As we send out our renewal notices at the beginning of the year we are heartened by the continued support that NYMAR is experiencing.

In the last two years our membership rolls have tripled and we have reached beyond our original base of lawyers and arbitrators and our collective now enjoys the company of bankers, broker, owners, insurance executives and other industry leaders.

Our mission deserves repeating – to establish a promotional and networking base for the New York cluster; to support the myriad of organizations within the cluster and to collectively pursue an agenda that defines New York as the "capital for shipping." We are, for example, delighted to see the return of the Propeller Club and its own initiatives as we are equally delighted that come May we will be renewing our successful partnership with the Journal of Commerce and Baruch College as we help promote New York during World Trade Week.

Our members flourish and as the markets continue to lack clarity and conviction  at NYMAR we for sure have not lost our focus nor indeed our conviction.

Mark Your Calendars for May 11th

On May 11th NYMAR joins the Journal of Commerce and Baruch College's Weissman Center for a Breakfast Business Forum on "Growth through Trade: Bridging Global Markets." Watch this space for more details!

New York Annual Shipping Conference an Annual Hit

The Hellenic-American and Norwegian-American Chambers of Commerce produced another excellent conference last Tuesday with the theme of "Will China lead Shipping out of the Global Recession?" While bankers were not ebullient about the markets, they weren't standing on the ledge, either.  Shipowners were there aplenty, filling nearly two panels with their observations on the sector and its future.

A highlight was reported by George Weltman of Marine Money in their "Freshly Minted" edition:  "In our favorite moment, Mr. Shaerf asked the panelists [Angeliki Frangou of Navios, Sophocles Zoullas of Eagle Bulk Shipping and Mark Friedman of Evercore] what they would do with $100 million. Ever the diplomat and demonstrating his understanding of good value, Mr. Zoullas said he would buy $50 million of Eagle shares and $50 million of Navios shares. In a true dealmaker of the year response, Ms. Frangou responded that she did not need $100 million. If it were a good deal, she would get it done."

Maritime Arbitration in New York – The Seminar 2010

The SMA will again conduct its popular, comprehensive two-day seminar on "Maritime Arbitration in New York under SMA Rules" – for the fifth consecutive year – on February 25 and 26, 2010 at the Best Western Seaport Hotel, 33 Peck Slip, New York, NY 10038 (in the historic South Street Seaport District in Downtown Manhattan).

This course is offered to help further and promote the fair, just, ethical and cost-efficient resolution of charter party and other maritime contract disputes via arbitration in New York. Jeffrey Weiss, Esq., Professor of Maritime Law at New York Maritime College, who has over 20 years of college and gradual level teaching experience, will again be the lead instructor.

The subject covered will include:

• Arbitration Overview, Commencing the Arbitration, the Federal Arbitration Act and SMA Rules;
• The Arbitration Award: Interim Awards; Final Awards; Majority Decision; Dissenting Opinions;
• Confirmation, Vacatur and Enforcement of Awards; Panel Members and Ethical Considerations;
• Discovery in Aid of Arbitration; Hearing Procedures; Security in Aid of an Award;
• Evidentiary Considerations in Arbitration, the Federal Rules of Evidence and Related Issues;
• Time Bar, Defaults and Consolidation of Arbitrations

For further details and registration, please see the SMA web site at www.smany.org.

The registration fee includes continental breakfast, morning and afternoon coffee each day. There a numerous Seaport District restaurants for lunch. Hotel rooms are available at reasonable prices at the Best Western Seaport Hotel (call the front desk at 212.766 6600; fax 212.766 6615) and mention the SMA. For any other course or registration questions, call Klaus C.J. Mordhorst (973.492 9472; email: klausm@lefflerchartering.com).

Connecticut Maritime Association Gearing up for Shipping 2010

With its usual star-studded cast, the CMA is feverishly putting the finishing touches on its Shipping 2010 program.  Attracting maritime celebrities and paparazzi from around the globe, this annual gathering is sure to generate buzz—and shipping deals.  For more information, click on www.shipping2010.com

International Bar Association Dovetails with Shipping 2010 to hold their Mid-Year Conference

The IBA Mid-Year maritime conference will be taking place on March 25 – 26 in Stanford, Connecticut, hard on the heels of the CMA's Shipping 2010 event.  The conference titled "Shipping in the New Financial Era" will cover topics including  how ship-owning companies have reorganized to meet challenges arising from the new financial markets and how capital for shipping can be raised today. The conference will also include sessions on maritime arbitration and recent developments in maritime law around the world, including: shipping and trade harmonizing; financial issues for maritime companies; raising of capital in the current climate; how the financial crisis has affected contracts in the shipping industry; reorganization of shipping companies; Maritime arbitration procedures in New York and recognition and enforcement of Maritime Arbitration Awards. 

