Another Real Pro Back In The Bloggodome

AllTheWordsThatFit

WithMeaningVille

Almost missed it following all the new arrivals at Clark'sVille station, but it is very much worth mentioning that the best of the proMedia writers on all things maritime off the coast of Lotusland (and more) is back at it, Christina Montgomery.

The name of her personal blog is 'OnTheWaterfront' and, as best I can tell, it is value-added from all the pro-stuff she still/once(?) does/did for The Province.

Here's a good example from a recent post:

"While I was away, one of the more interesting stories to break was the sale of thePrincess Jacqueline to Mexican interests.

The Jacqueline is, of course, the former west coast ferry Queen of Esquimalt, sold by BC Ferries in mid-2008 to a Chinese company for a reported $1.7 million. She was one of four older ferries being turfed as part of the company’s replacement program, and the sale drew much attention — and raised many eyebrows abroad — for the high price paid for the 45-year-old ferry. She contained asbestos, didn’t conform international standards and was unlikely to be usable as a passenger ferry elsewhere without considerable work. BC Ferries CEO David Hahn said after the sale that she was destined for use as a cargo ship “off the coast of China”.

At the time, I thought the price was unbelievably high. So did a number of business folks who work in the maritime industry outside of BC, some of them outside of Canada. Their emails to me in 2008 and 2009 all boiled down to the same essential question: “What the heck?”

In the words of one writer, it “smelled bad.”.....

{snippety doo-dah}

....Then late last week, I ran across an intriguing Associated Press news article that might have connected some of the mysterious dots surrounding the Princess J, I thought. The Globe and Mail, the BBC and assorted international news outlets featured the article fairly prominently.

The story says that China’s central bank was reporting that officials have stolen as much as $120 billion US in assorted crooked deals over the past decade, and then fled the country — mainly to the United States. (The study was initially posted on the People’s Bank of China website this week but has since been removed, the story says.)....

{snippety doodle dandy}

...So here’s a funny thought. What if BC Ferries was used unknowingly to move funds out of China? What if the buyers back in China thought they were getting one of our newer ferries and got a loan from a state bank for, oh, maybe $10 million? But only part of it was used to pay out the purchase here? Maybe by some middleman official who has since disappeared (and he appears to have, according to my sources)?...

The entire story is a fascinating read, with context by the supertanker full, and well worth your time.

****

I have real admiration for Ms. Montgomery, whose gender I originally got wrong when she was, essentially, shut out by BC Ferries for asking real questions about the Queen of the North sinking and not succumbing to what I call the 'Evils of Access' like, say, this guy did.

OK?

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