connection to europe. >>: now, after 30 years of civil war, we are opening the first non-stop connection between kabul and frankfurt >>: and the right stuff, the unlikely resurgence of taxidermy. >>: there's definitely been a market for it. the works in the gallery sell for anything between, for a very small piece, for about 1000 pounds up to 30 thousands >>abirached: hello and welcome. i'm raya >>abirached: hello and welcome. i'm raya abirached and this is world

business, your weekly insight into the global business trends shaping our lives. as china boomed, so did investment in the means to deliver its huge volume of exports from the factories to the world's sea lanes. but then, the financial tsunami struck. exports shrunk dramatically and rapidly. and now, quaysides are stacked high with empty containers while shipyards nervously wait for the next order. china's logistics industry is clearly weathering the storm badly. >>reporter: cutting here, welding there, in 2008 the output of china's shipbuilding industry was up 52% on the year before - building 3000 ships like this, a total of 28 million deadweight tons. >>: but in the wake of the financial crisis, over the first five months of 2009, new orders plunged 96 percent. >>: while buyers have cancelled work on over 150 ships,

and others seek to renegotiate past deals. >>reporter: yuan deming at his yard, south of shanghai, says foreign business has totally dried-up. >>: he's managing to stay afloat because the government has told the banks to support shipbuilders - while he manufactures smaller vessels at a discount... for domestic operators on the yangtze river. >>deming: we're not talking about making profits. rather, it's about how to survive. after the financial crisis, it will take us three to five years to get over it. so, to survive this period, we need to be responsive to the market. >>reporter: it's clearly rough for those engaged in logistics on the high seas. take shanghai: after a decade of 20 percent annual growth, this year, cargo handling is down 15 percent - containers are stacked high...empty. hong kong: a similar picture. across china, a reported half a million plus containers are

parked-up.... redundant. while by the quaysides and around the coast, hundreds of cargo ships tread water, gathering barnacles. >>lin: export and import, both in and out through hong kong and china have been dropping quite significantly: depending on what parts you're talking about, between 10 to 15 to 20 to 30 percent. even singapore is 25 percent down. so i think the whole region is suffering because of the dependence on export related business. >>reporter: so there's no wonder that demand is down at shipyards....and at china's once booming container builders. this chongqing factory, with an annual capacity of 100,000 units, has laid off its workforce. it nowrents out the yard to customers with nowhere to park their boxes. >>mackie: stacks of containers like this help illustrate just how badly the industry is suffering. but acrosschina, there are over 80,000 companies engaged in one form of logistics or another - many serving just

cities or regions. and now, competition is so fierce that consolidation is inevitable - but thenagain, it's well overdue. >>reporter: with so many local players in the market, china is highly inefficient. goods often change hands as they move across the country, which adds to cost and spoilage. there's also province-to-province red tape to contend with; while road tolls are expensive. logistics can amount to 18 percent of product cost, double that in the us or europe. the impact of the financial crisis is now forcing a shake-up - for the better. >>brubaker: the weakest won't survive - whether they're taken into another firm or they find another line of business. so that's one kind of side impact. at the same time they still need to find a way to develop provincial players who then grow into domestic market strong players who can then go global as well. >>reporter:

for the healthiest operations, growth may well depend on how they respond to the country's half a trillion dollar stimulus package - which is having an impact on boosting domestic consumption, especially within the auto sector. a key government policy is to supercharge china's west. and that's where shanghai based yang kai sees his small company's future - by providing a seamless, more efficient service between the coast and china's next growth region. >>kai: government's development policies favour chongqing (pronounced chong-ching) and sichuan. as far as i know, a quarter of the stimulus package will be spent there. and also, this is a new growing market. so its logistics industry needs strong standards. >>reporter: good highways were developed there during the boom years. now, work is underway to strengthen the weak rail system; and the government is developing the yangtze river as a key logistics artery. a decision welcomed by shipbuilders like mr. yuan

