With the Panama threat, California ports are focused on
becoming models of efficiency

THE LA-Long Beach port complex faces the prospect of decline with the opening of an expanded Panama Canal this year. This will allow vessels triple the current size to transit the waterway with cargo between northeast Asia and the east coast of the United States.
California port officials realise the magnitude of any potential shift in container trade depends on whether they restore shipper confidence so shattered by last year's go-slows by dockers on the US west coast during contract talks.
The twin ports have rebounded from the depths of the 2014-15 congestion crisis, writes Eric Kulisch in American Shipper. At the beginning of last year, Los Angeles and Long Beach suffered throughput declines between 20 per cent and 23 per cent, with container dwell-times of 2.5 to 3.5 days.  >More
 

Whither free trade when cries of Progressive Protectionism
arise up left and right?

AS the global economy continues to face tough times, governments are increasingly playing politics with trade and giving in to protectionism. So proponents under the rubric of "progressive protectionism", say it is the way to go, writes Robert Plummer on the BBC business website.
Others, of course. is agree entirely starting with, China's top promoter of foreign trade, Wan Jifei, said rising protectionism was having a negative impact.
"Trade protectionism is shortsighted and narrow-minded, and it cannot fundamentally address the problems of unemployment and economic growth worldwide," said Mr Wan, former president of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.  >More
 

Canadian Pacific's transcontinental train dream will never
was run out of track

CANADIAN Pacific CEO Hunter Harrison and activist investor Bill Ackman didn't expect so much resistance to their proposed takeover of Norfolk Southern, but some say they should have know better.
That is the view of Brooke Sutherland, writing a Bloomberg Commentary of the railway deal that never was is officially not happening. Canadian Pacific, the US$21 billion railway backed by Bill Ackman, finally called off it pursuit after months of dogged wooing of its American counterpart Norfolk Southern.
It's a bit of a formality really after a series of underwhelming and increasingly desperate-looking bids elicited only a cold shoulder from Norfolk Southern.  >More
 

Driverless trucks promise great cost savings and will
automate millions of jobs away

NO technology will automate away more jobs - or drive more economic efficiency - than the driverless truck, says Ryan Petersen, CEO of Flexport, the San Francisco "forwarder for the Internet age" .
Writing an article for his own Flexport website, Mr Petersen said that shipping a full truckload from LA to New York costs US$4,500, with labour representing 75 per cent of that cost.
"But those labour savings aren't the only gains to be had from the adoption of driverless trucks," he said.
"Where drivers are restricted by law from driving more than 11 hours per day without taking an eight hour break, a driverless truck can drive nearly 24 hours per day. >More