Shipping problems

[Doc Vernon]

Some info here Des may help ?
Cheers

Spirit of Tasmania replacement ferries could be built in Australia - ABC News

[Des Taff Jenkins]

HI Vernon.
I missed all that, I concede that it may be difficult to get a new one built in Aus, but if we don't have a go we will never know. Some clowns in Parliament got rid of our ship building, probably on the back of all the money being made on iron ore that could pay for exporting our goods by overseas ships. When you think that only about six years after the war Japan had high speed trains, and 70 years after it Australia still haven't any, I think Aus ingenuity is starting to fall down.
Des

[Doc Vernon]

Yes indeed Des there have been so many promises by the Governments we have had and very few have come to much have they!
Like the Rail line here up to the Mountains where we are, they said Yonks ago that we would get new Carriages that was some two Years ago or may be longer, then it was the Carriages were ordered, then they arrived, too Wide for the Tunnels, another backward step, how to fix, widening all the Tunnels at what cost! Now where are the Carriages ?? In Limbo Land i guess. And s the list goes on and not much at all actually happening, the only thing i can say that has made progress is the new Tollways around Sydney , at the Motorists cost eventually though!
A while back they were talking of a Long Tunnel running under Blackheath to try and solve the Truck congestion , how will that go i wonder and how long is it going to take Years!
That me Rant over LOL

[happy daze john in oz]

HI Vernon.
I missed all that, I concede that it may be difficult to get a new one built in Aus, but if we don't have a go we will never know. Some clowns in Parliament got rid of our ship building, probably on the back of all the money being made on iron ore that could pay for exporting our goods by overseas ships. When you think that only about six years after the war Japan had high speed trains, and 70 years after it Australia still haven't any, I think Aus ingenuity is starting to fall down.
Des

Des I think ANL was the last one got rid of by Keating.

[Colin Wood]

If UK needs cheap fresh food, just come to the old Commonwealth countries, who supplied UK before the EU, and during the war. A lot of their food industries were severely hurt by UK leaving the Commonwealth, but have rebounded and produce more and greener products than EU ever will.
We have the goods, after 1 Jan you can come and buy.

[happy daze john in oz]

If UK needs cheap fresh food, just come to the old Commonwealth countries, who supplied UK before the EU, and during the war. A lot of their food industries were severely hurt by UK leaving the Commonwealth, but have rebounded and produce more and greener products than EU ever will.
We have the goods, after 1 Jan you can come and buy.

There are some very intense free trade talks between us and UK on going just now.

[j.sabourn]

Once again John it will depend on the availability of the worlds merchant fleets who Can if politically minded hold a country to ransom. The extreme short sightedness of previous governments is beyond redemption, all keen to build weapons of mass destruction costing and putting whole countries into insolvency , where any war can be won by just withholding trade and the means of transportation , and people look up to these people for their supposedly extra intelligence , they are muffins . JS.

[j.sabourn]

#58... Colin believe you did some time in the survey world ? Did you ever come across a ship called the Eastern Queen , May have been China Steam. Think she was a passenger cargo vessel or even a full passenger vessel. When I worked for a son of Harley Mullion it was his intention of buying her and converting to a full cargo vessel .i had differences of opinion on the vessel I was on at the time so my position in the scheme of things never came to fruition. I never followed the history of this vessel which was in 1970 as went to pastures new shortly after. I would imagine that any conversion would have been a big job whatever it was. Cheers JS..

[David John Busveids]

How did we manage before we joined the Common Market, as it was then.
We travelled freely on the continent despite passport controls at every border, we coped and having no border controls has certainly contributed to terrorist activity
If I recall correctly, it was France that stopped us joining initially and still objected on the second attempt; now they want to stop us leaving, why? because they are afraid of what will happen afterwards, to them primarily.
As usual, they hang on the German coat tails.

When we were in the EU, they dictated who we could trade with and what we traded, e.g. Belgium did 3 or 4 times more trade with India than the UK, despite our historical ties.
Look how much of our manufacturing industry has been syphoned away to other parts of Europe, look how many other member states have found backdoor ways to subsidise their industry e.g. Germany and Italy - shipbuilding. There are many others prepared to only stick with the regulations that suit them, and turn a blind eye to the ones that don't suit them (undersize fish landed in Spain under the very nose of officials standing watching).
My current employer has traded successfully all over the world, but the most difficult place to win work was France, all down to their protectionist attitude to home companies. We were successful though despite this as no one in France could manufacture what we did.
I am stopping now before I run out space, free trade what a load of b****cks

Well said Tony, they want us to stick to their rules (level playing field) because they dont want us to have a Competitive Advantage - the re moaners said we would be at a disadvantage!

[Ivan Cloherty]

I ran my own company for 27 years, I exported to 44 different countries, more than half outside the EU, I never had any problems with those outside the EU. If you export outside the EU you know that extra paperwork (sometimes a lot) is required and you prepare it. You learn what the particular import requirements are and you cater for them. Most countries want the same information, but with additions or deletions and you adjust your computer template accordingly. Its not like my earlier days of business where it was multitude of copies with carbon paper, then telex, then fax etc, computers have made so many things much easier.

The problem is that so many companies have become used to trading 'within' the EU they didn't want to be bothered with what they saw as hassle dealing outside the EU, in short, they became lazy and complacent. People in far off places like to meet face to face, they want to read you personally and assess you, if they like what they see, and you vice versa, then the seeds are sown: but you have to get on a plane, pay for your hotel and take a punt, and its no good saying the company pays for it, because it is your company and in the final analysis comes out of your pocket, so you have to make it work. You don't get everything you go after, but the seeds are sown and they may, and have, contacted you a couple, or even more years later, wanting what you have to offer. It is hard work, travelling to far off places, it is expensive, but it can be rewarding, and personally satisfying when you've broken into a market which other companies (especially foreign) thought was their sole domain and also selling a product to a country that also manufactures and exports what you are trying to sell to them, Japan is a case in point, probably the most difficult country to sell to to. China I left alone in the end, although they were keen to buy, negotiations went okay and was happy to supply diagrams/dimensions/maintenance manuals, but ceased negotiations when they want workshop drawings for all items.

We have the know how, we have (or had) the skills, all it needs is for people to get off their backsides and get back into the groove, learn about your customers and their families first hand and your foot is well in the door.