>>deming: demand in the coastal region is not big nowadays. but in the yangtze region, demand is very big. >>reporter: like elsewhere in the world, china's logistics industry is suffering from a dearth in demand, while those customers still active are demanding better service and lower prices. those fit enough and with the foresight to adapt now, will benefit from pro-active government policies - that on one hand bolster strategic enterprises, while on the other help develop the internal market for goods and services. >>abirached: staying with transport now, and an unusual new venture in air travel. for years the airspace above afghanistan has been dominated by war planes. but lately a new battle has begun, for the commercial market, and one of the key players in this emerging sector is afghan airline safi. >>reporter: kabul is not exactly the most

favoured destination for international air travellers. but afghani operator safi is confident it can make business work...it has just announced a weekly direct flight from kabul to frankfurt, the first time there has been a direct flight from afghanistan since the 70s. 18 >>gabriel: we are excited because now after 30 years of civil war we are opening the first non stop connection between frankfurt and kabul. we are excited because this team in the last five month has achieved the safi airways team, together with the officials at the ministry of transportation here in kabul and also with the german lbe which also tremendously supported this first flight and now its happeningand we are very happy. >>reporter: safi's rivals are watching its move closely... afghanistan has two other private airlines - pamir airways and kamair and the state owned ariana. the airport itself may not be up to modern standards

and security concerns mean the un is one of themain carriers and air control is run by nato. >>cockton: the air traffic control in this area is completely different, the radio frequencies are very poor quality and of course you have the military traffic in the area as well which is a different concern but i am guessing once we get past maybe turkey - everything will get back to normal...the kind of flying gareth and i are used to flying. >>reporter: however despite the challenges safi has at least received an international safety certificate. >>korhonen: afghanistan is not worse than any other part we have been working in africa and elsewhere - but it seems to be that afghans and afghan people have a bigger will to do things than lets say africa- >>reporter: its taken months to prepare for the 6 hour flight to frankfurt, but many are hoping the link to europe will bring prosperity, business opportunities and investment to the war torn country... >>gabriel: a land lock country like afghanistan needs

international aviation - aviation is the easiest way to get afghanistan back into international circuit, into trade into relations - and with relations communication and democracy will come back to afghanistan. >>reporter: a hope shared by the afghani government. >>farooqi: now it proves afghan private sector are capable of providing service and prove they can follow, they can carry their responsibility as engine for the afghan government, its very important to me. >>reporter: the airline has been running for less than a year and so far its primary routes have been from kabulto the gulf. the new leg is a risky business but has been modelled on successful low cost model used by established european airlines. >>: its first time in 30 years since an afghan airline has flown to europe directly

but safi is confident its move will be a success. >>reporter: safi has three planes and it also operates domestic routes like kabul-kandahar - an area in the south controlled by the insurgents. safi knows it's not immune to risks. >>gabriel: the risks in afghanistan somewhat bureaucratic political issues we have to deal wirh every day the, security is a day to day issue, we don't take that lightly >>reporter: the first flight may not have been exactly crowded but the service was well received. >>stannies: i was doing business in kabul and now i'm on my way back to europe, to germany - i'm on this flight because it saves me a lot of time, instead of travelling via dubai and stay there for one night, you can go directly to europe, to frankfurt - - its all about time saving and money saving... >>reporter: some may call these plans ambitious in the current climate. but for safi - its journey has only justbegun...

>>abirached: still to come on world business...is privacy a thing of the past - the internet opens up a whole newworld, but does it also let the world watch us? taxidermy is trendy again, and animal stuffers are making big bucks as well as animal art. the sport of princes reaches out to the masses, but can poloreally become a mainstream success >>: people... they want to learn to play polo. they do not have to have the fields and they don't have to have the house in the country and they don't' have to have the horses, you can just literally phone them up, rock down there and you can be a polo player by the afternoon. >>abirached: polo for the proles... and the rest in just a moment on world business.

>>abirached: love it or hate it, the internet is here to stay. it is now such an integral part of our society it's hard to imagine life without it. we email, we blog, we do our banking, shopping and much of our business online. but with so much personal data tied up in the cloud, are we reaching a stage where 21st century technology is over stepping the boundaries and becoming an invasion of our privacy? >>reporter: google's controversial mapping tool was rolled out in britain earlier this year. it's already captured street level images of more than 25 cities, and that's just in the uk - but the car, with it's 360 degree camera mounted 9 feet above the roof, hasn't always been a welcome visitor. >>russell: when residents of the peaceful village of broughton in milton keynes spotted a google street view car crawling through their neighbourhood they took objection - coming

out to question the driver and stopping him from taking any more pictures. the claimed that google had no right to photograph their homes, calling it an invasion of privacy - and potentially an invitation to burglars. >>bint: if it had been taking the kinds of photographs that you or i could have taken everybody would have been fine. but actually it was 9 feet up in the air on a pole on top of a car, and therefore it was looking over hedges and fences into people's gardens and that's an intrusion of privacy too much. >>house: we've put in a very easy to use tool to ask for houses to be removed for just that reason - we understand that some people won't be comfortable with this technology, and that's why we've made it very easy for people to opt out of it. >>reporter: so, invasion of privacy? or natural progression? well it seems a question that is endemic to the world of technology. back in 1999 scott mcnealy of sun microsystems, famously said : you have zero privacy anyway. get over it. >>: since then we've seen any number of security measures

