Harbor Currents: NEWS Feb. 11, 2013

More Parolees Tamper with GPS-Ankle Bracelets
SACRAMENTO – The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation’s data shows a record number of parolees tampered with GPS-ankle bracelets between November and December 2012.
One-hundred-and-forty-seven parolees tampered or cut their ankle-mounted monitoring bracelets, compared to 15 parolees from November to December 2010, an increase of about 880 percent.
Pre-realignment, during the 15-month period from July 2010 through September 2011, a total of 221 parolees tampered or cut off their GPS monitors.  After realignment, during the 15-month period from October 2011 through the end of 2012, a total of 482 parolees tampered or cut their GPS bracelets.
On Feb. 11, Sen. Ted W. Lieu of Torrance announced, Senate Bill 57, a bill that would make tampering with monitoring bracelets a felony and would send parolees to prison.
“By making this crime a new felony under threat of returning dangerous parolees to prison, we send the message that parolees can no longer cut off their ankle bracelets with little or no consequence,” Lieu said.

Matson Expands to the South Pacific
Beginning Jan. 7, Matson Navigation Co. will offer their shipping services to the South Pacific through the purchase of four vessels and 1,500 containers.
For five decades, freighters and luxury passenger Matson vessels served the South Pacific since the 1920s.  The ships first that were used by Matson Inc. carried U.S. crew members, and were built and registered in the United States.
Matson has indicated that the ships now carry multi-national crews.
Three of the four vessels purchased are registered in Antigua and Barbuda, which the International Transport Workers’ Federation has been declared a flag-of-convenience registry. The term “flag-of-convenience” has been used since the 1950s to describe ships whose flags are registered in countries different from that of the ships owner. This is usually done to reduce expenses and avoid regulations of the owners country.
What that means is that Antigua and Barbuda do not enforce minimal international working, safety and environmental standards on its ships.

Percent of Cargo that Comes to the Port of Los Angeles:

• Northeast Asia 77.2
• South Asia 15.4
• India  2.0
• Central America  1.7
• Northern Europe  1.2
• Other  2.5