Bloomberg (March 3)
There is a “big problem with China’s bridge and tunnel addiction.” It looks unsustainable. “China spent more than $10.8 trillion on infrastructure from 2006 to 2015…. Outlays for roads, airports, ports, railways, and the like rose 17.4 percent last year, far outpacing the country’s 6.7 percent expansion in gross domestic product.” To maintain the pace, Beijing is promoting public-private partnerships (PPP), but these look “unstable.”
Tags: Addiction, Airports, Bridge, China, GDP, Infrastructure, Ports, PPP, Railways, Roads, Tunnel, Unstable
Los Angeles Times (December 29)
“In an effort to move more cargo on less fuel, ocean freight carriers are in a race to build megaships with much larger capacities than the typical ships calling at U.S. ports. The average container ship being built now is nearly three times the size of the average a decade ago.”
Tags: Cargo, Container ship, Fuel, Megaships, Ocean freight, Ports, Race, Size
Washington Post (May 27)
“China is attempting to steal a march on its neighbors by rapidly constructing airstrips, ports and other infrastructure on reclaimed land in one of the most sensitive maritime areas in Asia—one with multiple overlapping sovereignty claims. While it probably cannot be stopped, the project should be fully exposed—and China’s attempts to restrict air and sea traffic near its installations decisively rejected.”
Tags: Airstrips, Asia, China, Infrastructure, Ports, Reclaimed land, Sovereignty claims
Bloomberg (February 5)
Slowdowns at West Coast ports have already disrupted the operations of Honda, Subaru, Toyota and McDonalds. Now it looks like the “union-led work slowdowns could shut the U.S. West Coast’s 29 ports in five to 10 days” unless a new contract deal is accepted. Excepting Toyota, all of the mentioned companies have resorted to the expensive airlifting of some cargo.
Tags: Airlifting, Cargo, Honda, McDonald's, Ports, Slowdowns, Subaru, Toyota, U.S., Union, West Coast