rolled out around the globe. not least the eu data retention directive, which gives european governments the power to demand that isps record and store details about any communication sent to and from their customers. it's a measure touted as a defence against terrorism and cyber crime - but many experts believe it's misguided. >>ferguson: it's very, very easy to be invisible online if you want to be. and the kinds of people that are planning terrorist atrocities are absolutely going to have done their homework on how they can do that. >>reporter: despite widely held concerns work continues in the uk to broaden out that legislation. reportedly, the home office is currently consulting on its interception modernisation programme, which will require isps and telecommunications companies to collect increasing amounts of data and make it availableto british intelligence agency gchq and its various authorities. >>stephens: my concern is that the access to that data will be uncontrolled. just as we witnessed with

the regulation of investigatory powers act, that the number of authorities that can gain access to the interception data - and the purposes for which they can gain access - will become broader and broader overtime, until it effectively becomes public domain information. >>reporter: despite taking precautions it's inevitable that some personal information may leak onto the web be used by criminals. >>russell: you might think your private data is very valuable - and of course it is to you. but the criminal market for this kind of information works on mass sales rather than high value returns. you might be surprised to learn that your personal identity is worth very little on its own. >>reporter: cyber criminals actually buy and sell unprocessed key-logged data recorded on compromised computers by the gigabyte - like you and i might buy fruit and vegetables by the kilo. online bank access & credit card details for a uk account can be bought for as little as $5 each, if you know where to shop- even less if you're

buying in bulk. >>ferguson: i've seen european biometric passports being advertised for 2000 euros... biometric passports, available for delivery within 3-7 days, which is faster than a national passport agency. >>reporter: and as the risks grow, it seems that regulators are hard at work trying to push responsibilities forany breeches of security back onto the consumer. >>stephens: under new banking regulations if your account is attacked using information stolen from your machine, the onus is now upon you to prove that you had effective anti virus controls at the time. if you can't prove that, the bank is now entitled not to compensate you. >>reporter: on the flip side, in recent months we have seen some very positive aspects to this story. social networking sites like facebook and twitter have been used to spread information in places like moldova & iran, where government ramped up censorship after allegedly cheating in elections. in china thegovernment takes the power of twitter

and facebook so seriously that after ethnic riots in the western province, they attempted to stop people across the entire country from using the sites. >>abirached: the word taxidermy comes from the greek for arrangement of the skin. it's the art of mounting or reproducing dead animals for display. hugely popular in victorian times, taxidermy fell out of favour through the last century...but now it's making a comeback, with everyone from artists, to collectors and interior designers. and as demand rises...so do prices... >>reporter: it may be used to create a piece of art...or as the basis of a successful hire business... but whether it's for the interior of an east end eatery, a bar in hoxton, or a trendy soho boutique...taxidermy....is very much back in vogue... >>medina: there are no rules. people are taking advantage of buying

a good piece. it's like buying a good piece of jewellery. >>turner: the hire side which is mainly films, tv, magazines, photographers, artists, shops for shop displays.that is one area. then there's the collectors area, and interior designers. >>abdullah: we do get a lot of requests for photo shoots with fashion magazines and also fashion houses basically saying can we do shoots here?, because they like the environment and use the animals as part of the props really. >>: in east london taxidermy is scattered all around the studio of artist polly morgan along with art works in various stages of completion. >>morgan: there's definitely been a market for it. the works in the gallery sell for anything between, for a very small piece, for about 1000 pounds up to 30 thousands, maybe more for very large installations. >>reporter: out in essex, kim mcdonald has a more traditional take on taxidermy, and a more traditional clientele...

>>mcdonald: obviously we've got the shooting, hunting, fishing fraternity. we've got museums. private clients who are driving down the a1, see a dead tawny owl in the middle of the road, and think...that'll look nice on the tv. >>reporter: taxidermy's golden age was in victorian times...when it was seen as a way of bringing nature into the cities...but through the 20th century, the public's distaste toward killing animals for display purposes steadily rose. however, attitudes have changed... >>turner: the public have become more educated. they realise that actually taxidermy isn't about cruelty. nobody goes round killing animals to stuff them. not anymore >>reporter: because today no matter where you spy it, you can be almost certain that taxidermists and their clients have played a far less active role in their subjects demise... >>turner: in this country, a lot of taxidermy is roadkill. in fact most of its roadkill. or natural death. >>morgan: things fly into windows. cats bring things in. i just put

