Germany plans to lobby other European Union countries to allow the deployment of private armed guards on their merchant ships in high-risk areas as a piracy crisis escalates, ministry officials said.
But analysts said the initiative was likely to face legal and practical difficulties.
Somali piracy is costing the world economy billions of dollars a year, and international navies are stretched to combat the menace in the Indian Ocean due to the vast distances involved. In desperation, more shipping companies are considering deploying private armed guards on their vessels.
The German government is looking into changing the country’s weapons laws to allow security personnel to bear firearms on ships in high-risk areas. It could also certify those private security companies that could be used on merchant vessels, a government official said.
”Our goal is to develop a coordinated approach to be presented at the International Maritime Organization (IMO) meeting in September, and EU governments are the main partners to bring on board,” said Jan Gerd Becker-Schwering with the German economy ministry. “To go this alone would not be beneficial.”
The European Union said allowing private armed guards on merchant vessels was a decision to be made on a national level, adding that ships should have best management practices (BMP) in place, including measures to prevent pirates from getting on board and to protect crew members.
“The implementation and execution of these BMPs, however, is the responsibility of the ship owners,” an EU spokesman said. “These private security contractors operate under the law of the flag state.”
Separately the IMO said such a move was up to national governments but warned of a potential escalation in violence.
“IMO does not endorse the use of privately contracted armed security personnel on board ships … and operators should take into account the possible escalation of violence,” the U.N.’s maritime agency said.
J. Peter Pham, with the Atlantic Council think tank, said the German plan could encounter legal setbacks, both domestically and abroad.
“Despite the apparent reasonableness of the German proposal, it will face several hurdles,” Pham said. “It needs to pass both houses of the German parliament, where there will be opposition from the left, which tends to look askance on mercenaries.”
Pham said it could prove difficult to convince foreign port authorities to allow armed groups into harbors.
“Even if Chancellor (Angela) Merkel’s government gets the necessary laws enacted, it will be an uphill battle to convince the authorities in ports to allow the security teams in, much less to get other countries, especially in Europe, to follow.”
International Chamber of Shipping Secretary General Peter Hinchliffe said the German plan was helpful in setting a precedent for approving armed guards in flags where they were not currently allowed.
“But it must not create a mechanism for governments to abrogate their responsibility under UNCLOS to protect trade routes,” he said, referring to an international convention that tasks nation states with tackling piracy on the high seas.
The German ship owners’ association VDR said private armed guards were a “second-best solution” to deploying police or military forces. The German government has ruled this out.
“Using sovereign forces would not only pose financial and capacity problems, but we could only use them on ships that sail under the German flag,” Becker-Schwering said.
Ships are often registered under other flags than that of the ship’s owner in order to avoid taxes and regulations of the owner’s country.
2011年9月18日 星期日
2011年7月13日 星期三
Search Concluding for Ann Arbor City Admin
The two Ann Arbor city administrator finalists – Ellie Oppenheim and Steve Powers – wrapped up their two days of interviews in Ann Arbor with a Wednesday morning session that included presentations by both candidates and questions from city councilmembers.
For their 10-minute presentations, Oppenheim and Powers had been asked to talk about what they’d try to accomplish in their first 90 days on the job. They covered much of the same ground that they’d discussed during Tuesday’s round-robin interviews with councilmembers and senior staff, talking about how they’d familiarize themselves with the organization and the community of Ann Arbor. [See detailed Chronicle coverage of those Tuesday sessions for Powers and Oppenheim.]
When asked during the Q&A to describe the most challenging part of their presentation, both joked that it was handling PowerPoint – Oppenheim had difficulty advancing the slides and eventually enlisted the aid of a city staffer, and Powers’ presentation included a blank slide, because he couldn’t figure out how to insert the image he wanted to use. Powers also noted that it was difficult to know how much of his sense of humor to show in this context – his wife, for example, had advised him to delete some slides that he’d included.
Seven of the 11 councilmembers were on hand for the presentations and follow-up questions: Mayor John Hieftje, Mike Anglin (Ward 5), Marcia Higgins (Ward 4), Steve Kunselman (Ward 3), Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2), Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) and Sabra Briere (Ward 1). The other four councilmembers are expected to watch a video of the session prior to Monday’s council meeting. There will be a resolution on the July 18 agenda to nominate a candidate, but no name will be added to the resolution until the evening of the meeting.
