Mezeron & Steam Packet Master Thread

[pongo]

if MIOM is not able to service its debt, the lender will take control and then sell the asset to recoup as much as possible.

 

The upside for them potentially being that it may very well already be a win ..... given that they may very likely have already made back the value and diluted the risk of that debt by effectively re packaging it and selling it on - somewhere else on the big spreadsheet of instruments. And somewhere in the chain I just bet they have effectively secured the debt with something like the famous credit default swaps (= buying insurance) or similar.

 

^ this obviously a complete guess -- but if you look at what everyone else in the markets was doing throughout the period, and is still doing, then it has to be a reasonable hunch.

 

This will not be traditional debts, how our grannies used to think of debt.

 

ETA: the point is that raising and juggling debt may very well be a bigger part of what the business is really about than the boring old business of running ships. In this case:

 

ETA2: it often works something vaguely like this:

 

cost of debt - cost of securing debt + income earned from debt & repackaging and selling on debt = $$$$

 

In that world a traditional company with an income becomes something to borrow against. The more secure the company's business seems, the less the cost of securing the debt. And it would just be a small part of a much bigger model such that the original so called money might seem to magically grow everytime it went around the model again.

 

^ again I am not saying that this is how this has all been structured. I am just guessing that it might be something like that model.

 

ETA3: ^ that is not a criticism of these sorts of models btw. There is a good argument that this sort of thing is what keeps people working.

[woolley]

"Banks taking control of entitys in 'debt for equity' swaps have happened a lot over the last few years, and will continue to do so.

 

I've also founds 2 high profile cases of MacQuarie Bank investments where they have been highly geared, like SPCO, and then missed loan repayments, and then have been taken over my their creditors - Macquarie would appear to be in trouble!:

 

Might this already be happening? Wasn't the debt due for refinancing at the end of October? Sure I remember reading that somewhere and I have not read that it has been achieved.

[manxman8180]

It has, with a Portuguese bank.

[manshimajin]

I've also founds 2 high profile cases of MacQuarie Bank investments where they have been highly geared, like SPCO, and then missed loan repayments, and then have been taken over my their creditors - Macquarie would appear to be in trouble!:

I would say that Macquarie are not doing all that well - particularly when compared with the main Australian Banks which are amongst the strongest in the world at present. The latest results indicate that they are still posting profits and their capital is above minimum requirements. But they are finding the going tough despite exceeding that infamous thing called 'analysts' expectations'. Your '!' may be a bit too pessimistic/optimistic...

 

They are certainly not the ASXs favourite share:

[iom_cb]

http://www.steam-packet.com/SteamPacket/Book-Now/A-word-with-Woodward

 

hahaha!!!!

 

did they decide his ramblings were no longer in the interest of the company!

[incat050]

It does say IOM_CB that a new feedback service is currently under construction.

[oldmanxfella]

But a letter from someone with a huge record of writing on shipping matters who deigned to stoop to your level out of care. Have you done anything to match?

 

But you profess to be an expert on the constitution, on shipping, and on various other matters. In fact you're just a nutter that writes a lot of letters to newspapers. Tedious, long winded, letters at that as well. You don't even live here anymore either. Why don't you write to your local newspaper, or the Daily Mail about such tedious matters instead of clogging up IoM newspapers or here?

 

I remember your last campaign of here where you ended up defending whether you worked in Tesco's or not for about 3 months. Just bugger off.

[acorn]

To be fair Frances of the many self appointed, English/assorted Comeover, Manx 'experts' you are far from being the most irritating. At least you appear to have studied the Island seriously, your usual comment reflects your genuine interest and accumulated knowledge too. You chose the island as your hobby but it could, just as easily, have been Jersey, Anglesey or Rockall for that matter. I've no doubt that whichever island you decided upon, it's history would have been subjected to your obvious intellectual rigour. So far as I'm concerned you're most welcome here, there's no suggestiom of 'boat in the morning' in this comment. However despite your learned knowledge of our island you'll never 'get' what being Manx means.

