Reuters

A dry bulk vessel operated by China COSCO Holdings has been seized by authorities in Singapore over a financial dispute with one of its clients, court documents and a shipbroker said on Wednesday.

The 74,000-tonne bulk carrier, Song Shan Hai, was seized on Friday by the law firm Asia Legal, which is representing an unknown client of COSCO's, according to Singapore's Supreme Court.

"There seems to be a dispute over payments between COSCO and one of its clients. Hopefully, this isn't a sign of yet another round of problems for COSCO," said a Singapore-based shipbroker.
COSCO officials were not immediately available for comment.

China's top shipping conglomerate had a vessel seized earlier this year in Singapore after it halted payments to several ship owners to force better terms, a move that threatened to taint its reputation within the international maritime community.

COSCO has resolved most of its lease disputes with ship owners, managing to successfully reduce a "large portion" of its charter costs, its chairman told Reuters last week.

Many of those shipping contracts were struck during the 2008 shipping boom when the industry's largest capesize vessels were being rented by COSCO and others for around $100,000 a day.

The dry bulk market has since plummeted due to the economic downturn and an oversupply of vessels, leaving COSCO paying 2008 prices for ships that now rent for $23,000 a day.

COSCO made a net loss of 2.07 billion yuan ($325.81 million at the time) in the third quarter, hit by sliding freight rates and overcapacity in the industry. Its Hong Kong-listed shares have lost half their value since the start of the year, underperforming a 13 percent drop in the Hang Seng Index.

Source: http://af.reuters.com/article/metalsNews/idAFL4E7M90E520111109

Xinhua

BEIJING - A new report has advised China's airlines to form a coalition and launch a lawsuit against a European Union plan that requires global airlines to buy carbon emission permits.

China should start legal procedures against the plan as soon as possible, and take actions in assembling submissions by aviation associations and enterprises in the lawsuit, said the report published Friday by the Social Sciences Academic Press under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

The EU plan requires airlines flying to or from its territory from January 2012 to buy permits for 15 percent of the carbon emissions they generate during the entire flight, with large fines for noncompliance.

The EU plan was challenged by US airlines in the European Court of Justice in July for breaching international law.

The report follows comments Tuesday by an official from China's aviation regulator supporting a resolution adopted by the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization, which opposes the EU plan to force non-EU airlines to take part in the bloc's Emissions Trading Scheme.

The China Air Transport Association (CATA) will join several major Chinese airlines to file a lawsuit against the EU over the issue, CATA Deputy Secretary General Chai Haibo was quoted as saying by China Economic Weekly in a story published Monday.

In addition to its ambition to raise its airlines' competitiveness,other core interests were behind the EU plan, according to the report titled "Green Book of Climate Change: Annual Report on Actions to Address Climate Change (2011)." The bloc seeks more say in setting the agenda as the world strives to combat global climate change, it said.

While proposing that Chinese airlines oppose the EU plan, the report suggested that China's aviation industry develop in a more sustainable manner through researching and utilizing bio-fuels, improving the efficiency of airplane engines and better arranging airline routes.

Source: www.chinadaily.com.cn/bizchina/2011-11/14/content_14091031.htm

Reuters

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Wednesday urged claimants to the South China Sea not to resort to intimidation to push their cause in the potentially oil-rich waters, an indirect reference to China ahead of a regional leaders' summit.

Clinton reiterated that the United States wanted a candid discussion of the maritime dispute, which an Australian think tank warned earlier this year could lead to war, when the leaders gather in Bali, Indonesia, this week.

However, China says it does not want the issue discussed, putting it at loggerheads with the United States once again after they exchanged barbs over trade and currency at last week's meeting of Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation forum in Hawaii.

"The United States does not take a position on any territorial claim, because any nation with a claim has a right to assert it," Clinton said in Manila, while marking the 60th anniversary of the U.S.-Philippine Mutual Defence Treaty.

"But they do not have a right to pursue it through intimidation or coercion. They should be following international law, the rule of law, the U.N. Convention on Law of the Sea."

She said disputes in the sea lanes should be resolved through the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), which defined rules on how countries can use the world's oceans and their resources.

That could embolden Southeast Asia's hand against China, which has said it would not submit to international arbitration over competing claims to the area, believed to be rich in natural resources and a major shipping lane.

China says it has historical sovereignty over the South China Sea and so supersedes claims of other countries, including the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei.

"Introducing a contentious subject into the meeting would only affect the atmosphere of cooperation and mutual trust, damaging the hard-won setting of healthy development in the region," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin said on Wednesday. "That's is beyond any doubt."

Estimates of proven and undiscovered oil reserves in the South China Sea range from 28 billion barrels of oil to as high as 213 billion barrels, U.S. figures showed in 2008. Gas deposits could be as high as 3.8 trillion cubic metres, the U.S. Geological Survey has estimated. Both would supply China with energy supplies for decades if proven.

China's resource needs and its risk-taking behaviour over staking its claim in the increasingly crowded sea lanes of the maritime region raise the possibility of armed conflict that could draw in the United States and other powers, the Lowy Institute said in a report in June.

Tensions flared again earlier this year with concerns raised over China's enforcement of its claim in areas also claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines, including the cutting of cables on survey ships, threats to ram some vessels and breaches of airspace by military aircraft.

On Tuesday, the Philippines criticised its South East Asian neighbours for failing to take a united stand against China.

"ASEAN is now at a critical junction of playing a positive and meaningful role to contribute in the peaceful resolution of the disputes in the South China Sea," said Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario.

Manila wants ASEAN to be able to help resolve sensitive issues without letting them affect bilateral or multilateral relations, he said.

Smaller Southeast Asian claimants view a U.S. presence and a multilateral approach to negotiations as strengthening their stance against China's all-encompassing claim on the sea.

"President Obama will reaffirm our national interest in the maintenance of peace and security in the region and internationally," Clinton said.

She said that included freedom of navigation, the rule of law and unimpeded lawful commerce, with the United States seeing UNCLOS as the overriding framework for territorial disputes.

The shipping lanes of the South China Sea carry some $5 trillion in annual trade that the United States wants to keep open.

Source: in.reuters.com/article/2011/11/16/idINIndia-60560920111116