Higgins, who’s chair of the search committee, told her council colleagues that on Monday a candidate will be nominated, a discussion of that nomination will take place, and hopefully the council will arrive at a consensus, she said. Or it’s possible that councilmembers will decide they don’t yet have an acceptable candidate, she added, and the process will continue.
However, based on a nearly hour-long discussion on Wednesday among councilmembers, it seems that a consensus is coalescing in favor of Powers – though both finalists were praised. Powers’ management style and familiarity with Michigan’s economy and governance structure were among the reasons cited by those councilmembers who are leaning toward hiring him.
This report briefly summarizes the presentations of Powers and Oppenheim, as well as the questions they were asked on Wednesday morning. The discussion among councilmembers at the end of the session is reported in detail.
For their 10-minute presentations, Oppenheim and Powers had been asked to talk about what they’d try to accomplish in their first 90 days on the job. They covered much of the same ground that they’d discussed during Tuesday’s round-robin interviews with councilmembers and senior staff, talking about how they’d familiarize themselves with the organization and the community of Ann Arbor. [See detailed Chronicle coverage of those Tuesday sessions for Powers and Oppenheim.]
When asked during the Q&A to describe the most challenging part of their presentation, both joked that it was handling PowerPoint – Oppenheim had difficulty advancing the slides and eventually enlisted the aid of a city staffer, and Powers’ presentation included a blank slide, because he couldn’t figure out how to insert the image he wanted to use. Powers also noted that it was difficult to know how much of his sense of humor to show in this context – his wife, for example, had advised him to delete some slides that he’d included.
Seven of the 11 councilmembers were on hand for the presentations and follow-up questions: Mayor John Hieftje, Mike Anglin (Ward 5), Marcia Higgins (Ward 4), Steve Kunselman (Ward 3), Stephen Rapundalo (Ward 2), Tony Derezinski (Ward 2) and Sabra Briere (Ward 1). The other four councilmembers are expected to watch a video of the session prior to Monday’s council meeting. There will be a resolution on the July 18 agenda to nominate a candidate, but no name will be added to the resolution until the evening of the meeting.
Higgins, who’s chair of the search committee, told her council colleagues that on Monday a candidate will be nominated, a discussion of that nomination will take place, and hopefully the council will arrive at a consensus, she said. Or it’s possible that councilmembers will decide they don’t yet have an acceptable candidate, she added, and the process will continue.
However, based on a nearly hour-long discussion on Wednesday among councilmembers, it seems that a consensus is coalescing in favor of Powers – though both finalists were praised. Powers’ management style and familiarity with Michigan’s economy and governance structure were among the reasons cited by those councilmembers who are leaning toward hiring him.
This report briefly summarizes the presentations of Powers and Oppenheim, as well as the questions they were asked on Wednesday morning. The discussion among councilmembers at the end of the session is reported in detail.
2011年6月8日 星期三
I thought Bling was a good product for merchants
Slow acceptance among merchants and consumers appears to be the underlying cause for Bling Nation’s decision to suspend operation of its PayConnect and FanConnect mobile services. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Bling said earlier this week that it is pausing operations to retool its services in response to feedback from merchants and users.
The suspension is likely to leave Bling far behind competitors in a market that is developing fast and attracting major players, including wireless carriers and the Web search giant Google Inc. , observers say. Officials from the company were not available for further comment.
Analysts contend that Bling’s inability to deliver new customers to merchants hindered the appeal of its payment and loyalty programs to merchants. “If a payments company can’t deliver a substantial base of new customers to merchants, there is not a strong enough value proposition for merchants to support it,” says Rick Oglesby, a senior analyst with Boston-based Aite Group. “Bling has previously stated that its payment offering was a commodity and it appears they could not deliver a large enough customer base outside of what PayPal offered. Access to large segments of new customers is a potent value proposition for merchants.”
Bling began testing funding of its accounts through PayPal in July 2010 and in October was included in PayPal Inc.'s iPhone app.
Since its founding in 2008, Bling’s business model was best described as a highly localized approach. Proprietary direct debit and loyalty programs were offered to merchants in communities where local banks hold both consumer and merchant accounts. The model allowed for on-us settlement.
