Shipping Losses Up in 2012 But Down Over 10-Years: AGCS Report

January 8, 2013Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

There have been 106 ship losses reported worldwide in the 12 months since last to November 25

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Northeastern Fishing Industry Hoping for Help With Sandy Storm Losses

January 8, 2013Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticle1 Comments

While Superstorm Sandy did highly visible damage to homes, boardwalks and roads, it also walloped the Northeastern fishing industry, whose workers are hoping for a small piece of any future disaster assistance that Congress might approve.

The storm did millions of dollars’ worth of damage to docks, fish processing plants and restaurants. But it also caused millions more in lost wages to boat employees who couldn’t work for two to three weeks, to truck drivers who had nothing to transport, and to other assorted industries that service commercial fishing.

The $9.7 billion measure to fund the National Flood Insurance program, passed by Congress last Friday, did not include anything for the fishing industry; a bill the Senate passed in December would have allocated $150 million for that purpose.

Some of the worst damage to fisheries in the region occurred at the Belford Seafood Cooperative on the Raritan Bay shoreline in Middletown, N.J., where the pounding waves destroyed a 75-foot-long dock, gutted a popular restaurant, and ripped away all five garage doors and parts of the exterior of office and storage buildings. The co-op’s manager, Joe Branin, estimates the damage at close to $1 million.

“We went three weeks before we were able to pack a fish,” said Branin, whose business was still without electricity in mid-December. “We lost almost all our equipment. It was three weeks before anybody could do anything.”

The restaurant, where diners could eat scallops and fillets literally right off the boat, had provided $5,000 to $8,000 a week in revenue that is now gone.

The co-op supported 50 families who either work directly for it or in supporting roles. Many of those workers simply did without a paycheck for weeks afterward. The situation was the same at New Jersey’s Viking Village port on Long Beach Island’s Barnegat Light, where boats were idled after the storm.

“We couldn’t get to work for two weeks because the infrastructure was all torn up here,” said Bob Brewster, who owns three of the port’s 45 fishing boats and estimates he lost between $10,000 and $20,000 in lost catch. “We were just twiddling our thumbs, waiting to get back out on the water. Everybody wants to make a living, and for a while, we couldn’t.”

In Hampton Bays, N.Y., Doug Oakland estimated two marinas he owns suffered between $800,000 and $1 million in damage. He estimates about a dozen other marinas in the eastern Long Island community were similarly affected.

“The marinas got beat up pretty hard. There’s a 75-foot section of our pier that’s just gone,” he said.

“There was about three to four weeks right after the storm where all the fish kind of disappeared,” he said. “The first two weeks, fishermen couldn’t even get out because a lot of their gear was buried in sand. With the gas shortage, there were no fuel trucks, and there really was no market to sell the fish to because nobody had power. There was no sense in even trying to catch them.”

Though most of the individual boats up and down the East Coast escaped damage, they were forced to stay at the dock because of a combination of problems.

That included damage to their home ports; torn-up roads that forced street closures and kept workers, truck drivers, and customers from reaching the docks; the disruption to normal fishing patterns after the storm that saw many profitable species chased away until the following year; and even difficulty in getting in and out of ports because of new sand bars.

A strong nor’easter a week after Sandy just made things worse.

“We couldn’t get trucks to transport the product,” said Dwight Kooyman, who manages two of Viking Village’s scallop boats. “I have five guys that work for me that couldn’t work that entire time. If they don’t work, they don’t get paid.”

They’re all waiting to see whether Congress includes them in the billions of dollars in storm reconstruction aid it is considering. Less than three weeks after the Oct. 29 storm, the U.S. Commerce Department declared a fishery resource disaster for New Jersey and New York. But all that did was authorize the federal government to disburse any aid that Congress approves. Specific plans for applying for and distributing any aid to fishermen still have to be formulated.

Dale Parsons is a fifth-generation fisherman at the Jersey shore, who owns a shellfish business in Tuckerton, and who used to own a commercial hatchery for tiny clams and oysters on the edge of Barnegat Bay — until Sandy destroyed it, causing several hundred thousand dollars’ worth of losses.

“It was millions of oysters and clams that won’t be spawned next year,” he said. “Even if we rebuild right now, it will take a good year, year and a half to get it together. It’s going to take a long time coming.”

The damage to seafood processors and docks is only part of the industry’s problems, Parsons said; he also fears reduced business from restaurants who see fewer tourists this summer and order less seafood.

“I’m just waiting to see what kind of business there’s going to be in the spring,” he said. “No one knows yet.”

Sandy also affected recreational fishing businesses, including coastal bait and tackle shops that were flooded. New Jersey officials are soliciting damage reports from individual businesses to help make the case that they need direct federal grants, not just loans. The state’s recreational fishing industry estimates it lost $160 million from the storm.

Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, said charter fishing boats suffered greatly because people were just not taking fishing trips in the weeks following the storm.

“The trains weren’t running, there was no gas to get out to the docks, so I’d say they lost substantial income,” she said.