Capital Link to hold Annual Shipping Event on March 25th

Capital Link will once again hold its successful "Invest in International Shipping" event at the Metropolitan Club in New York.  Now in its fourth year, this event attracts investors who come to hear the public shipping companies' CEOs and CFOs discuss macroeconomic trends and their impact on shareholder value.

Setting the Course – Seafarers International House Annual Awards Banquet

Thursday, April 22, 2010, 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM at New York Athletic Club, 180 Central Park South, New York City (Note new venue!). Honoring Donald Keefe, President, Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association; Philip J. Schapiro, President & CEO, Liberty Maritime Corporation; and Joseph C. Sweeney, Professor of Law, Fordham University School of Law.

Monthly News

Overseas Shipholding Expands Spot Fleet to Bet on Higher Rates

The New York-based company already has about 70 percent of its 106 vessels in spot, or single-voyage, charters, up from last year's 50 percent. It will place another 14 tankers on spot rates when their current fixed-rate time charters expire during the year, Chief Executive Officer Morten Arntzen said in an interview.

"We have more spot exposure in 2010 than we did in 2009, and it's based on expectations that spot rates will be higher," Arntzen said. "We have lots of cash, so we don't need to fix ships in order to pay for light bulbs and electricity bills."

Spot charters expose Overseas Shipholding to volatile rates, which reached a 15-month high last month before falling back. Competitors such as Teekay Corp. and General Maritime Corp. maintain a larger proportion of their fleet in time charters to ensure stable revenue even though those rates may be lower.

"It's a risky bet for OSG, but with rates so low, if they do spike, your payoff is greater than your possible loss if rates fall," said Mike Reardon, a Houston-based vice president at freight derivatives broker Imarex ASA.

Overseas Shipholding has gained 31 percent over the past 12 months, giving the company a market value of $1.12 billion. Hamilton, Bermuda-based Teekay has risen 16 percent while New York-based General Maritime has fallen 42 percent.

Overseas Shares

Overseas Shipholding fell 75 cents, or 1.8 percent, to $41.46 at 10:15 a.m. in composite trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

"We maintain a strong balance sheet so that we can operate our ships in a manner to maximize the earnings of the fleet over time," Arntzen said.

Spot rates got a boost last month as cold weather delayed shipments and expectations for an economic recovery raised sentiment.

The 12-month time-charter rate for a very large crude carrier, or VLCC, was $31,250 a day in December, according to London-based shipbroker Simpson Spence & Young Ltd. The single- voyage rate was $18,869 a day on Jan. 4, according to the Baltic Exchange. The spot rate reached $65,595 a day on Jan. 19, the highest price since October 2008, before tumbling 59 percent to $26,707 yesterday.

Teekay, the world's biggest tanker company, has 80 percent of its 158 vessels booked under fixed-rate contracts this year.

"Securing fixed-rate business for our fleet is part of Teekay's overall strategy to ensure stable cash flows," Alana Duffy, a Teekay spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. "The nature of much of our business is long-term and fixed-rate."

General Maritime

General Maritime, the second-biggest tanker owner in the U.S., plans to put 60 percent of its 31 tankers on time charter this year.

"We are still in the trough of the tanker cycle, and we believe it's appropriate to have more than 50 percent time charter until we pass the worst of the cycle," Jeffrey Pribor, chief financial officer of General Maritime, said in a telephone interview.

Tsakos Energy Navigation Ltd., based in Athens, has 40 of its 46 vessels in time charters.
"It's always been our strategy to have a high proportion of our vessels on time charters," Tsakos Chief Financial Officer Paul Durham said in a telephone interview. Tsakos shares dropped 17 percent in the past 12 months.

Quarterly Earnings

Overseas Shipholding is expected to report a fourth-quarter loss of $1.25 a share, according to five analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. For the first quarter of 2010, analysts expect a profit of 25 cents as shipping rates improve.

"Our conviction that the spot market will be stronger so far has turned out correct," Arntzen said. "But there is a lot of year left to play out. Though we expected 2010 to be better than 2009, the levels we expect to achieve in 2010 are still not satisfactory."

Natasha Boyden, an analyst at Cantor Fitzgerald, raised Overseas shares to "buy" from "sell" on Jan. 25. She also raised the 12-month target price to $58 per share from $31.

Shipping rates will rise this year as the global economy recovers, oil demand gains and the global fleet grows no more than 1 percent as single-hull tankers are phased out, Arntzen said.

Some analysts are cautious on shipping rates. January's rate spike "will prove to be more of an anomaly and the next move will be a sharp correction," Jonathan Chappell, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase Co., said in a report on Jan. 22.

