NYMAR Live from the NYSE.

The new year’s first serious shipping gathering in NY took place under the aegis of the NY Maritime Association at the New York Stock Exchange.  It was an animated audience that filled the Stock Exchange’s stately hall, though we noted the Exchange’s head of events was relieved that unlike Marine Money Week in 2008 he did not have to contend with 150 more guests than NY City fire codes allowed.

Peter Shaerf, AMA Capital partner and President of NYMAR welcomed the crowd and Bob Gruendel, Partner at DLA Piper brought us to the point of Gazing into the Future through the Crystal Ball and wisely at that point turned to Peter Georgiopoulos, Chairman of Genmar, Genco and Aegean, Duncan Neiderauer, NYSE, CEO and Harvey Pitt currently CEO of Kalorama Partners, but former Head of the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The following is a short summary paraphrasing the comments, note paraphrasing:
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Mind the G & A

Shareholders in Euroseas Ltd should be encouraged by the cost sav­ing ways of their management team. Having left the NYSE, we jumped on the subway to head uptown to the Speakers’ Dinner. As we exited the subway at the 53rd Street station just in front of us were Messers. Pittas and Aslidis. No limos for these gentlemen

That Was The Week That Was

Marine Money’s flagship conference came to New York this week and if you were a kid you might refer to it as a three- ring circus. With the conference as the centerpiece, the week has become filled not only with the usual owner/banker meetings but formal presentations and the usual bevy of social events. The numbers are astounding with over 1,000 delegates registered this year, exceeding by far all previous years. In fact, as quickly as we printed a copy of the delegate list, we found it to be obsolete.

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Trust Us: The NYSE and Shipping Boards of Directors

By Matt McCleery with Nora Huvane, Marine Money Research

“‘Business Ethics’ does not have to be an oxymoron.”

Gretchen Morgenson, The New York Times

The bad news is that a crisis of confidence in Wall Street threatens the health of the global capital markets for years to come. Investors have lost faith in everything from analyst recommendations to audited financial statements to the credibility of company officers and directors. The damage could be huge. As we go to press, economic indicators tell us the United States economy is in a strong recovery but the stock market indices are steadily sinking to levels not seen in months. Poor valuations have halted capital formation, which has halted revenue growth and earnings. But the good news, at least for Marine Money readers, is that ship finance may benefit from it.

From opaque and off balance sheet energy trading at Enron to immature Internet technology, most of the flame-outs that have brought about the current market malaise have resulted from investors being unable to adequately understand the businesses they financed. Corporate deception was often enabled by investor inability to identify it.

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