FINN(COM) DAILY RECORD: MONDAY 31 MAY 2004

 

GOVERNOR RUBBISHES ARGENTINE FLIGHT REPORTS

 

By J. Brock (FINN)

 

H. E. the Governor Mr. Howard Pearce today rubbished the idea of an Argentine airline with no airframes establishing regular flights to the Falkland Islands.  "Anyone thinking they can establish a regularly scheduled air link from Argentina to the Falklands is operating in the realm of fantasy," said the Governor, who went on to say the whole idea was a load of nonsense.

 

Ditto for the reaction from the British Embassy in Buenos Aires, who explained that there are no current plans for regular flights other than those operated by LanChile and those charter flights approved by the Argentine Civil Aviation Authority.

 

The airline expressing interest in regularly scheduled flights is Lineas Aereas Federales S.A. Lafsa.  Though it has no aircraft to its name but uses airframes provided by other South American Airlines, Lafsa has been awarded internal routes to several destinations within Argentina and a phantom one to the Falklands, according to the Argentine government's gazette.

 

According to South American press reports, Lapsa was set up last year to employ redundant staff from two bankrupt airlines.

 

There is a once a month trip to the Falklands via LanChile from Rio Gallegos.  Though the Argentine Civil Aviation Authority curtailed charter flights from South America to the Falklands during the height of the tourist season, negotiations are still underway to resolve the problem.

 

 

 

 

WOOL REPORT: for the week ending Friday 28^th May 2004

 

Auctions

 

The Australian market’s Eastern Market Indicator (EMI) lost six cents on Wednesday and drifted a further two cents on Thursday.  The EMI thus closed the week down eight cents at 790 A cents.  Pass-ins increased on last week to 15 percent.  Chinese buying was very evident.  ‘The one percent drop in the EMI was considered satisfactory given that the Australian dollar strengthened by 2.2 percent against the United States dollar.’ WRWMR

 

In New Zealand the Fine Indicator and Medium Indicator were not quoted.  The Strong Indicator lost slightly more than last week’s gains by reversing 22 cents (4.8%) to 431 NZ cents whilst the Lamb Indicator lost 11 cents to 425 NZ cents. Sixteen percent was passed in.  The New Zealand dollar strengthening two percent against the US dollar was an influential reason behind part of the fall.

 

There were no British or South African auctions this week.

 

Currencies

 

The closing rate for the Australian dollar in London for the week was A$2.5693/£.

 

The New Zealand dollar closed the week trading at 2.9179 NZ cents/£.

 

FWG Agency

 

There is a new leader in the Fine Wool Challenge Competition with Golding Island Hogs testing at 20.0µ.

 

More bales from the FIC’s voyage 3 Marianne Danica are anticipated to arrive in Bradford next week.  Sampling has begun on completed lots.

 

A good spread of interest and enquiry saw sales from 22.1 to 31.8 microns fleece wool and various oddment types sold, ahead of the Bank Holiday weekend.  Additional supplies of Falkland wool would be welcomed by our speciality customers.

 

 

 

FALKLAND ISLANDS HOLDINGS IS BUYING I NTO THE FERRY BUSINESS

 

A Report for BBC World Service “Calling the Falklands” by Graham Bound (GB) 05/28/04

 

You may have heard on FIBS that Falkland Islands Holdings, the company, which owns the West Store and the Upland Goose Hotel, among other businesses, has branched out, acquiring a major stake in a British Ferry Company.  It seems a surprising move but as Executive Chairman, David Hudd (DH) told me, investing three quarters of a million pounds in the Portsmouth Harbour Ferry Company makes sense.

 

DH:  The Ferry business is one strand of what we are doing.  Obviously, as people in the Islands know, we have almost completed our magnetic survey looking for Gold and other valuable minerals in the Islands and hopefully, later this year we will embark on a major seismic survey of the offshore acreage that we’ve got.  So, that’s Gold and Oil, which, I might say, is rather different than operating the West Store.  At the same time, we are looking to other opportunities and the Ferry Company was an interesting situation.  And, it will allow a larger share holding, so that’s a start.  We will see what happens.

 

GB:  It’s a major departure, though, because at least the other research into the minerals and so on in the Falklands is Falklands based.  This is not Falklands based – no connection at all – and not much experience, perhaps, for the Company in the ferry business.  What can you take to it and what can you get out of it?

 

DH:  This is 800 yards, this ferry operator but basically the concept of providing service to a local community is something we have been doing in the Falklands for 150 years.  This particular company in Portsmouth has been doing it for 120 years, so there is nice synergy there and it was a good opportunity.  We had been looking at this particular company for some time and we believe we may be able to contribute but we haven’t got anybody on the board.   We’ve invested three quarters of a million pounds, which is a lot of money.  The company is currently capitalised at something like £15Million, so it’s not really a huge investment in terms of the company as a whole.

