Unfortunately, while the widening of the canal may help worldwide commerce as a whole, it will probably put a significant dent in U.S. and Canadian railroad profits. Little known to most folks, the Pacific Rim shippers currently use North America as a "land bridge" for containers destined for Europe and other parts of the Mediterranean area. Container ships unload at ports in Southern Cal. and in the Vancouver area of Canada, load them onto railroad "well cars," where they are hauled to the East Coast where they are once again loaded onto ships destined to the Continent. I live just a few miles from both Union Pacific and BNSF tracks and frequently get stuck at grade crossings while waiting for long container freights to pass. I expect there will be an impact on labor (dock workers, etc.) and the railroads will have to try to pull some rabbits out of their magic hats in order to compete against whatever the Panama Canal Authority charges for passage fees.
On Tuesday, December 29, 2015 at 6:42:27 AM UTC-6, islaysteve wrote: > > Last night I watched an episode of Modern Marvels on the History Channel > about the incredible construction project to "widen" the Panama Canal > accomodate the larger super container ships. It wasn't until they were > showing how the 100 ft-high steel lock gates were constructed and moved > (from Italy!) that I realized that earlier in the day I had been walking > along a 180-year-old canal which had thick wood gates and was operated by > men and mules. It was a bit of a moment, maybe you had to be there! > > Riv content: I was checking out the condition of the towpath from > Vioette's Lock northward for a ride (hopefully) later this week; and > getting some exercise. I will ride my Bleriot. Also, near the end of the > show, someone was talking about how the larger canal will change worldwide > commerce. Meaning I suppose, that more goods from Asia will be shipped > directly to our East Coast, rather than shipping to the West and traveling > overland to the East. (And vice versa for European goods.) Since some of > Riv's goods come from Taiwan, and a great deal of other bicycles and > bicycle components also come from Taiwan and other Asian countries, I > wonder how this may affect the industry that we are all concerned with > here. > Cheers, Steve > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
