ONE of the questions likely to be on most people’s minds at the shipping conference in St Petersburg that starts today is the identity of the winning bidder for the huge Gazprom order for liquefied natural gas carriers.

IN a few months time Ireland will vote again on the Lisbon Treaty, the European Union agreement its population rejected a year ago.

AFTER rumbling on for over a decade, the debate about arming ships against would-be hijackers has recently reached fever pitch.

SCOTLAND’s reputation for financial prudence has taken a hammering in recent months with the fall from grace of its two leading banks and their humbling bail out by the UK government.

SHIPPING is being tossed by an unprecedented financial storm, the calm after which can only be imagined, and in the middle of this cyclone it is being forced to repel boarders as if pirates of old had returned via some time machine.