 

GB:  Does this indicate that Falkland Islands Holdings are actually going to move further away from the Falklands?

 

DH:  No.  We are still very much committed.  Indeed, the money we’ve invested in the minerals survey and our proposing to invest in the oil survey indicates.  But from a shareholder’s point of view, I think it’s good we have a rather larger spread of interest because the Falklands – 2500 people, 8,000 miles away – most of our shareholders are in the UK.  So, I think we are keen to see if we can add some businesses, which will add value for shareholders.

 

GB:  Your interests are nothing, if not varied.  Going back to the minerals and the possibility of Gold in the Falklands, how is that research going?  What’s the prognosis there?

 

DH:  The aero-magnetic survey isn’t yet finished.  Work is going on to see if we can identify some targets – some geological anomalies, which may be worthy of further investigation.  At the moment, the analysis hasn’t been finished and it won’t be for a couple of months.  One is obviously hopeful, having spent a million dollars on doing this work that it will produce some interesting results.  Maybe we’ll find something.

 

GB:  Like all businesses, it seems to be an opportunity comes along and another one seems to slip into the distance.  I am thinking of the Upland Goose Hotel in Stanley.  You seem to have back-peddled a bit on commitment to tourism, perhaps?

 

DH:  It hasn’t really ever been a huge tourist hotel.  It’s one of our important assets in the centre of the town, which everyone knows and thinks of as owned by us but we are not really hoteliers and I think we really need to improve its performance both financially and operationally by looking at various ways of doing that.  I hope we are going to be able to do something about that in the next couple of months.

 

GB:  It’s an important aspect of the Falklands Tourism infrastructure.  Can you just be a bit more specific about the plans for the next tourist season?

 

DH:  We are shutting it for a couple of months to give it a good facelift and so on internally, clean it up and got some so on.  And, we have got some plans to mount some new management changes, which we hope to be able to announce shortly.  I think it would be premature to say anything other than the fact that we do need to improve its performance.  We are not satisfied with that at the moment.  I stay there whenever I go down.  We are going to make some attempts to improve what we offer there.  We have been successful in some respects but not financially recently so we need to think through and get our act together.

 

GB:  So the interest in other kinds of business in other parts of the world, Falkland Islands Holdings, doesn’t mean you are going to be leaving in the short-term anyway?

 

DH:  Oh, no.  We are very proud of our association, our Royal Charter and the whole board is committed to a substantial presence in the Falklands.

 

 

SERIOUS WORRIES ABOUT EASTERN CANADIAN FISHERIES

 

A Report for BBC World Service “Calling the Falklands” by Graham Bound (GB) 05/28/04

 

The Falklands are not the only territory with serious worries about its fishing industry.  The Canadians are so concerned about their declining stocks that they have banned fishermen from catching certain species in their coastal waters.  But illegal fishing continues on the high seas and the Canadian Government is now stepping up efforts to stop the poachers outside their exclusive economic zone, especially on the Grand Banks.  But, as Lee Carter (LC) reports, the Canadians are frustrated because they have had little success in persuading other governments to co-operate.

 

LC:  When the Canadian Government closed most of Atlantic Canada’s Cod fishery in the early 1990s, more than 40,000 people were thrown out of work or lost a significant portion of their income.  Most of those came from the most easterly, rugged and traditionally poor province – Newfoundland and Labrador.  It’s hard to over-estimate the human toll the Canadian Cod Moratorium has had. 

 

And, far from Cod stocks replenishing themselves, the Canadian Government study in 2000 instead discovered that over-fishing had sent the Cod spawning stock into dramatic decline.  So, Canadian fishermen find it particularly galling that boats from other countries appear to be continuing to over-fish just beyond Canada’s 200 Mile Limit. 

 

In recent years, Canada has been taking full advantage of new rules that permit patrolling and boarding of ships beyond the 200 Mile Limit if illegal activity is suspected.  The most recent skirmish involved a Portuguese trawler called the Brutus.  On the 8^th of May, Canadian Coast Guard officials boarded the vessel but the Captain was unable to bring up his net.  It had disappeared.  After a 30-hour search, Canadian authorities recovered the net from the ocean floor.  They accuse the Captain of deliberately cutting it just as the ship was being boarded.  The Captain insists the net broke.  Canada says what they found was clear evidence of illegal fishing in international waters.  Most of the fish put on display to the media were prohibited species.  But the case ended in murky waters.  Instead of the vessel being towed into a Canadian port, the European Union ordered the Brutus back home.  When the ship docked in Portugal, Canadian Officials were denied access to the trawler.

