Business Briefs

Setting sail again, a newly built replica of the Jeanie Johnston, the Irish emigrant ship that rescued thousands from the Great Famine, will voyage from Ireland to North America and visit cities this summer and fall throughout the U.S.

The eight-month tour, with stopovers in 23 U.S. and Canadian cities, is expected to arrive mid-June in Washington, D.C. and will be greeted by President Bill Clinton. The ship will then join more than 200 tall ships, 500 U.S. and foreign naval vessels and 50 to 70 thousand spectator crafts from all over the world in New York Harbor's OpSail 2000 Parade of Sail, the largest maritime event in world history. Anyone with any knowledge of North American descendants of Irish emigrants who may have been on the Jeanie Johnston should contact Turlough McConnell at (212) 319-5566.

Romanian Exchange To Auction Ship

Romania's Maritime and Commodities Exchange (BMMMC), in the Black Sea port city of Constanta, will hold an auction to sell a 2,600 dwt ship this month. The auction for the Iosif S bulk carrier had been scheduled for April 21 with a starting price set at $290,000.

China Marine Gets $169M Export Credit

China International Marine Containers (Group) Co. reported that the China Eximbank will extend $169 million in credits to boost its container exports. China Marine is among China's biggest marine container makers. It has secured supply contracts worth nearly $700 million for this year, a spokesperson said.

Container exports, which account for some 95 percent of turnover, topped $600 million in 1999, a company official said.

China Eximbank is one of the country's three policy banks that lend according to government guidelines.

Fishermen's Bodies Pulled From Sea

Rescuers pulled the bodies of two fisherman from icy waters in northwestern Scotland April 2 after one victim died trying to save his colleague.

An air and sea search was launched in gale-force winds and a snowstorm after the first man fell from the pier at Carbost Harbour on the Isle of Skye.

His body was found by a lifeboat about 656 ft. (200 m) from the pier. The second man's body was recovered near the stern of their fishing boat several hours later.

"We believe one man fell in the water and the second man ended up in the water trying to assist," a Coastguard spokesman said.

The two men worked aboard the 68 ft. (21m) Astra 2, based in Stornoway, and were reported missing April 2.

Ships Hit In Black Sea

A Turkish-registered ship and a Lebanese-flagged dry cargo vessel collided on April 1 in the Black Sea near Turkey's busy Bosphorus strait, Turkish officials said.

There were no injuries reported, and both ships remained afloat despite sustaining damage, the official traffic control center at the Bosphorus strait said. The strait remained open to traffic. Turkey's Anatolian news agency named the 27,031 gross ton Lebanese ship as the Poylak and said it was traveling empty from Greece's Piraeus port to the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk on the Black Sea.

The 551 gross ton Turkish vessel, named as Huseyin Avci, was carrying minerals, the agency said. It did not give its destination. The two ships were held for investigation.

Turkey's Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits linking the Mediterranean and Black seas are among the world's busiest and most dangerous shipping lanes. - (Reuters)