zoom The fleet of classic Panamax containerships of 4,000-5,300 TEU dropped to 543 units, against its peak of 670 witnessed in 2013, according to Alphaliner.The obsolescence of the classic Panamax ships comes on the back of the opening of the new Panama locks in June 2016, which allowed much larger Neo-Panamax ships to transit between the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans.These vessels now struggle to find sufficient alternative employment options to keep all of the fleet busy, leading to an oversupply and poor prospects in the short to medium term.The number of Panamax ships of 4,000-5,300 TEU transiting the Panama Canal dwindled from 221 vessels to only 47 units over a period of 15 months from June 1, 2016 to September 1, 2017, according to Alphaliner.Of the 47 ships that remain on the trans-Panama routes, 30 are currently deployed on three Far East-US East Coast/US Gulf services.By comparison, up to 150 classic Panamaxes were employed on 15 such loops prior to June 2016, while a further 50 units were deployed in other trans-Panama services.“Classic Panamax containerships have faced a double whammy, both from the opening of the new Panama locks that has made some 170 of them redundant on the trans-Panama trades, while cascadings triggered by the constant stream of ULCS newbuildings have pushed classic Panamax ships out of other tradelanes,” Alphaliner said. read more

VANCOUVER – Canfor Corp. says it is temporarily curtailing sawmill operations in British Columbia by about 10 per cent during the fourth quarter.The Vancouver-based forest products producer says the decision was made due to market conditions, including falling lumber prices, uncompetitive log costs and supply challenges following another difficult wildfire season.Chief executive Don Kayne says the company is working to mitigate the impacts on employees “as much as possible.”Lumber production will be reduced by cutting the number of operating days, including immediate short-term curtailments at some facilities and extended downtime over the holidays.Canfor has 13 sawmills in Canada, with total annual capacity of about 3.8 billion board feet.Lumber prices soared as U.S. export duties were initially passed on to consumers, but those have subsequently decreased.Companies in this story: (TSX:CFP) read more

The federal Liberals have come up with a $16-billion answer to Canada’s competitiveness concerns.Ottawa’s long-awaited plan to help Canada compete with the United States for investment dollars is the centrepiece of its latest fall economic statement, which forecasts slightly deeper annual deficits over the coming years.Finance Minister Bill Morneau had faced pressure to lower the corporate tax rate in response to major tax and regulatory reforms in the U.S.But in Wednesday’s economic update Morneau chose to use billions worth of extra federal fiscal space to offer tax incentives for businesses who invest in Canada.Morneau said the government is benefiting from “a very good situation – but we know that we have to consider investments in the future?. That’s why we listened to and heard the anxieties of the business sector.”By far, the biggest-ticket items among the proposed tax measures are changes that would enable businesses to immediately write off the full cost of some types of machinery and equipment, and allow companies of all sizes and in all sectors to expense a larger share of newly acquired assets.The new write-offs alone are expected to cost the federal treasury about $14 billion over the next half-decade.As part of its competitiveness plan, the government also proposes about $1.1 billion over the coming years towards efforts to open new market access for Canadian exporters. It is also looking to add another $800 million over five years to its strategic innovation fund, which supports “innovative” investments in all sectors.A stronger economy has given the government about $22 billion in extra fiscal room over the coming years, compared to what federal forecasters projected in last February’s budget. But the new initiatives will also contribute to slightly larger-than-expected annual shortfalls, beginning next year.The government is now projecting deficits of $18.1 billion in 2018-19, $19.6 billion in 2019-20 and $18.1 billion in 2020-21. After 2020-21, the annual shortfalls are expected to shrink each year to $11.4 billion in 2023-24.The fiscal update contains no timetable to eliminate the Liberals’ deficits. The government has drawn criticism from the Opposition Conservatives and some economists for failing to provide a timeline back to balance, especially with the economy running close to full strength.Following the 2015 election, the Liberal government abandoned pledges to run annual deficits of no more than $10 billion and to balance the books by 2019. Instead, it has focused on reducing the net debt-to-GDP ratio – also known as the debt burden – each year.The debt-to-GDP ratio is now projected to gradually fall from 30.9 per cent in 2018-19 to 28.5 per cent in 2023-24.Morneau’s fall economic statement also proposes additional support for the country’s struggling journalism industry by enabling non-profit news organizations to receive donations and through the creation new tax credits – all of which are part of a plan expected to reduce government revenues by $600 million over five years.The government plan also proposes $240 million towards sustaining Canada’s wild fish stocks, with a focus on Pacific salmon. read more

