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When elected leaders decide to look the other way from… ya know… the matters that actually matter to us, we find out about the kinds of people America has in its reserve stock. Yes, the supply chain is a mess; but we’ve got all three hosts to chat with Ryan Peterson, CEO of Flexport, who hopes to fix it. (Take a look at what is likely the first-ever viral tweetstorm on shipping logistics, as well as his children’s book to educate youngsters about the machines that power the world they inhabit!)
The gang ask Ryan about his boat tour of the Long Beach port complex to see for himself what’s got us so backed up. He gets us into the nooks and crannies of his industry; how the pandemic has showed its weak points, his ideas for innovating it; and, naturally, the regulatory burdens that slow it all down.
Also, the guys spar about the importance of the Rittenhouse trial; they talk gas prices and inflation; plus, Rob gives us a view from France.
Music from this week’s podcast: Ship of Fools by World Party
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I was in Charleston last Saturday and got a look at the Ports Authority’s brand new (March 2021) terminal from the highway coming and going. There are five big cranes, but no signs of movement, apparently due to legal argument over who gets to operate them, port authority staff or unions. Good timing, longshoremen! The union is asking for and expecting support from Resident Biden because they know his priorities are also warped.
Anyway, because of this and other news (Ginormous new cranes arriving!) there is lots of cool video out there related to this week’s topic.
America’s first container terminal to open in more than a decade: http://scspa.com/locations/hugh-k-leatherman-terminal/
Big new cranes:
http://scspa.com/news/sc-ports-welcomes-two-ship-to-shore-cranes-to-wando-welch-terminal/
“The ship-to-shore cranes, produced by Shanghai-based ZPMC, arrived in Charleston Harbor on Wednesday aboard the Zhen Hua 35.” Hey! Maybe we can reverse engineer these suckers!
Lots of numbers on costs and capacities, construction shots, drone shots, operations shots:
http://scspa.com
If LA and Long Beach brought you down, this upbeat video will make you feel better:
http://scspa.com/news/sc-ports-ceo-highlights-capacity-in-13th-state-of-the-port-address/
My recollection is that the NYC subway was mostly private until the late 1920s, when they asked for a rate increase. So the city took them over “to Save the Five Cent Fare!!!”
Because, as everybody was quite sure at the time, government could lower the costs by getting rid of “wasteful competition”.
Years ago, I read somewhere that the true cost of a ride on the subway was over $8. I’m guessing it’s more like $12 today, if not even more.
Just wondering, how much do you think it would “cost” if the subway system were private, or if there were no subway system at all and everyone had to get around on the surface streets? Maybe if you took the cost of the streets – new construction, maintenance, etc – and divided by the number of people using them, the “rate” would look cheap, but if everyone is stuck in traffic and can’t get anywhere, does that matter?