 

Oh my God, you pointless little prick

 

 

And your point Englishman is??

 

What exactly do you tug?

Edited November 12, 2010 by acorn

[Nosferatu]

Or the one occasion when the captain decided not to take on passengers in Liv but asked the crew if we would be ok if he brought her back light so we're not stuck there. Everyone agreed and we went for a six hour roller coaster. Galley trashed, fridges ripped out of the shop bulkhead and thrown across the cabin, crew sitting around trying to play gameboy (not easy if you have to hold on all the time)

Hmm sounds familiar , only difference being that on another occasion the captain decided to take the pax , we got clear of the channel only for a window in the cabin to shatter when we bounced over a particularly hefty wave , probably due to all that flexing . Cue bedlam as the poor sod sitting next to said window was covered in saftey glass , then hilarity as the deckies tried to cover the now empty window with some heavy poly sheeting and gaffer tape . Problem solved when me & the motorman stole the door from the emergency geny room and propped it in place with some scaffold poles .

and one captain having a right good time strapped to his seat, battling the elements.

Was it "The Panther" by any chance , he was always keen to have a go in the crap weather . See above

[gilf_uk]

http://www.steam-packet.com/SteamPacket/Book-Now/A-word-with-Woodward

 

hahaha!!!!

 

did they decide his ramblings were no longer in the interest of the company!

 

I think it's strange that they have removed the entire blog. Given his PR gaffes in pissing off the freight customers he's lost has further damaged their hopes in getting it back, and that the loss of the freight would appear to have been the result of a management decision to go after Graylaw's freight business themselves, it would not surprise me if the ruthless parent company is in the process of sacking him.

 

I think that a fresh face and the fact that MW has gone may help the SPCo out of the mess. MW is damaged goods now and his arrogance is only certain to hurt any attempted recovery.

 

I would imagine an announcement as early as next week........

[monasqueen]

I am reminded of a visit to St Petersburg a few years back, where our guide went to great lengths to tell us that Rasputin was misunderstood, and that he was really a very nice man.

[manxman8180]

and that the loss of the freight would appear to have been the result of a management decision to go after Graylaw's freight business themselves,

I take it that is pub gossip? I would be interested to hear anything to substantiate it.

 

It just doesn't make sense as the SP do not have any transport capability either side of the water. They are not a road haulage firm, they have no rolling stock, containers or warehousing facilites. Would they really be interested in commencing a full service, especially the multi drop courier / groupage stuff?

 

I just don't buy it myself. I think they have just fleeced the freight side for too long and Graylaw have a big enough slice of the pie to make it worthwhile seeking other forms of transport. I don't buy that Mezeron / Doehle have just taken a gamble on offering a new service and then picked up the Graylaw business. I would be more likely to believe that the service has come about following discussions between various parties.

[taz8130]

 

 

 

 

The more Woodward speaks, the more he reminds me of Tony Hayward during the BP fiasco. Hopefully he will meet the same end - employmentwise

 

 

 

 

It would seem that SP are now of the same opinion about MW

[manshimajin]

http://www.steam-packet.com/SteamPacket/Book-Now/A-word-with-Woodward

To quote this was "A useful Passenger Feedback Forum". Which begs the question that if it was useful why remove it? I thought the problem was that it was NOT a passenger feedback forum. To be 'communication' it has to be two-way - otherwise it is just a proclamation.

 

I would imagine an announcement as early as next week........

"Mr Woodward has the full confidence of the Board".

 

P.S. Staff in M&S muttering this morning that they had had no deliveries from the UK for two days. Fair enough given the weather but is the IOMSPC any more dependable than Mezeron when it's rough?

Edited November 12, 2010 by manshimajin

[Silentbob]

Dunno, where was the Ben Magoo™ when Kalana was heading out on Monday, did it sail?