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Melting Arctic ice has opened up possibilities for alternative Arctic trade routes that can potentially shorten shipping journeys, posing a threat on the importance of Singapore in maritime industry and forcing the island nation to get involved in the icebreaking industry.
“Icebreaking is Singapore’s alternative business should the new route eventually out-compete the old route,” Greenpeace Southeast Asia political adviser Zelda Soriano said in a text message to GMA News Online. “Singapore would not lose anything then as it is in business in the old and new route,” she added.
Singapore is “doing business in icebreaking the Arctic” and is “profiting from climate change” while protecting its international seaport, Soriano noted in a blog post.
More at GMA Network
From the Journal of Commerce:
The county prosecutor in Vancouver, Wash., will not file charges against a longshoreman accused of intentionally damaging machinery at the United Grain export terminal, a charge that earlier this year led to the lockout of 44 members of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, and demonstrations that continue to this day.
ILWU spokeswoman Jennifer Sargent said the company used the “false allegation” of sabotaging the machinery as an excuse to lock out the union, so now it is time to resume contract negotiations between United Grain and the ILWU.
The company said it remains convinced that the film shows the longshoreman was intentionally damaging the machinery, and United Grain intends to move forward with a civil suit.
More at the JOC
Excerpts from The Oregonian:
A Tidewater employee said ratchets used to hold the barge in place appeared to have been intentionally loosened, according to a Coast Guard news release. A longshore union spokeswoman said the union had nothing to do with it.
“Intentionally causing damage to a vessel or its cargo is a crime punishable by a fine and imprisonment for up to 20 years,” the Coast Guard release said.
Jennifer Sargent, a longshore union spokeswoman, said strikebreaking companies often try to malign workers during labor disputes. “The manner in which the barge broke free from the dock is pure speculation until the investigation concludes,” Sargent wrote in an e-mail, “and the employer’s private security and strikebreaking firm should be as closely examined as anyone else during that process.”
Sargent noted that last week, a Clark County prosecutor declined to press charges against Vancouver longshore local official Todd Walker, who was accused by United Grain in March of sabotaging operations at the terminal. The prosecutor concluded that the company’s video failed to prove a crime had occurred, she said.
“The company had used that one...
Source: Talking Union
Source: Talking Union
Source: AFL-CIO
Source: AFL-CIO
Source: Los Angeles Times
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