my feelers out really to everybody that i knew. >>reporter: before you fill your freezer with potential specimens though...you should be aware that with the exception of certain game creatures, any piece created after 1947, requires extensive documentation regarding its origins... >>turner: you wouldn't believe just how many guidelines there are. >>reporter: which is why kim mcdonald specialises in the legal aspect of the craft...providing a website, and first-hand advice on the myriad of taxidermy regulations.... >>mcdonald: there's a couple of handfuls of animals which you basically can shoot. game birds included, but whenit comes to things like owls, a blackbird, etc, you've got to notify everybody where you got that from. how it died, when it died and where it died. >>reporter: even the police come to mcdonald for advice on the origin of dubious pieces... >>mcdonald: nobody does an absolutely perfect job of cleaning something.

>>reporter: so you're like a taxidermy csi guy. >>mcdonald: yeah. you're a bit of a detective. you have a look and say yes, i think that's worthy of further investigation. >>reporter: industry statistics are few and far between, the number of registered taxidermists in the uk has remained fairly steady for the past 15 years, but if you are looking for an investment, auction houses have seen some pieces by well known victorian taxidermists increase ten fold in value over the past ten years. yet even for less known works, the demand and the money is definitely out there. >>medina: i sold a piece yesterday for 800 pounds >>turner: something like a crow might be 50 to hire for a week and something like a lion could be 750 quid fora week. >>reporter: how many pieces would you sell in a week? >>medina: i would think in a week 3 to 4 pieces. 3 to 4 pieces, yeah there's a market for it... >>reporter: a market that appears to be growing ever stronger...as more and more people simply succumb to an animal attraction.

>>abirached: historically polo may be the last bastion of aristocratic sport, but with a change of rules, a re-branding and a new city-based world series, polo is hoping to gallop headlong into the future >>reporter: welcome to the polo world series tour. faster, more intense and with professional teams from host cities battling it out on a smaller pitch. first stop, london. >>davies: this year is just london and what would like to do is add in two more cities next year, most likely geneva and rome. then we are going to add in india and the middle east and then expand into russia. we are going to add two cities each year, so the idea is to have 10 competing cities. it will be a city versus city championship ... it's great to work with the cities because you can work with the city's infrastructure and marketing budgets.

>>reporter: an ambitious goal for such an elitist sport, but the organisers are serious about the series and thebusiness behind the idea. >>davies: it's approximately about 2 million production budget for this first year, of which we probably expect to lose about $1 million on this year one. already we've had a keen response from sponsors and would hope to move into breakeven next year and then begin to grow the series and make profits from years three and four, so it's a serious commitment on my part. >>reporter: the hope is that this country sport can tap in to a new urban fan base by following the successful model of the shorter and hugely successful form of cricket 2020. >>milns: this is the first time that polo has been played on the hallowed grounds of the hurlingham club, thehome of polo, for over 70 years but the big question is can this new 2020 style format of the game really attract a wider audience? or is it doomed to remain an elitist pastime for the upper classes? >>kidd:

that's going to go and go and go and the more polo like this there is, it is just going to disappear. >>reporter: the plan is to make the sport more spectator-friendly. with cameras all around the ground, helmet cams and an innovative overhead camera, the crowd can follow all the action on the big screen. >>craig: it will bring people into the game, because when you're playing and also when the game is near you, you can hear the horses snorting, you can hear people colliding, you can hear the whip of the stick hitting the ball. >>reporter: and making the game more professional has certainly proved its potential to sponsors. >>lanson: i was approached around three months ago and when i saw the proposal and what potential of the polo match here i could not refuse. >>reporter: launching any event during a recession is always a risk, but the event pulled in 24000 spectators, including a near capacity 1000 corporate

guests per day. >>buckley: we originally thought around 1 to 200 would be the right number. in fact we've had almost 250 peoplecome and we could have doubled that number. >>kidd: people who want to learn to play polo don't have to have the fields and they don't have to have the house in the country and they don't have to have the horses. you can literally phone them up, rock down there and be a polo player by the afternoon. >>reporter: easily said when you are a rich model with an aristocratic background. polo may be becoming more affordable, but it is still the sport of princes. to really broaden its appeal will be hard work. but it does have one thing on its side, especially for the ladies.... >>smith: men in tight trousers and long boots and horses are my favourite thing so i can't really go wrong. next to the household cavalry this is top notch for me. >>reporter: top notch or not, for this sport to hit the spot for the masses is still very much a rarity...

>>abirached: that's it for this week's world business. thanks for watching. we'll see you again at the same time next week.