Canadian tax changes lure new service

CANADIAN tax law changes were a big factor in the headquarters there of a new shipping service to the South Pacific from West Coast North America.

The tax changes were meant to lure big Hong Kong fleet owners to move head offices to Vancouver before Beijing takes over the British colony in 1997.

The changes mean that Canadian based shipowners will no longer be taxed on their offshore operations.

South Pacific Inter Line Ltd is provid ing the new service. The company is owned by the Swedish-based Gotland

shipping group.

This is Gotland’s first operational venture in the Pacific. Melin said Gotland had chosen the name Swedish Pacific Line [PIM, March 1991) but then found someone else had registered rights to it.

The group is also interested in setting up a cruise ferry sendee between the Seattle-Vancouver area and Alaska, he said.

And it is building five 25,000-

deadweight ton ships in Indonesia.

CA S ° uth Pacific Inter Line will operate a 50-day round trip schedule originating in Vancouver and calling at Seattle/ Tacoma, Coos Bay, San Francisco and Los Ageles/Long Beach on the west coast, an <* Papeete (Tahiti), Pago Pago (American Samoa), Apia (Western Samoa), Nukualofa (Tonga), Noumea (New Caledonia) and Lae (Papua New Guinea) in the South Pacific Islands.

Service for the new shipping line will be provided by the MV TS Adventure , a 17 000 tone state-of-the-art multi-

service seLusta n.nl box Toe

service, sen sustaining, oox type Japanese-bmld ship, launched m Japan m January. The new vessel is designed to cai T y “{T a " d refrigerated containers as 35 breakbu ' k and heav V lift car S oes - She registered in Panama.

The Bahamas-based company, South Pacific Inter Line, is owned by the Gotland Gr <™P of Sweden which has served the shipping industry and other ! r 0 a^p ° rtation sectors in Eur ,°P e si ? ce 1865. South Pacific Inter Line is opening its Vancouver office as a result of the newly introduced amendment to the

Canadian income tax legislation.

The Gotland was established in British Columbia as Gotland Invest Corpor ation in September 1990, at which time Mr S taffa £ .Mclin was appointed its present. BnUsh Columbia was selected J?y Gotland because of its exceptional tu £e PP te _?f ial as u a class city in the Pacific Rim. The establishment of the International Commercial Arbitration Centre and the presence of Asian financial institutions also contributed to Gotland’s interest in Vancouver.

Tnhn Rnw u ptt Kac J ohn Bowkett, who has been in the t PI T g Itr P o ‘ 3 -n yearSi has been appointed Vice-President of Operations for South Pacific Inter Line Ltd.

Hanse Shippine Agency Inc. of San

Franco has Teen nlmedlhe Managing

Agent for Sou(h Pacific InterL f ne . s American operation, with Sunrise Ship ping Agency, Inc. as Agent for the Pacific Northwest, and Farman Shipping for ana a - The Gotland Group has selected the Hong Bank of Canada as principal corporate bank for its Pacific Rim operations. □