New Delhi: The Delhi Police Wednesday arrested Rohit Shekhar Tiwari’s lawyer wife Apoorva on charges of his murder, citing a “turbulent and unhappy” marriage as the motive, a senior police official said. Another reason behind the killing was the fact that Rohit was planning to give his share of property to his sister-in-law’s son, he said. Apporva believed that Rohit’s sister-in-law was the reason behind their turbulent marriage and held a grudge against her. Also Read – India gets first tranche of Swiss bank a/c details She tried to mislead investigators by claiming that she was getting intimate with Rohit and she might have accidentally pressed his neck, the official said, adding that police are, however, not believing this theory. The investigators said Apoorva used to change her story everyday and whenever she was confronted with facts, she would weave her story around those facts. Rohit, the son of late veteran politician N D Tiwari, was smothered to death on the intervening night of April 15 and 16, an autopsy report said. Also Read – Tourists to be allowed in J&K from Thursday The two got married in May last year, after having courted each other for a year before. They had met through a marriage portal, police said. Immediately after their marriage, the couple seemed to have had a fallout and Apoorva had left for her parental home in Indore, police said. During interrogation, Apoorva claimed that she was the president of Indian National Trade Union Congress in Indore and had political aspirations but after getting married to Rohit in May, she realised that he did not have much of a standing and his political career was not going anywhere. Within 14-15 days of the marriage, she started staying away from the house, the official said. “Sometimes, she would stay at her parents’ place and sometimes at a rented room she had in south Delhi even before she got married,” he said. “In July last year, while he was undergoing a bypass surgery, she had served him a legal notice saying she did not want to live with him. But both the families counselled them and advised them to give the marriage a second chance,” said the official, who was privy to the probe. He said the problems were compounded due to a will that had been made before she got married to Rohit. According to the will, the property was to be divided in a ratio of 60:40 between Rohit and his step-brother Siddharth. Siddharth, who did not keep well, felt he would not live longer and had said he would give his share of property to the nine-year-old son of a relative of Ujjwala’s first husband. Ujjwala is Rohit’s mother. This relative and his wife addressed Ujjwala as ‘Maa’, who was also the son of Ujjwala’s first husband’s cousin. Even Rohit had said he would give his share of property to the nine-year-old son of the relative, which angered Apoorva, the official said. Police said they were suspecting her role since day one of the investigation, after Rohit’s postmortem report stated that he was “smothered”. During interrogation, she was confronted with facts and kept changing statements often. “The suspicion on her arose because only three persons had access to Rohit’s room on the first floor of the house, two servants and Apoorva. We confronted her with circumstantial evidence and she broke down on Wednesday and confessed,” the official said. “On the night of the incident, the couple had a fight over a relative. Rohit had been drinking all the way from Uttarakhand to Delhi and was not in a condition to resist. During the fight, she pounced on him and smothered him,” Additional Commissioner of Police (crime) Rajeev Ranjan said. Rohit, along with his mother and other relatives, went to Kathgodam in Uttarakhand to cast his vote on April 10 and returned by late evening on April 15, Ranjan said. He was drinking with his sister-in-law in his car, the official said. After returning to Delhi, they had dinner with Ujjwala, Rohit’s mother, and other family members at around 11 pm. Later, his mother and other relatives returned to their Tilak Lane bungalow and his servants went to their rooms. Siddharth also retired to his room, the official said. Around 12.45 am, Apoorva went to Rohit’s room after watching TV. While they were in the room, the couple had an argument, he said. Ranjan said in a fit of rage, Apoorva allegedly smothered and strangulated Rohit. Next day, at around 2.30 pm, Rohit’s mother came to his house and enquired about him, another official said. Apoorva told her that he was sleeping, so his mother did not disturb him as she knew that he had insomnia and he used to sleep late in the evening, Ranjan said. Later at around 4 pm, one of his servants noticed that he was not responding and was bleeding through his nose, police said. Rohit’s mother was at Max Hospital in Saket for the treatment when she received a call from home that he was unwell. She then took an ambulance that brought Rohit to the hospital. He was declared brought dead by doctors and his body was sent for postmortem to AIIMS. The autopsy was done by a board of five doctors on April 17 and the report revealed that Rohit died due to asphyxiation as he was smothered and strangulated. read more

