My best cruise ever, was on the Kouilou River. This river is the main drainage path for the coastal basin of the Republic of the Congo. In the Niari region of The Congo, the Kouilou River is called the Niari River. The river combines with the Louess? River and flows into the Atlantic Ocean. It covers about 450 miles from its origin in the plateaus of The Congo to its mouth at the coast. The river has numerous waterfalls and is impassable at its mouth, which is blocked by multiple sandbars, formed primarily by the action of the Benguela current.
This cruise is organized by the Congo tourism department in Pointe Noire. The department has very little money and and a very small staff, but the organization is quite fantastic and the cruise really affordable ? we paid some $100 per person for a 5 day cruise. In fact, after the cruise we all agreed to leave a $200 tip per adult.
You don't prepare for a Kouilou River cruise as you do for a Panama cruise! First you have to understand that a Kouilou river cruise is a pirogue cruise. 15 seat motorized pirogues are carved trunks of huge trees. Two seats were sacrificed for luggage and two for our guides and pilots, leaving 22 seats for passengers.
The itinerary is quite simple: departure at 6am from Madingo-Kayes Bridge; a stop with lunch in a Kouilou island; later a stop for the night in an old palm tree plantation. Departure early next morning to our final destination, a lumberjack camp near the Chinese dam (which was fully paid but never built). Arrival in the camp and three days to visit the forest and surrounding villages. The return to Madingo-Kayes takes 1/3 of the time to go because of the huge river current.
The preparation takes time as you need to understand that you get only 2 seats to put the entire luggage for 11 people. Meetings are run in a local church and are accompanied by music repetitions and food preparations for the priest and his staff. On my cruise, two families were present for the first meeting. All 22 passengers were present for the following ones! The itinerary meeting was based on 150 year old maps that collectors would pay fortunes to get but that were the only maps the tourism office had. Just preparing for the cruise is already a terrific adventure. Imagine working in an African church with the sounds of music, eating Missala (fresh water shrimp) using an original 150 years old map!
The cruise only got more and more unique.
Arthur Levitt, Chairman emeritus of the SEC, said at an SIA conference in Boca Raton in November 1999: Best execution encompasses a number of factors starting with the price of the execution and the opportunity for price improvement. Other factors include speed and likelihood of execution. For institutional investors, anonymity and liquidity might be overriding concerns. In any case, the quality of execution must always be viewed from the customer's perspective, not the firm's.
This paper discusses the concept of best execution in that light, the regulatory environment in which it is defined, and examines a number of approaches for the investor to obtain the best execution possible.
Best Execution
Best execution means different things to different people. To some it means attaining the inside price of the best quoted bid or offer for an order. To others, notably institutional investors or traders, it means working a large order without moving the market in an adverse manner.
Traditionally, one would assume that achieving the best execution is the same as finding the best price for a trade at the time the trade needs to be made. This seems reasonable at first glance, but upon closer inspection, one might find that the time horizon considered here is too short, particularly for institutional investors and large orders. Considering that large orders are often worked over multiple days, and the value of the definition dwindles. Additionally, consider market volatility in context with daily VWAP (volume weighted average price, a price point few institutional traders want to exceed in trading); today's worst price can be much better than tomorrow's best price. Therefore, the definition mentioned earlier lacks validity in today's environment.
Due to the sheer number of variables present in any market it is difficult, if not impossible, to show that the best possible execution is actually achieved. Many firms quote best execution as a marketing tool to sell their products and services; however no firm will guarantee that best execution is ever achieved.
The number of firms who advertise best execution has grown significantly over the past few years, primarily as the number of participants within the capital markets arena has grown. As trading volume has increased so has the number of execution venues (in conjunction with a loosening of financial regulations). The increase in competition and number of execution venues has lead to increasingly fragmented pools of liquidity and the necessity for development of algorithms to discern ways of achieving optimal execution within this environment.
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Pierre Merlin has sinced written about articles on various topics from Travel and Leisure. Pierre Merlin writes for VP-Travel which is a travel agency specialized in tours accross the world. Visit before any trip to Europe.. Pierre Merlin's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.
Julian Fisher has sinced written about articles on various topics from Travel and Leisure. Julian Fisher is a Managing Director at Crest Rider, a Management Consulting firm dedicated to helping clients navigate the complex arena of Risk Management. For more information on Crest Rider's range of services go to. Julian Fisher's top article generates over 22200 views. to your Favourites.