A hill of beans

"It doesn’t take much to see that the problems of one little airport don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world." - Humphrey Bogart misquoted.

Manston was to be barred from importing beans unless it was properly registered. Manston applied for registration and was refused. A few days later, it was accepted. What happened in those few days? Nobody wants to say.

Last year, Thanet was shocked to the core to learn that Manston might not be allowed to continue importing Kenyan beans at any hour of the day or night it damn well pleases. Nothing to do with limitations on their disgustingly anti-social night flights, of course - this was all due to the mighty European Commission trying to protect us from revolting poisons in our greens.

If you believed half the self-important hype that Manston spouts about its commercial significance, you might have expected the economy of east Kent to have completely collapsed by now. It hasn't. It may be a bit wobbly, but that's not down to ​beans - it's broader than that. ​No, the major effect of this ban would have been that Manston would have lost some, or even all, of its business with its largest remaining customer, Cargolux.

Understandably keen to beat the 1st January 2013 deadline, Manston applied to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) to be registered as a Designated Port of Entry (DPE), the status that would allow it to continue importing the mission-critical beans. On 20th December, the FSA refused their application, as Manston failed to meet the standards laid down in Article 4 of the regulations, which relates to the "Minimum requirements for designated points of entry".

And then the odd stuff starts.

All the necessary bean-balancing and toxin-testing that is required by the FSA isn't done by FSA people, or even Manston staff, but by Council employees - probably Environmental Health Officers (EHOs).

You'll remember that Christmas fell rather awkwardly (or rather well, perhaps) last year, resulting in an unusually large amount of limbo time. Nonetheless, between 20th December and the end of the year, TDC managed to sprinkle enough fairy dust over this problem to make it go away.

Somehow, TDC managed to rearrange the workload for its already over-stretched EHOs, AND cut through swathes of Government and FSA red tape, and PHEW!​ ​ at the eleventh hour saved Manston's bacon. And beans.

​You would have thought that this level and quality of support for local business is something that TDC would be shouting about - ideally, they would be offering the same shoulder-to-shoulder commitment to more local businesses.

But they seem to be surprisingly modest about how much time and effort it took to solve the problem of Manston being unfit to import beans. Or what the ongoing costs might be. Or what the impact on the other services provided by the EHOs might be. Or whether Thanet's EHOs will in future be on 24 hour standy (and rates?) in readiness for a "delayed arrival" which, as we know, can arrive at any time day or night.​

Worst Thanet movie ever...

Well, as the caption says, thank God it's only a movie...

It is just a joke, right?

Sanctions busting at Manston

Many of you have been wondering why the state airline of a pariah nation regularly visits a failing airport in the corner of England.

A while ago, I was told that Iran Air come to Manston to refuel, which struck me as a "reasonable reason" but a woefully inadequate explanation. Things are now becoming clearer...

For a number of historical reasons, Iran and USA are not best mates. The USA are currently showing their dislike of Iran through sanctions - read about the sanctions here. American foreign policy is conducted in such a way as to try to compel the rest of the world to follow their lead. The Americans "forbid companies and governments with economic ties with the US to trade with Iran".

Depending on your viewpoint, this can be regarded as the effective use of economic leverage, or as blackmail. Either way, it seems to be working, in as much as Iran Air is desperately short of spare parts to maintain its fleet. The inevitable impact on airworthiness probably explains why most of Iran Air's aircraft are banned from European airspace - read about the ban here. This BBC video clip shows a passenger explaining how the Iran Air plane's tyres burst when it landed at Manston, stranding the hapless Iranians in Thanet for the night.

Although the small fraction of Iran Air's fleet that is regarded as airworthy is allowed to land in London (not sure what they do about landing fees) they have to refuel elsewhere. Manton is apparently "devoid of American trade connections" and is thus free to flaunt the American sanctions without fear of retribution. If Manston ever tries running flights to the States, I expect they will find that the US Government and the Federal Aviation Authority have long and unforgiving memories. (Incidentally, does anyone know if Infratil has any "economic ties with the US"?)

So there you have it - Manston can get away with selling jet fuel to the Iranians because they are insignificant enough to slip through the American's sanctions net. When viewed alongside the track records some of Manston's other customers - MK Airlines' stop-frame bankruptcy; Kam Air's DC-8 close brush with disaster; Cargolux's part in the international criminal price-fixing cartel - it doesn't paint a pretty picture.

