By John Helmer in Moscow Gennady Timchenko and his allies in state-controlled companies in the Russian oil business are gradually consolidating their dominance over much of Russian oil from the wellhead to the tanker enroute to international markets, and much of the transportation network in between. As the largest energy exporter in the world, Russia […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, October 13th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Sovcomflot, the Russian state-owned tanker group, reports that, despite rising revenues of $678.6 million in the first six months of this year — up 11% over the same period of 2009 — earnings have fallen 4% to $292.6 million; and net income has dropped 5% to $111.2 million. Revenues rose […]

by John Helmer - Friday, September 24th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s ports used to be run by gangsters, because it was one of the easier assets in post-Communist Russia to control by simple violence. The history of the International Longshoremen in the US and Jimmy Hoffa’s Teamsters make this feature of port life unexceptional the world over.

by John Helmer - Thursday, September 16th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The federal Ministry of Finance has moved the planned privatization for the state shipping company Sovcomflot into next year; increased the bloc of shares to be offered from 20% previously announced to 25%; and put a discount on the target value for the sell-off.

by John Helmer - Thursday, July 29th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow After selling out of its container business, the Far Eastern Shipping Company (Fesco), owned by Sergei Generalov (right image), has announced it is taking an August time-out, and will return in September with an announcement of its “near-term strategy”. It isn’t known where Generalov will take his holiday, but if […]

by John Helmer - Wednesday, July 28th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The treasure cave which the legendary Ali Baba found is not known to have had a back-door. Otherwise, when it happened that Ali’s greedy brother Qassim forgot the ‘Open Sesame!’ for the entrance, he’d have been able to safely escape the arrival of the forty thieves. Instead, Qassim was discovered, […]

by John Helmer - Friday, June 11th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow The Russian state bailout bank, VEB, chaired by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, has defended the pricing of two Arctic ice-class, Panamax sized tankers ordered by Sovcomflot, which analysts and brokers have criticized as substantially above market price.

by John Helmer - Thursday, June 3rd, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow Sergei Generalov, controlling shareholder and chief executive of Far Eastern Shipping Company (Fesco), has issued an investor presentation on last year’s results without audited financial details. The leak appears to be a repeat of last week’s financial advertorial in London by Russian tanker fleet company, Sovcomflot, except that Fesco denies […]

by John Helmer - Tuesday, April 20th, 2010
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By John Helmer in Moscow According to the clinical experts, premature ejaculation is a common phenomenon that is most often caused by anxiety and overstimulation. One of the expert manuals suggests that psychological factors, such as guilt, may also be relevant. With time, the condition usually improves without formal treatment.   Pharmaceutical stimulants are known […]

by John Helmer - Sunday, April 18th, 2010
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In 1855, the English photographer Roger Fenton took these photographs of what the invading British Army called Cossack Bay, at Balaclava, during the Crimean War (in Russian, the Oriental War). By John Helmer in Moscow Russia’s Transport Minister Igor Levitin reported a huge number last month, which, if true, would mean that Russian shipbuilding is […]

by Editor - Tuesday, April 6th, 2010
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