important transpacific rate contracts have still to be signed.

The European Commission plans to bar state aid to European shipyards from the year-end, but could reinstate it within months if South Korea fails to halt alleged unfair help to its shipbuilders, an EU source said. The Commission is also threatening to launch a WTO complaint against South Korea if it does not reform its shipbuilding practices by next May. The European Union executive decided at its weekly meeting to press ahead with its previous intention to halt government operating aid to European shipyards from the end of this year. But in an olive branch to European shipbuilders, which say the aid should be extended to help them face alleged unfair competition from South Korea…