Sep27No Comments
Big ships do not always mean faster port handling
The maiden voyage of the 18,000 teu vessel Maersk Mc-Kinney Moller has been accompanied by much fanfare about record container handling productivity at various ports. Whilst it is generally true that larger vessels can facilitate faster port handling,...
Sep24No Comments
The Golden Age of Arabian Rail
Until recently the Arabian Peninsula had long been a backwater for rail development. Despite hosting the now-defunct Hejaz railway made famous by the exploits of Lawrence of Arabia, until 2009 the six states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (the GCC) –...
Sep21No Comments
Are Mega-Projects Really As Bad As Everyone Says?
Pity the mega-project – the white elephant, the boondoggle, never on time, always over budget. No one can build anything ambitious these days, it seems, without being second-guessed. Most recently, Brazil is being criticized for its $495 million, 70,000-seat...
Sep10No Comments
Will City Hall Torpedo the Port of Los Angeles?
LA WATCHDOG - The Port of Los Angeles is a major economic component of the Southern California economy, responsible, along with Port of Long Beach, for economic activity that supports over 900,000 jobs. However, the Port has run into strong headwinds...
Sep10No Comments
Smogtown: The Lung-Burning History of Pollution in Los Angeles
Smogtown isn’t a new book, but the conflicts covered in its last chapters are still breaking news. The LA Times’ Trash talk and the real dirt on a toxic tour of Los Angeles, just featured one of Smogtown‘s history makers, Communities for a Better...
Sep10No Comments
Megacities are the New Logistics Frontier
Delivering freight in a large, congested city such as Boston, U.S., with an estimated population of 636,000 people, is no easy task. But imagine the obstacle course that confronts drivers in São Paulo, Brazil, with a population of 20 million people....
Sep03No Comments
Longshore union pulls out of national AFL-CIO, citing attacks at Northwest grain terminals
The West Coast longshore union is pulling out of the national AFL-CIO, citing “attacks” in which the umbrella organization’s members blatantly cross picket lines at Northwest grain terminals. Robert “Big Bob” McEllrath, president...