The New Yorker – Page 8
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NewsOpinion Barry Parker New Yorker
Sitting in the front row at Port Industry Day, held in New York in the auditorium aboard Intrepid, my head began to ache from the sheer complexity of solving infrastructure problems, on a grand scale. Indeed, Surface Transport funding, now expired, has been extended on a month-to-month basis.
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NewsNew Yorker OPINION, October '09 issue
There is a fine line between great foresight and lemming-like marches, so which camp do the major container carriers fall into, as they continue to support their orders of dozens of mega-ships, booked at prices of circa $100-$130m each?
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"New Yorker" Opinion- for Sept issue
The whole issue of public-private-partnerships (PPP), and privatisations will be vociferously debated in Virginia, as the state (technically, a "Commonwealth") evaluates three proposals that could potentially shift port operation to the private sector.
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New Yorker Opinion- June 2009 issue
Later this year, the US Congress will re-authorise the fuelling of surface transportation by the beleaguered Highway Trust fund. At a time that the Obama camp has now mandated even more improvements in fleet efficiencies, it''s clear that there must be a better way to fund infrastructure in the US.
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Barry Parker Opinion submission May 5 2009
It usually takes an oil spill, collision or, lately, a pirate attack, for maritime stories to make the front pages of newspaper, or the top of the hour on prime time TV news.
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New Yorker April Opinion
Public-private partnerships (PPP) are back in the news. In March, at a time when reports of slower trade growth continued to mount, reports of two fresh US port privatisations (one agreed upon, one at the proposal stage) emerged.
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Barry Parker March 2009 Opinion
As details on the newly passed US Stimulus package emerge, it''s clear that shovel-ready and job-creating projects will have a leg up in gaining Federal funding.
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Barry Parker- Opinion March 2009
Difficult economic times bring out the worst in protectionist tendencies and as the new US Administration works towards a vital economic stimulus package, it is searching for a footing on trade policy.
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NewsOpinion- February 2009
Normally, this column is devoted to craft that are designed to float. This time, the recent incident in New York City, where a commercial airplane successfully glided to a safe water landing on the Hudson River (the major artery separating New York and New Jersey) has inspired a different perspective.
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NewsDecember 2008 USA "New Yorker" opinion
After what seemed like an eternity, the results of the 2008 US elections are now known. Even though the new Obama administration actually takes office in late January 2009, transition planning is in full force.
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NewsBarry Parker opinion Oct 20-2008
Infrastructure is a good investment: if there is any doubt about that, look to reports of the Panama Canal Authority securing multi-lateral bank funding of $2.3bn.
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Barry Parker USA Opinion
Port Strategy articles on financial subjects, including a few I have written, invariably include some mention of public-private partnerships, which have enabled ports around the world to modernise and cope with increases in trade flows. Each mention of PPP is a tacit acknowledgement that the private sector (with proper oversight) ...
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NewsBarry Parker opinion Sept t 2008
The election season is in full swing; with the official nominating conventions, the "presumptive candidates" will become their parties'' true nominees. While analysts believe that it will be a "Democratic year", ie Barrack Obama could win, political campaigns have a habit of twisting, turning and surprising.
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NewsBarry Parker - opinion submit July/Aug
Port workers in 29 ports along the US West Coast (including approximately 20,000 in Los Angeles/ Long Beach) refused, at the start of July, to extend an earlier contract and are now negotiating with the Pacific Maritime Association on a new agreement while continuing to work.
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Opinion Piece- USA
The designation of "hands-on manager" is not always a compliment; it''s sometimes used derisively to describe someone who somehow advanced from the docks (or other "blue collar" work) up the rungs of the executive ladder.
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NewsU.S. Opinion- Barry Parker
In the past month, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) announced its intention to work with the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Federal agency tasked with channel maintenance and deepening, on a detailed study of the Bayonne Bridge.
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Barry Parker April 2008 OPINION
An old aphorism teaches that measuring trade flows and shipping rates are a way to take the pulse of an industrial economy. As we are reminded with daily declines in stock market indicators and decreases in employment, the patient has not been doing so well lately. In New York, for ...
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NewsBarry Parker USA Opinion piece
Suddenly, here in the US, we find ourselves in an election year, with the campaign trail full of twists and turns: the only real expectation is to "expect the unexpected".
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Barry Parker- Opinion Piece
The tumult in worldwide financial markets has been a headline-grabber in recent weeks, with shares of listed shipping companies joining in the ebbing tide of "systemic risk".
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Opinion from the US (for Dec issue)
Last month, the US Maritime Administration (MARAD) gathered a group of bankers and carriers in New York for an important Roundtable Conference on Port and Infrastructure Investment. Rather than showcasing the same tired talk about the same intractable problems, this conference provided a set of fresh perspectives.