In some places, Sandy actually appears to have helped, rather than hurt, the fishing industry. Maryland environmental officials say an influx of fresh water into the Chesapeake Bay may benefit the oyster population by helping to keep the disease known as dermo in check.

Gibby Dean, president of the Chesapeake Bay Commercial Fishermen’s Association, said the oyster harvest is the best it’s been in a long time — so good that people are giving up crabbing to go after oysters.

 

Copyright 2013 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: East NewsTopics: Sandy, Sandy loss for fishing industry, Sandy storm loss, Superstorm SandyHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk

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Wind Deductibles and Sandy: What It Means for Total Insured Losses

November 28, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticle9 Comments

On October 29, 2012, when Hurricane Sandy made landfall along the northeast coast

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World Catastrophes Totaled $370B In Losses in 2011

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Mississippi Insurance Losses from Isaac Under $25 Million

September 21, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleComments

Private insurers expect to pay more than $24.3 million in claims in Mississippi as a result of Hurricane Isaac, Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said.

Chaney said that as of Sept. 19, Mississippi’s 21 largest insurers had received 9,400 claims and paid $8.6 million.

That’s low compared Hurricane Katrina’s $41 billion in insured damage nationwide. Isaac is expected to cause up to $2 billion in losses in areas it passed through.

At least another 8,000 Isaac claims are expected to be filed, the Insurance Department said. The number doesn’t include claims in the federal flood insurance program or crop insurance.

Of private claims, about $16 million in expected from homeowners’ policies and about $3 million from automobile policies. Chaney said Mississippi Farm Bureau Casualty Insurance Co. and USAA are reporting the most claims.

 

 

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: Southeast NewsTopics: Hurricane Isaac losses, Mississippi Isaac lossesHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk

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World Catastrophes Totaled $370B In Losses in 2011

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Nasdaq Offers $40 Million to Cover Facebook IPO Losses

June 7, 2012Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetArticleCommentsNasdaq OMX Group Inc. said it will offer cash and rebates totaling $40 million to compensate clients affected by the problems with Facebook Inc.’s initial public offering, an amount well short of the losses claimed by top market makers for the IPO.

After approval by regulators, Nasdaq said on Wednesday, $13.7 million would be paid to its affected member firms and the balance would be credited to members to reduce trading costs, with all benefits expected to be awarded within six months.

The idea of rebates has caused some concern at other exchanges. Sources at Nasdaq rivals said that such a plan would force brokers to trade at Nasdaq, taking market share from competing exchanges.

“This is tantamount to forcing the industry to subsidize Nasdaq’s missteps and would establish a harmful precedent that could have far reaching implications for the markets, investors and the public interest,” NYSE Euronext, Nasdaq’s main competitor, said in a statement Wednesday afternoon.

“We intend to strongly press our views that Nasdaq’s proposal cannot be allowed to permit an unjust and anti-competitive situation.”

The top four market makers in the $16 billion Facebook IPO – UBS, Citigroup, Knight Capital, and Citadel Securities – together lost upward of $115 million due to technical problems that prevented them from knowing for about two hours if their orders had gone through after Facebook began trading.

Smaller market makers that might have suffered losses would also receive a part of the $40 million. Two senior executives in the financial industry have said they expect Nasdaq member claims to total $150 million to $200 million.

“Our expectation is that every firm will receive some measure of cash and that every firm will receive their full accommodation by year end if current trading patterns persist,” Eric Noll, executive vice president for transaction services at Nasdaq OMX, said in a webcast to member firms.

Under the plan, investors who attempted to buy the company’s shares at $42 or less, but whose orders were not executed, would be eligible for compensation. In addition, trades that were executed at an inferior price would also be eligible, as well as trades that did go through successfully but were not confirmed because of Nasdaq’s technical problems.

A filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is expected soon, and an executive from a rival exchange declined to comment until its publication.

“They clearly screwed up. They clearly owe their customers money,” said former SEC Chairman Arthur Levitt. He declined to comment on whether the situation warranted an SEC investigation or fine.

Nasdaq’s Noll said the exchange is still engaged in a review process with the SEC. It is unclear how long that process will take or how long the SEC will take to decide if Nasdaq’s proposal for compensation is adequate.

He said that the factors that went into determining the $40 million figure included the exchange’s liability cap of $3 million a month, Nasdaq’s proceeds of $10.7 million from the Facebook IPO, and an estimated $7 million in revenue forecast over the next five years from Facebook trading and listing fees.

During the first day of Facebook trading, technical glitches left the market makers – who facilitate trades for brokers and are crucial to the smooth operation of stock trading – in the dark for hours as to which trades had gone through.

Nasdaq’s immediate response amounted to a members-only call with one of its executive vice presidents and a statement that the exchange would set aside a pool of $13.7 million to accommodate losses.

On a call with select reporters the Sunday after the Facebook IPO, Nasdaq Chief Executive Robert Greifeld said Nasdaq was “humbly embarrassed” over the trading glitch, but he stopped short of a public apology.

 

 

Copyright 2012 Reuters. Click for restrictions.Email ThisPrintNewslettersTweetCategories: National NewsTopics: Facebook IPO, NasdaqHave a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk

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