The Economist
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Pain of austerity gets personal
The global economy is trying to recover from the Great Recession with varying medicines being applied. The United States, sequestration aside, continues with an expansionary policy supported by the Federal Reserve. Japan’s new Prime Minister, Abe is going all out for government-led expansion and many of the Asian countries are following suit, including China. 24 Apr 2013 - Port Strategy
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Tariff war stirs up European tension
The economics of austerity are impacting the ports and terminals of Europe. Cargo volumes are declining, both in the container and bulk trades. As with the rest of the shipping industry, we are seeing increased price competition as capacity goes up. 14 Mar 2013 - Port Strategy
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End of the world is nigh
The world did not end on December 21st as the believers in the Mayan calendar believed that it would. So, now the focus should be on economic development and the expectation that growth is inevitable. Consumption is always on an upward path barring a few hiccups aptly named recessions. 10 Jan 2013 - Port Strategy
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Austerity's long reach
Travelling through Asia makes one realise how small the world really is. The economic crisis in Europe and the slow recovery in the US are impacting the Asian economies to an extent that the Great Recession did not manage to do. 05 Dec 2012 - Port Strategy
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The right time to invest
The market is full of news reports of investments and potential investments being made by terminal operators, ship owners and operators. Can this be true when we are in an environment of declining growth in Europe, slowing economic activity in Asia and flat lining in the US? 08 Nov 2012 - Port Strategy
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Europe is not alone in its economic despair
Reading the economic press brings no joy; it makes for depressing reading. I am struggling to find signs of growth or optimism as they are both few and far between. It used to be so much simpler. 04 Oct 2012 - Port Strategy
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Falling well short of disaster
The height of the summer vacations are taking their toll across European production and consumption as factories shut down and workers headed for the beaches or mountains. 23 Aug 2012 - Port Strategy
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Time to batten down the hatches
The good news is that Greece is not dropping out of the Eurozone immediately as the conservatives have managed to create a government, the first in over 200 days. 28 Jun 2012 - Port Strategy
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Shifting the centre of gravity
It can be said that the centre of gravity for shipping has been in Europe for at least the last two centuries. All the great fleets came out of Europe to conquer the world. This extended to the commercial world as well with the liner and bulk carrier fleets primarily under European ownership. 21 Jun 2012 - Port Strategy
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How long is a piece of string?
One of the challenges of ports and carriers is how to define their capacity. For container ships we have been introduced to the terms 'nominal' and 'effective' capacity as well as 'weighting out', and on the landside we have all sorts of measures. 03 May 2012 - Port Strategy
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Memory loss the bane of the industry
If someone suffers from memory loss or senility, then the shipping industry is where to be. The industry bounces from crisis to euphoria and then appears to forget how it got there, but as the events will be repeated every two to four years we do not need much of a memory. 22 Mar 2012 - Port Strategy
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Red-Med railway pipe dream
The Israeli government has approved the construction of a railway line from the Port of Eilat to the national railway grid, linking it to the Mediterranean ports of Ashdod and Haifa. 07 Mar 2012 - Port Strategy
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A bad dose of post-holiday blues
Never let it be said that economists are an optimistic bunch; we have a tendency to look for the downside in statistics, looking for reasons to scale things back to suggest that there is worse to come. 01 Feb 2012 - Port Strategy
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Western malaise only mildly infectious
The West consumes, the East produces, the population split is 1 billion vs 6 billion, and yet it seems strange that when the former catches a cold we expect the latter to sicken as well. The reality is quite different. 04 Jan 2012 - Port Strategy
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Financial roulette: the new game in town
It seems to me, as an interested observer, that the western hemisphere is in a gambling mood. There is a lot of hedging and slight of hand going on in the supposed rescue of the European banking system and Greece. 02 Nov 2011 - Port Strategy