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The “heir” of King George II dead in the Dark Age of shipping

航运黑暗时代阴霾依旧，最古老船公司破产清算

When a shipping company has a 282 years long history and glorious royal tradition, can it be too old to fall? The answer is obviously no. The British oldest shipping company Stephenson Clarke Shipping has been forced out of business and into liquidation. Started in 1730 during the reign of King George II, the long survived sailor didn’t survive this time amid one of the worst shipping downturns.

如果一家航运公司有着282年的邮局历史和光荣传统，那么他的沉淀下来的岁月可以保证他的永不衰败么？答案看来是否定的。于1730年，英王乔治二世时代成立的英国最古老的航运公司Stephenson Clarke由于目前低迷的航运市场，不得不关门歇业，破产清算。

The BDI has dropped more than 55% and keeps that way down after a consecutive three year’s decline. And according to a statement from Stephenson Clarke obtained by Guardian the company describes the slump as “the current market is one of the worst experienced for many years with no upturn forecast for at least 12 to 18 months”.

BDI指数已经连续3年大幅下滑达55%，并且下滑趋势毫无缓解迹象。根据英国卫报得到的一份Stephenson Clarke航运公司的声明，该公司将现阶段的航运低迷描述为“多年来所见到的最糟糕的市场，并且至少在未来12到18个都没有回暖征兆。”

The accounting firm Tait Walker was appointed as liquidator earlier this month to handle the winding up. Stephenson Clarke had already sold the last vessel in late July from its previous fleet of 6 bulk carriers ranging from 4,800 to 11,600 dwt. Wikipedia shows “as of 25 November 2011 the fleet consisted of just 2 ships, Durrington and Newcastle, and reduced to the latter only a month later.”

会计师事务所Tait Walker已经于本月早些时候被指派为Stephenson Clarke的资产清算人来处理其相关事宜。Stephenson Clarke已于上月出售了其船队中的最后一条散货船，此前该公司共拥有载重吨4800吨到11600吨不等的6条船舶。根据维基百科的公开资料显示：“截至2011年11月25日，Stephenson Clarke就已经仅剩2条船舶了，分别为Durrington 号和Newcastle号。随后一个月后，该公司就再次出售了其中的一条。”

After founded by Master Ralph and Robert Clarke with a 300-ton sailing vessel, Robert’s two sons, John and Ralph then took the wheel and gradually laid the cornerstone of Stephenson Clarke. Initially being a British domestic coal carrier, the company has integrated itself into a short sea bulk transport specialist during development with cargos including alumina, grain, coal, fertilizers and steel. The trading routes are mostly within the Northern Europe, the Mediterranean (including Black Sea), West Africa, the Atlantic Islands, Scandinavia and the Baltic Sea.

Stephenson Clarke最初是以Ralph Clarke船长和Robert Clarke船长两兄弟用一条300吨的小船创立的。随后Robert Clarke的两个儿子John 和Ralph接过了父辈的旗帜，并为公司的未来奠定了基石。该公司最初经营英国国内的煤炭运输业务，但是随着公司的发展，其慢慢转型为一家短途海洋散货运输公司。航线主要为北欧，地中海，西非和波罗的海等。

However in the recent 3 years, the global shipping recession teamed up with the Euro crisis which leaded to a record low cargo transport demand. The company’s revenues dropped way far to cap the cost and cash flow runs to nowhere. Though as a small shipping company as Stephenson Clarke, its death wound’s affect much of the market in the bigger picture. But it shall ring the alarm to those big companies as well. There’s no too old to fall story and neither too big to fall!

然后在最近三年，全球航运的持续低迷加上欧债危机导致了欧洲海运需求量的大幅减少。该公司的运营已经入不敷出，现金链断裂。虽然Stephenson Clarke仅仅一家很小的航运公司，他的破产不会对那些大的船东或市场造成任何影响。但是这也许可以算作是一个警钟，在航运界不存在任何侥幸和童话。

“News of the closing of Stephenson Clarke clearly shows how challenging the current economic climate is for shipping,” the U.K. Chamber of Shipping said in an e-mailed statement to Bloomberg. “Stephenson Clarke was an historic company and longstanding member until recently and we were very sorry to hear this news.”

英国航运商会在发给Bloomberg的一封电子邮件中指出：“我们对Stephenson Clarke这样一家有着辉煌历史的公司破产的消息深感悲痛，同时我们也要清醒的认识到目前对航运业来说异常严酷的经济形势。”（by paris zhang）

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