TNAG-0625-FCO40-773-Trade-missions-to-UK-from-Hong-Kong-1977 — Page 36

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CONFIDENTIAL

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12 To date, £5 million assistance has been offered

under the fund, and cases involving a further £35 million of assistance are under active consideration, including a substantial amount in respect of foreign orders Nigeria, Poland, India and the Phillipines.

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13 Assistance will normally take the form of a grant, although other methods of intervention will be considered

such as leasing and chartering arrangements, the postpone- ment of downpayments by the shipowner, or participation in a joint venture, including bareboat chartering.

Points to consider

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Opportunities for chartering in the public sector are likely to be limited, and even if there are any, there

are a number of problems attached to the proposals, namely:-

a) it is almost certain that a subsidy of some sort would be required either on the building costs or on the charter rate;

b) the group is thinking in terms of guaranteed charters from the Government; this in itself would present

difficulties which could be even greater in the case of

a foreign owner;

c) it is not clear exactly how a scheme of this nature could be implemented; if it were to be operated through the shipping subsidiary of British Shipbuilders chartering the vessel from Y K Pao and then on-chartering to, say, the BSC, there might be strong reactions from the General Council of British Shipping who would be

likely to see the scheme as one reserving cargo from public sector bodies to the shipping subsidiary. Such a practice might be regarded as contrary to the assurances given in the debate by Lord Melchett that the shipping subsidiary would not have cargoes reserved to it;

CONFIDENTIAL