Manston: judge them by the companies they keep.

Cargolux fined. Again.

The European Commission has fined 11 airlines almost 800m euros (£690m) for fixing the price of air cargo between 1999 and 2006.  Had the Commission not intervened the "deplorable" cartel "would have continued", said EU Competition Commissioner Joaquin Almunia.  The illegal cartel had harmed both companies and consumers, he said.

British Airways was fined 104m euros, Air France-KLM 340m euros and Cargolux Airlines 79.9m euros.  The fines follow lengthy investigations by regulators in Europe, the US and Asia, dating back to 2006.  The EU said that the airlines "co-ordinated their action on surcharges for fuel and security without discounts", between early 1999 and 2006. "The carriers contacted each other so as to ensure that worldwide air freight carriers imposed a flat rate surcharge per kg for all shipments."

The Commission imposed the biggest fine - 340m euros - on Air France-KLM, which was formed from a merger in 2004 and which now owns Martinair, which was also fined.  "It is deplorable that so many major airlines coordinated their pricing to the detriment of European businesses and European consumers," said Mr Almunia.  "With today's decision the Commission is sending a clear message that it will not tolerate cartel behaviour."

Airline: Fine (euros)

Air France-KLM (includes Martinair): 339.6m

British Airways: 104m

Cargolux: 79.9m [Click here to read about their earlier $124m fine in the USA]

Singapore Airlines: 74.8m

SAS: 70.2m

Cathay Pacific: 57.1m

Japan Airlines: 35.7m

Air Canada: 21m

Qantas: 8.9m

LAN Chile: 8.2m

BA said it had already made a £350m provision for any possible fines over the cargo price fixing.  A BA spokesman said the airline's fine fell "within the provision made by the company in its 2006/7 report and accounts".  The German carrier Lufthansa escaped a fine because it alerted the regulatory authorities to the cartel.  The maximum fine the Commission could have imposed on any single carrier was 10% of their 2009 turnover.

The US Department of Justice has already charged 18 airlines and several executives in its investigation of the cargo cartel and imposed more than $1.6bn (£997m) in fines.  The Commission's decision will have an impact on several pending legal actions by European companies against some of the airlines.  A group of firms, led by the Swedish telecoms group Ericsson and Dutch electronics giant Philips, are suing Air France-KLM and its Martinair subsidiary for 400m euros.

Cargolux in international criminal conspiracy

$124 million of  'Sorry'

It appears that Infratil's best friends Cargolux are getting their arses kicked for their part in an international criminal conspiracy. Two conspiracies, in fact.

The US Department of Justice has accused several airlines of engaging in a conspiracy to eliminate competition by fixing the international cargo rates they charged, from at least 2001 through 2006. Three of the airlines have coughed up fines to avoid the presumably more expensive rigmarole of going through the courts. See Reuters for more grisly details. The red-handed three (and their guilt money) are:

• Japan-based Nippon Cargo Airlines Co ($45 million)
• Korea-based Asiana Airlines Inc ($50 million)
• Luxembourg-based Cargolux Airlines International ($119 million)

Dear reader, your eyes do not deceive you: that's $119,000,000 worth of naughtiness. But they are contrite:

Cargolux Chairman Marc Hoffman said yesterday that his airline had "cooperated intensively with the DOJ and the other authorities throughout the investigation and will continue to do so." He added that the company had "reviewed and reinforced its competition compliance program." ATW Online

Meanwhile, in another part of the globe, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has also been investigating cargo price-fixing, and collusion on fuel surcharges, between 2003 and 2006. Once again, Cargolux have sought to save themselves some hefty legal bills and have offered the ACCC A$5 million worth of 'sorry'.

"Cargolux has cooperated intensively with the ACCC and the other authorities throughout the investigation and the legal proceedings and will continue to do so," Chairman Marc Hoffmann said. RoutesOnline

Familiar words.

As I typed this, and registered the fact that even the smaller fine is more money than Manston has ever made, I had a fleeting mental image of Infratil as an impressionable adolescent hanging out with crooks just because of the cash they can flash.

It's a dirty dead-end business guys, and you're in with a bad crowd.