Month: February 2018

EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour saw French team Beijaflor win two of the three races at Sunday’s stadium racing. The young crew continued their winning ways in the first of five coastal stretches.

These long coastal courses along Oman’s coastline are part of a reworking for EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour, which also includes exchanging 30ft yachts for superfast Diam 24 multihulls and introducing short, intense stadium racing close to the shore.

Reigning EFG Sailing Arabia – The Tour champions EFG Bank Monaco and British-Omani-flagged Team Averda were among the crews in hot pursuit of the French as the fleet hit speeds of more than 20 knots.

Beijaflore managed to hold onto the lead until the finish line – and their victory puts them firmly at the top of the leaderboard, according to the Times of Oman.

Omani sailing star Ali Al Balushi said his EFG Bank Monaco team found their speed in the Salalah Coastal Raid after a slow start in the stadium racing, finishing the coastal race in second just ahead of Averda.

“This result is a good improvement for us, and it shows we are definitely a fast boat,” he said. “We’re going to fight hard for first place until the end of the regatta.”

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News

Douglas Woodring, a former member of the University of California at Berkeley men’s swimming team, was awarded the 2018 Prince’s Prize for Innovative Philanthropy by Prince Albert last week for his work in ocean protection and global plastic pollution issues, the student newspaper The Daily Californian reported on Monday, February 5.

The goal of the Prince’s Prize is “to highlight projects and initiatives that have triggered innovative activity in the field of philanthropy, seeking out individuals that inspire others and demonstrate strong impact or potential impact.”

According to the newspaper, Woodring is the founder and managing director of Ocean Recovery Alliance, a registered nonprofit organisation founded in 2010 and based in Hong Kong and California.

The goal of the organisation is “to bring together new ways of thinking, technologies, creativity and collaborations in order to introduce innovative projects and initiatives that will help improve our ocean environment,” according to its website. Ocean Recovery Alliance is one of the few nongovernmental organisations that has worked with both UN Environment and the World Bank.

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Prince Albert II Foundation: a ten-year retrospective with HE Bernard Fautrier

A wave of cold weather affecting large parts of France will also hit the Principality over the next few days. Meteo France is forecasting overnight lows of 5 and 6 degrees celsius for Monaco from Wednesday, February 7 until the weekend, with a low of 4 degrees at night on Sunday, following a cold and sunny day with a high of 13. The cold spell is expected to last for at least two weeks.

Twenty-two French departments – including Ile-de-France, which includes Paris – have issued cold alerts for those sleeping rough. This triggering of the emergency warning will involve the opening of an additional 1,000 emergency overnight sleeping places to add to the 13,000 already in place.

The blast of cold air is spreading into France from Eastern Europe, coming into conflict with warmer air from the Mediterranean. Heavy snow and rain can be expected this week across the south and east of France.

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Monaco's weather a major draw

Monaco-based Scorpio Bulkers on Monday, February 5, reported its results for the three months and year ended December 31, 2017. The Company also announced that its Board of Directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.02 per share on the Company’s common stock.

For the three months ended December 31, 2017, the Company’s GAAP net loss was $1.1 million, or $0.01 loss per diluted share. For the same period in 2016, the Company’s GAAP net loss was $20.6 million, or $0.29 loss per diluted share. Total vessel revenues for the three months ended December 31, 2017 were $51.1 million, compared to $26.8 million for the three months ended December 31, 2016.

Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation for the fourth quarter of 2017 and 2016 were $22.9 million and $1.0 million.

The Company acquired nine Chinese built Ultramax dry bulk vessels in two separate transactions for a total consideration of $207.0 million, of which $186.7 million was paid in cash and $20.3 million was in the form of the Company’s common stock. Two of the vessels were built in 2014, four were built in 2015, one was built in 2016, and two were built in 2017.  All nine vessels were delivered to the Company as of December 31, 2017.

The Company also entered into an agreement to purchase one Kamsarmax dry bulk vessel for $25.5 million, of which $18.8 million remains unpaid at December 31, 2017. The Kamsarmax vessel is a resale unit which is expected to be delivered from Jiangsu New Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Co Ltd in China in the second quarter of 2018.

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The Women of Monaco Life, A Series: Laurie and Sandie Giacobi

Created in Canada fifteen years ago, the “Students on Ice” programme offers young students the opportunity to take part in an educational cruise every summer where they come into contact with the realities of the Arctic region and discover how it is evolving.

Over the past 11 years, thanks to a partnership between the Department of Education, Youth and Sports and the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation, two students from the sixth form in the Principality are selected each winter to take part in this once-in-a lifetime experience.

In the presence of Prince Albert, the 2018 selection process, which will pick two winners from the “Life without plastic” contest, was launched on Friday at the Lycée Technique et Hôtelier in Monaco.

On hand were the winners of the 2017 edition, Léa Collange, and Célia Benkerrache, and Geoff Green, the Founding President of Students on Ice, presented the programme for the 2018 mission.

After, the Sovereign Prince visited the exhibition “Climate Change in Lapland – What can we do?” accompanied by curator Stéphanie Lefrère. The exhibition is located in the hall of the Auditorium at the Lycée technique.

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Prince Albert II Foundation: a ten-year retrospective with HE Bernard Fautrier