Dream big and reach far. Despite injuries, the Ohio State women’s gymnastics team is still pursuing its goal of winning the Big Ten Championships this year and qualifying to compete at Regionals.With 11 meets scheduled this season, only four are against conference teams. But unlike most sports, gymnastics’ open scheduling holds no weighted value on the in-conference meets.Coach Carey Fagan said conference coaches are split on their opinion of doing a conference schedule in the future. Fagan is in favor of the conference schedule because she values the opportunity to directly compare teams within the conference on a one-on-one basis throughout the season.“I think it’s one of the advantages of being part of a large conference,” Fagan said, “to be able to compete within your conference and build the strength of the conference among the teams within that. Perception wise, that one-time competition is not a lot of opportunity for an upset.”While the current system only has the Buckeyes competing against four Big Ten teams during the regular season, Fagan thinks the opportunity for more one-on-one competition among the conference members benefits everyone.“I think it’s more of a perception among the judges and your other conference opponents that winning a meet in your conference is always a big deal,” Fagan said. “Not just for your win-loss, but also for your perception of your team in terms of comparing it to the rest of the conference.”Last year, the Buckeyes placed fifth out of seven teams. Sophomore Taylor Jones said the Big Ten usually posts some pretty tough competition, but she thinks OSU has a shot.“Michigan is usually high, Penn State’s high, Illinois is good,” Jones said. “But there’s no reason we shouldn’t be in the top three too, so we’ll see.”With 12 girls on the team, and only six completely healthy gymnasts, Jones said it left the Buckeyes off balance at the beginning of the season.“We had a rough start. We were up and down and what not, but I still think we have a shot,” Jones said. “We have plenty of time [and] attitudes have a changed a little bit. We’re really trying to pick each other up and motivate each other.”Senior gymnast Hilary Dow said the team’s goals have not changed, despite the setback of injuries, but the team had to make some changes.“I think our goals are still to win Big Ten’s and to qualify for Nationals,” Dow said. “But I guess with adjustments we’ve had to be more focused, make sure everyone’s … ready to be in the gym when they’re in the gym, to prevent further injuries.Fagan said that the team’s showing in conference meets and the Big Ten Championship will help contribute to its overall score to qualify as one of the top 36 teams for Regionals. As long as the team is consistent and hits its routines, Fagan said she has no doubt they’ll be in contention for Regionals.“Our consistency has been lacking a little bit, and I think that’s in part [because of] people doing events they normally wouldn’t do [due to injuries],” Fagan said. “And I think as the season progresses and [the gymnasts] get more experience on those events, we’ll see an improved consistency and see our team score go up.”The Big Ten Championship will be the first time that all seven conference teams will compete against each conference member.“It’s the first opportunity where all seven teams are compared on the same floor on the same night in front of the same judges,” Fagan said. “It’s a great opportunity, a Championship meet, especially being able to host this year is going to be an advantage, we hope.”After losing to conference opponent Michigan State by less than three points on Jan. 30, the Buckeyes look to come back Saturday against conference opponent Iowa.While the Big Ten Championships do not play a role in directly determining who moves on to Regionals, Jones said it does help to boost individual and team scores before the 36 teams are determined.“After Big Ten’s it kind of puts your rankings in place and if you’re [one of] the top 36 teams you go on to Regionals. And then the top two teams at Regionals go onto Nationals,” Jones said about how the post-season competition works. “So Big Ten’s is like a start to Regionals and Nationals.”With seven meets left before the Big Ten Championships, the OSU women’s team looks to solidify its routines and work on consistency. Fagan said Big Ten’s will really give the team an opportunity to see where they stand side-by-side among everyone else within the conference.“I think all the Big Ten teams are comparable in terms of their scoring capabilities,” Fagan said. “The bottom line is whoever hits on any given night is going to win the meet … but we have the potential.”OSU will host the 2010 Big Ten Championships on March 27 at 2 p.m. in St. John’s Arena. NCAA Regionals follow on April 9. read more