■BANKING
DSB declared bankrupt
A Dutch judge yesterday declared ailing bank DSB bankrupt after it failed to find a new buyer in the face of client withdrawals this month totaling 600 million euros (US$900 million), a court statement said. “The court comes to the conclusion that everything possible was done to save the bank, but that there are no prospects of that being achieved,” said a statement from the district court in Amsterdam. On Thursday, the court gave DSB until noon on Friday to find a buyer, but bank boss Dirk Scheringa convinced it to give him until yesterday morning — reportedly for an interested American firm to scrutinise his books. DSB was placed under administration at the behest of the Dutch central bank last Monday, freezing all its activities and client accounts.
■SHIPPING
CMA-CGM to delay delivery
France’s CMA-CGM container shipping company wants to delay the delivery of 49 ships it has ordered and is due to receive within the next three years, the company said yesterday. CMA-CGM, the world’s No. 3 container shipper, which employs 17,000 worldwide, saw its revenues drop by about 30 percent with a net loss of US$515 million in the first half of this year as shipping volumes and tariff fell during the global economic crisis. The heavily indebted French company, which now owes US$5.6 billion, announced last month a steering committee including banks and financial institutions that is supposed to draft a plan to return the company to profitability next year and secure its long-term future.
■ENGINEERING
Sulzer orders down 29.1%
Swiss industrial engineering and manufacturing company Sulzer yesterday reported a 29.1 percent drop in its order intake for the first nine months of the year, when adjusted for currency fluctuations. “The activity levels in most of Sulzer’s key markets were clearly below the level of the previous year’s period,” the Zurich-based company said in a statement, adding, however, that the order intake level had started to show some stabilization in recent months. Sulzer said it did not expect a “quick recovery,” as the economic downturn would continue to affect its key markets.
■OIL
Chevron unveils LNG project
Energy group Chevron announced yesterday a new natural gas discovery off Western Australia that will help support the massive Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil last month agreed to develop the Gorgon field, spending some A$43 billion (US39.25 billion) in the initial construction phase of the country’s largest-ever resources development. The energy giant said gas was found in about 100m of the 4,500m drilled in the Achilles-1 exploration well which lies about 160km offshore. The Gorgon project, expected to begin production in 2014, is designed to be an important source of energy for Asia’s burgeoning economies.
■OIL
Refinery project revived
The Kuwaiti government said on Sunday it will revive the US$14 billion project to build its fourth oil refinery, which was scrapped in March on corruption allegations. The Cabinet’s plan of action will be submitted to parliament includes building the refinery south of Kuwait City. Lawmakers originally accused officials of profiteering from the project because the contracts to build it did not go through a central bidding committee. The government denied the charges.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
TRADE: A mandatory declaration of origin for manufactured goods bound for the US is to take effect on May 7 to block China from exploiting Taiwan’s trade channels All products manufactured in Taiwan and exported to the US must include a signed declaration of origin starting on May 7, the Bureau of Foreign Trade announced yesterday. US President Donald Trump on April 2 imposed a 32 percent tariff on imports from Taiwan, but one week later announced a 90-day pause on its implementation. However, a universal 10 percent tariff was immediately applied to most imports from around the world. On April 12, the Trump administration further exempted computers, smartphones and semiconductors from the new tariffs. In response, President William Lai’s (賴清德) administration has introduced a series of countermeasures to support affected
CROSS-STRAIT: The vast majority of Taiwanese support maintaining the ‘status quo,’ while concern is rising about Beijing’s influence operations More than eight out of 10 Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” framework for cross-strait relations, according to a survey released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday. The MAC’s latest quarterly survey found that 84.4 percent of respondents opposed Beijing’s “one country, two systems” formula for handling cross-strait relations — a figure consistent with past polling. Over the past three years, opposition to the framework has remained high, ranging from a low of 83.6 percent in April 2023 to a peak of 89.6 percent in April last year. In the most recent poll, 82.5 percent also rejected China’s
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
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