 

 The EU and Canada have a particular history of bitter disputes over fishing.  In 1995, the Canadian Coast Guard seized a Spanish fishing trawler and arrested the crew in international waters.  This was in the days when Canada only had jurisdiction over its own waters.  The reaction from the EU was swift and furious.  But Spain’s case was later dismissed by the World Court in the Hague.  EU officials argued that the issue is complex.  Fishing has been a way of life in Mediterranean countries for centuries.  And, Spain and Portugal are two of the Union’s poorer members.  Outright moratoriums and their human consequences seem too difficult to contemplate.  But the depletion of fish stocks everywhere may force change. 

 

Meanwhile, Ottawa, which long assumed the moral high-ground says its going to step up its patrols and inspections and seems more determined than ever to continue to press its case.

 

 

FIBS NEWS DIRECT: MONDAY, 31 MAY 2004

 

SURVEY PLANE CRASHES:

 

The minerals survey plane, which has been over-flying the Falklands in recent weeks, crashed during landing at Stanley airport on Saturday.  Civil Aviation say the survey plane was damaged in the accident but there were no injuries to the two people onboard.  The incident happened at 1520 in the afternoon.  Director of Civil Aviation, Andrew Newman, said this morning the nose landing gear on the aircraft failed, causing the propellers to strike the runway.  He added, “Incident and investigation procedures are being carried out by Falkland Islands Civil Aviation Department in conjunction with the operating company, and Brazilian Civil Aviation.

 

EXCO DISCUSSES ACCESS TO INFORMATION:

 

Papers from last week’s meeting of EXCO have been made public.  Apart from budget discussions, other items on the agenda included the introduction of a new series of £5.00 notes.  Then current supply of 19,000 £5.00 notes in the vault is expected to last for another 18 months.  The new notes will cost 24p each for the Government to purchase.  That’s a cost of £48,500.00 for 200,000 notes, which are expected to last for 15 years.  The paper before EXCO didn’t recommend that a new design should be adopted because it would add to the cost.  But the words, “Hundredth and fiftieth anniversary 1833 to 1983 will be removed.  The signature of the late Harold Rowlands will be removed and replaced with those of the three current commissioners of currency, Derek Howatt, Peter King and Moira Eccles.  The EXCO report also says £5.00 would be too high a value to issue as a coin at present, although they do offer better value for money as coins are cheaper to produce and last longer.

 

Also in EXCO, members discussed an amendment to Section 4 of the Committees, Access to information Ordinance, which was passed by LEGCO last week.  The amendment was passed to clarify the situation on the inclusion of Matters Arising on Government Agendas.  This means that Committees may discuss Matters Arising from the previous meeting without specifying them by title in the new agenda as long as there is mention of “matters arising out of minutes of the previous meeting.”

 

POLICE NEWS:

 

The Police had a fairly quiet weekend with only one traffic accident to report.  Just after 1540 on Saturday afternoon, two people were picked up on the MPA Road by a passing vehicle.  The pair had been travelling into Stanley when the vehicle left the road and rolled.  They were taken to the hospital suffering from minor cuts.  Police say they are investigating the accident.

 

TOOTY AND JOAN TAKE FIC TOURNAMENT:

 

Tooty Ford for the men and Joan Middleton for the ladies came out on top in Saturday’s Darts Competition.  Tooty beat Teddy Summers in the final and Joan beat Julie Ford.  The FIC Tournament was 301, double in, double out, consisting of 3 legs until the semi-final with 5 legs and the final, which was the best out of 7.

 

HARBOUR, SHIPPING AND FISHING NEWS:

 

The Reefer, Frost Delphi is at FIPASS discharging cargo and the Long-liner, Gambler, is also alongside.  The Trawler, Kalecsori has been in Port William for a health inspection.  There are nine vessels currently in the Zone.  Catches of Hoki are reasonable and there are good Hake catches outside the Zone.

 

THANKS:

 

Jeniffer Murray and Colin Bodal, who crashed their helicopter in Antarctica while attempting a pole to pole record last December, have met the RAF team who launched the rescue operation.  But they weren’t down here in the Falklands.  The team are based at RAF Kinloss in Scotland.  And, they raised the alert from the other side of the world.  The helicopter’s emergency beacon was identified by the RAF Kinloss Aeronautical Rescue Co-ordination Centre, when it came down in bad weather last December.

 

In the crash, Mr. Bodal, who suffered a broken back, ruptured intestine a split liver and internal bleeding still managed to put up a tent and find their satellite phone to call for help from the nearest base, while Mrs. Murray was in shock.  Meanwhile, 9,000 miles away from the crash site at RAF Kinloss Craig Riley from Helicopter control, spotted the helicopter’s beacon on his screen.

 

He set in motion a rescue which saw the pair air lifted to Punta Arenas within 24 hours.

 

(100X Transcription Service)