Overseas reported a loss of $19.6 million, or 73 cents a share, in the third quarter, when spot rates tumbled amid the economic recession. General Maritime, which had a higher average time-charter rate, posted net income of $14.8 million, or 27 cents a share.

"At times we will earn less in the spot market than competitors are earning on their time-chartered ships, but over time we will do better," Arntzen said. "As we have a very strong balance sheet we can tolerate more spot exposure."  - Bloomberg Business Week

Rule B: Appealing to a Higher Authority

The hopes of the New York admiralty bar are riding on an application for review by the US Supreme Court of last year's surprise decision in The Shipping Corporation of India v Jaldhi holding that electronic funds transfers are not attachable property.

Blank Rome's Jeremy Harwood , counsel for the petitioner , comments that he hopes that the amicus brief that the Maritime Law Association has said it will file , as well as that of the Clearing House Association , will attract the attention of the Court. "The attachment remedy has been around for centuries and has not been the subject of the Supreme Court's review for fifty. If any case merits review this is the one. EFTs are as much part of maritime commerce as the use of the internet. To except these from the right of attachment of "intangible property" because "perhaps" they belong to the intermediary bank based on New York state law was incorrect in our view ." Harwood also commented that the case applied only to EFTS being sent to a Rule B defendant and one judge has refused to vacate "originator" EFTS. The uncertainty created by the decision and the process by which the Court did an about face has caused concern here and abroad.

Progress on the Rotterdam Rules

Further support is developing for U.S. ratification of the Rotterdam Rules, UNCITRAL'S new international cargo liability regime.  On February 8th, the House of Delegates of the American Bar Association, with the support and encouragement of The Maritime Law Association of the United States, passed a resolution recommending that the Senate give its "advice and consent" to ratify the Rules, which are formally known as the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Carriage of Goods Wholly or Partly by Sea.  New York maritime attorneys Chester Hooper of Holland & Knight and Vincent M. DeOrchis of DeOrchis & Partners advised the U.S. delegation to the UNCITRAL drafting sessions from which the Rotterdam Rules emerged.

Financial Performance Charts

Shipping Company Performance Chart (NYSE)
(source: NYSE)

Shipping Company Performance Chart (NASDAQ OMX)
(source: NASDAQ OMX)

What's Going on in New York | Events and Entertainment

• Seaport Past and Future
  Venue: South Street Seaport
  Fulton Street at South Street, (212) 732-8257
  This free exhibit will take guests through The Seaport's centuries of growth and epic changes that have impacted New York City and the entire region. Archival materials showcase vintage streetscapes presented with the same views as they appear today allowing visitors to examine continuities and change over time at The Seaport. These momentous occasions will be demonstrated through multimedia features and scale models representing the district during these crucial moments in history and culminates with an architectural model of General Growth Properties' proposed plan for the new Seaport.
  
  
• Titanic: The Artifact Exhibition
  Venue: Discovery Times Square Exposition
  226 W 44th St, (866) 987-9692
  Experience Titanic's fateful 1912 maiden voyage and take on the identity of a Titanic passenger as you explore magnificent reconstructions of the Ship's interior. Discover how the ‘unsinkable' Ship met its fate and connect with the passengers and crew, as you view haunting personal artifacts recovered from the wreck. * Largest collection of Titanic artifacts, many on display for the first time after being recovered from the ocean floor including jewels, china, documents, clothing and much more * Experience a recreation of the Ship's illustrious Grand Staircase.
  
  
• Traveling The Silk Road
  Venue: American Museum of Natural History
  Central Park West at 79th Street, (212) 769-5100
  Prepare to embark on a thrilling journey along the greatest trading route in history: the legendary Silk Road. In this stunning exhibition, you'll traverse the ancient cities of Asia and the Middle East between 600 and 1200AD, where spectacular sights, exquisite silks, and rousing stories await.
  
  

NYC Web sites

• newyork.timeout.com/
• www.nycvisit.com
• www.zagats.com
• http://www.ny.com/nightlife/
• http://www.ny.com/museums/
• http://www.allny.com/antiques/auctioneers.htm
• http://www.nytix.com
• http://www.majorleagueevents.com

New York State Travel & Tourism To speak with a travel counselor, call during regular business hours (Eastern Standard Time) at 800/CALL-NYS (U.S., territories, possessions and Canada) or 518/474-4116 (all other areas). http://www.iloveny.com/home.aspx

New York City Travel & Tourism (NY City & Company)
212-484-1222

NYC 311 - City of New York directory assistance covering events, attractions and other citywide information

• Dial 311 in Manhattan (NYC), Staten Island, Bronx, Queens and Long Island.
• Dial 212-639-9675 outside of Manhattan (NYC), Staten Island, Bronx, Queens and Long Island. This is a toll call.