By John Helmer in Moscow After selling out of its container business, the Far Eastern Shipping Company (Fesco), owned by Sergei Generalov (right image), has announced it is taking an August time-out, and will return in September with an announcement of its “near-term strategy”. It isn’t known where Generalov will take his holiday, but if […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The treasure cave which the legendary Ali Baba found is not known to have had a back-door. Otherwise, when it happened that Ali’s greedy brother Qassim forgot the ‘Open Sesame!’ for the entrance, he’d have been able to safely escape the arrival of the forty thieves. Instead, Qassim was discovered, […]

by John Helmer - Friday, June 11th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Russian state bailout bank, VEB, chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has defended the pricing of two Arctic ice-class, Panamax sized tankers ordered by Sovcomflot, which analysts and brokers have criticized as substantially above market price.

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Sergei Generalov, controlling shareholder and chief executive of Far Eastern Shipping Company (Fesco), has issued an investor presentation on last year’s results without audited financial details. The leak appears to be a repeat of last week’s financial advertorial in London by Russian tanker fleet company, Sovcomflot, except that Fesco denies […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow According to the clinical experts, premature ejaculation is a common phenomenon that is most often caused by anxiety and overstimulation. One of the expert manuals suggests that psychological factors, such as guilt, may also be relevant. With time, the condition usually improves without formal treatment.   Pharmaceutical stimulants are known […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, April 18th, 2010
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In 1855, the English photographer Roger Fenton took these photographs of what the invading British Army called Cossack Bay, at Balaclava, during the Crimean War (in Russian, the Oriental War). By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s Transport Minister Igor Levitin reported a huge number last month, which, if true, would mean that Russian shipbuilding is […]

by Editor - Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow It’s fashionable in trade these days, especially when delicate consumer sensitivities are involved, to call a slaughter-house a meat-packing plant, as if what goes in the front-door can be made to seem as tasteful as what goes out the back. The German slogan, “Arbeit Macht Frei”, tried the technique on […]

by John Helmer - Monday, March 29th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Sovcomflot, the global tanker group run by Sergei Frank (left) and Russian government officials, received a negative rating report from the Moody’s international rating agency this week, as proceedings in the company’s half-billion-dollar claim against the former management wind up in the UK High Court in London. According to Moody’s […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, March 14th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Sovcomflot (SCF), the state owned Russian tanker operator, released this week a board-approved strategy for the next five years, proposing to invest $5.5 billion with a combination of new borrowings and share sales over a six-year period. This capital outlay on a fleet that already counts 146 vessels, with another […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s state-owned oil pipeline company Transneft has upped the pressure on the controlling shareholders of Novorossiysk Commercial Seaport Company (NCSC) in what one Moscow maritime analyst calls today “an arm-twisting preliminary to next year’s contest over the sale of the 20% state stake in the port.” While in London the […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, December 15th, 2009
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