Bling relied on contactless stickers affixed to phones to initiate payments at the point-of-sale. Tapping the handset on point-of-sale readers, called “Blingers,” debited the consumer’s account.
In late 2010, Bling added FanConnect, a social-media application that allowed consumers to “like” a business on Facebook and share information about merchants and special offers within their Facebook community, which provided merchants with an easy entrée into social networking. Bling planned to support the program with analytics and customer-relations management tools for merchants.
“I thought Bling was a good product for merchants and that it offered lots of opportunities for value,” says Brad Rose, vice president of Information Technology and Security for La Junta, Colo.-based , an early adopter of Bling that received a letter from the company saying it was ceasing operations.
“Unfortunately, our merchants did not see that value,” continues Rose. “Not only was there reluctance to accept Bling, but in some cases a little arm twisting was needed to get merchants to sign up.”
The greatest resistance within the merchant community came from the large local merchant and merchant chains, according to Rose. “The large merchants either did not want to talk about Bling, told us they weren’t interested, or needed corporate approval to go ahead,” he adds. “With no monthly fee and interchange rates 50% less than Visa and MasterCard there was certainly value to it, especially for smaller merchants that compete with large merchants.”
Although Bling’s immediate future is uncertain, the company said in an e-mail that the “Bling Nation leadership team remains intact and we feel that we have a winning combination that will dominate these areas in the long term.”
Just what Bling’s next step will be is anyone’s guess. George Peabody, director of emerging technology advisory services for Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator Advisory Group says he would not be surprised to see Bling rebrand in order to distance itself from past merchant perceptions.
The suspension is likely to leave Bling far behind competitors in a market that is developing fast and attracting major players, including wireless carriers and the Web search giant Google Inc. , observers say. Officials from the company were not available for further comment.
Analysts contend that Bling’s inability to deliver new customers to merchants hindered the appeal of its payment and loyalty programs to merchants. “If a payments company can’t deliver a substantial base of new customers to merchants, there is not a strong enough value proposition for merchants to support it,” says Rick Oglesby, a senior analyst with Boston-based Aite Group. “Bling has previously stated that its payment offering was a commodity and it appears they could not deliver a large enough customer base outside of what PayPal offered. Access to large segments of new customers is a potent value proposition for merchants.”
Bling began testing funding of its accounts through PayPal in July 2010 and in October was included in PayPal Inc.'s iPhone app.
Since its founding in 2008, Bling’s business model was best described as a highly localized approach. Proprietary direct debit and loyalty programs were offered to merchants in communities where local banks hold both consumer and merchant accounts. The model allowed for on-us settlement.
Bling relied on contactless stickers affixed to phones to initiate payments at the point-of-sale. Tapping the handset on point-of-sale readers, called “Blingers,” debited the consumer’s account.
In late 2010, Bling added FanConnect, a social-media application that allowed consumers to “like” a business on Facebook and share information about merchants and special offers within their Facebook community, which provided merchants with an easy entrée into social networking. Bling planned to support the program with analytics and customer-relations management tools for merchants.
“I thought Bling was a good product for merchants and that it offered lots of opportunities for value,” says Brad Rose, vice president of Information Technology and Security for La Junta, Colo.-based , an early adopter of Bling that received a letter from the company saying it was ceasing operations.
“Unfortunately, our merchants did not see that value,” continues Rose. “Not only was there reluctance to accept Bling, but in some cases a little arm twisting was needed to get merchants to sign up.”
The greatest resistance within the merchant community came from the large local merchant and merchant chains, according to Rose. “The large merchants either did not want to talk about Bling, told us they weren’t interested, or needed corporate approval to go ahead,” he adds. “With no monthly fee and interchange rates 50% less than Visa and MasterCard there was certainly value to it, especially for smaller merchants that compete with large merchants.”
Although Bling’s immediate future is uncertain, the company said in an e-mail that the “Bling Nation leadership team remains intact and we feel that we have a winning combination that will dominate these areas in the long term.”
Just what Bling’s next step will be is anyone’s guess. George Peabody, director of emerging technology advisory services for Maynard, Mass.-based Mercator Advisory Group says he would not be surprised to see Bling rebrand in order to distance itself from past merchant perceptions.
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