Web Sitings

International Shipping

Gregory L. Witol

From the Spring 1997 Issue of Maritime Affairs Newsletter

For those of you who wrote saying you were disappointed that my column did not appear in the last Maritime Affairs Newsletter, my apologies. Early January was hectic, as your humble surfer was attending the Internet World '97 conference in Toronto. For those of you with interests in internet content, rather than technology, this was not the place to be. However, it was a fascinating and informative show for those of us who live and work in this field. Technologically, the internet grows by leaps and bounds seemingly every week, and it can be difficult to stay current with programming and technology trends. Shows like Internet World help to bring all of these advances under one roof.

One of the main reasons I attended Internet World was to prepare for the launch of our new website. The Naval Officers' Association of Canada can now be found at http://www.naval.ca. The site focusses on Maritime Affairs, with editorials and features on a wide variety on naval and maritime topics. While it has only been functional since mid-April 1997, there is no doubt that there is a long way to go. However, it is the first step in increasing the naval voice on the internet. I encourage you all to have a look, and would appreciate your commentary. Site design is in no way complete yet, so your comments will help to shape the final form of the maritime internet presence.

Enough housekeeping. This installment of Web Sitings is on all things related to shipping, certainly timely in light of the upcoming Dalhousie University colloquium on "The Strategic Importance of International Shipping," (http://www.dal.ca/~centre/shipping) to be held at the end of May.

There is very little, currently on the internet, that deals with the analysis of shipping. However, there are a plethora of sites related to shipping, shipping companies, and ports. First up is SeaLink Services (http://www.sealink.com/). Want to send a shipment anywhere in the world? Prefer not talking to any people? Try SeaLink Services. SeaLink Information Technologies was founded in 1994, and acts as an electronic shipping agent. Send your cargo anywhere in the world, and make all the arrangements over the internet. A similar concept can be found at Freightworld (http://www.freightworld.com), with information on all modes of transport.

For daily updates on what's new in the world of shipping, try Cargoweb (http://www.cargoweb.nl). Cargoweb is a free service with news stories, financial info, and press releases. They market themselves as "aimed at decision makers in international transport." You can also check out Shipping Digest at http://www.shippingdigest.com. Included on the site are classifieds, links to other sites, and the Handbook of International shipping.

Other publications on-line include World Wide Shipping (http://www.wwship.com/mag/index.html), Shipping Times Online, out of Singapore (http://www.asia1.com.sg/shippingtimes/news.html) and the Hong Kong Shipping Daily (http://www.info.gov.hk/mardep/hksdaily.htm). And for the Canadian position, try Ocean Wide (http://www.oceanwide.com).

The Canadian Shipowners Association (http://www.shipowners.ca) represents the companies whose Canadian-flag ships ply the waters of the Great Lakes,the St. Lawrence Seaway, the Arctic, the Maritimes, and the Eastern American Seaboard. And for the "big picture", try the International Maritime Organization site (http://www.imo.org).

Gregory L. Witol is the web site manager for the Naval Officers' Association of Canada and the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies, Dalhousie University. He can be reached at webmaster@naval.ca.