Land Bridge

[Kinman]

A friend of mine is a "train driver" or what we used to call a railroad engineer. He told me the other day that the US is the land bridge that China uses to transport their junk to Eastern US markets and onto Europe. According to him their cargo ships are too large for the Panama Canal so they use the US as a land bridge to transport across country to the Atlantic...If that ain't food for thought. I haven't taken the time to fully check it out, made sense from my limited prospective. He said if you see a railcar go by with any container marked HANJIN, your looking at the reality. Maybe I've been in the dark too long or it really doesn't matter anyway. My FIL was a ship's captain for APL, he talked about the global market all the time and most of his predictions have come to pass. Foreign flags run most of the shipping anymore.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Your friend's hypothesis might be a bit dated.
Expansion of the Panama Canal now allows passage for 97 percent of all cargo ships.
China is also creating arctic shipping and ice breaking capabilities to take advantage of more ice-free polar conditions along with shorter routes.
They have also created rail links to Europe called the Belt and Road Initiative.


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[Rudi]

China has big plans and they play the LONG game.

 

[SMSgt]

China has big plans and they play the LONG game.

And will roll with whatever/whomever is to its advantage.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I’ve seen some long 1-2 miles long trains on the E-W transcontinental railroad here in NM.
Usually mostly containers, don’t know where they are going.

 

[oldbrownhat]

... He said if you see a railcar go by with any container marked HANJIN, your looking at the reality....

Interesting. I see Hanjin railcars in the trains that rumble through my town here in near-coastal BC. No doubt off-loaded in Vancouver and heading east.

 

[Old 44 Guy]

Please note; China now have possession of both ends of the canal.

 

[pharmer]

"On 2 September 2016 Hanjin Shipping Co. filed papers in U.S. Bankruptcy court in Newark, New Jersey that would allow its vessels to dock without its ships, cargo or equipment being confiscated by creditors.

Shortly after its receivership, experts predicted Hanjin Shipping was likely to be liquidated.[6] In the following months, Hanjin Shipping announced it would shut down offices around the world,[7] lay-off workers,[8][9] sell remaining assets,[10] and discontinue most services.

On 17 February 2017, Hanjin Shipping Co. was declared bankrupt by South Korean courts, with a court order to be liquidated."

From the Wiki. Not saying the "land bridge" thing is bogus just this outfit ain't doing it. Joe

 

[steelslaver]

Rail cars and containers just being heavy duty trailers it will be a long time before any new owners will repaint the ones marked HANJIN. The graffiti artist are more likely to paint over the name

 

[Beemerguy53]

Looking at my handy-dandy globe, it makes sense that going across the USA is a direct route from Asia to Europe.

Commerce these days is truly global, and we all benefit from it. Think of the jobs that our "land bridge" creates for Americans all across our nation.
Tugboat crewmen, longshoremen, employees of shipping companies, truck drivers, truck stop employees, truck salesmen and mechanics, railroad workers, insurance companies, fuel companies, etc., etc...

I think there's another benefit to global commerce as well: it lessens the likelihood of war between nations. Countries don't usually attack their trading partners, or risk doing things that will jeopardize their entire economies. I think it's safe to say our "land bridge" here helps to protect the independence of Taiwan...

 

[sophie]

I’ve seen some long 1-2 miles long trains on the E-W transcontinental railroad here in NM.
Usually mostly containers, don’t know where they are going.

I seen a train loaded with containers about 6 months ago and it had 3 lead locomotives and midway the train had another 3 locomotives and none bringing up the tail end of the train. Longest train I believe I’ve seen. Told my neighbor (RR Engineer) it must have been 3 miles long. He said when the train has 3 locomotives in the middle like that the train is 16,000 feet long. Yep, that’s 3 miles long. I’ve not seen another train with locomotives in the middle again.

 

[Jon651]

Looking at my handy-dandy globe, it makes sense that going across the USA is a direct route from Asia to Europe.

Commerce these days is truly global, and we all benefit from it. Think of the jobs that our "land bridge" creates for Americans all across our nation.
Tugboat crewmen, longshoremen, employees of shipping companies, truck drivers, truck stop employees, truck salesmen and mechanics, insurance companies, fuel companies, etc., etc...

I think there's another benefit to global commerce as well: it lessens the likelihood of war between nations. Countries don't usually attack their trading partners, or risk doing things that will jeopardize their entire economies. I think it's safe to say our "land bridge" here helps to protect the independence of Taiwan...

Very good points here. I also personally believe that China will be looking northward to expand into the eastern reaches of Russia if Russia falls apart. That's not an original thought on my part, but it does make sense from the Chinese perspective.

 

[Beemerguy53]

Baltimore is home to two very large shipping ports: Dundalk Marine Terminal, which ships and receives mostly vehicles, and Seagirt Marine Terminal, which is a container shipping facility.

The two facilities are right next to each other, in the southeastern corner of Baltimore, close to I-95. All of us who live and work in this region see container trucks and car carriers on our highways daily. Rail lines into and out of the area are similarly filled with containers and car carriers, headed all across the United States.

Both Dundalk and Seagirt are owned and operated by the Maryland Port Administration, which is a state agency. The links below are for the MPA pages for each terminal...click on the hyperlinked topics below the photos for statistics on each site. I can't even begin to imagine the number of jobs in this area that depend upon foreign trade...

(Fun facts to know and tell: Dundalk Marine Terminal used to be Baltimore's airport, known as Harbor Field, before it was replaced by Friendship Airport, now known as Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, or BWI.)

Pages - Dundalk Marine Terminal

Pages - Terminals: Seagirt Marine Terminal

Baltimore Municipal Airport - Wikipedia

 

[bluetopper]

From China to Europe, why go across the ocean at all?

 

[bigwheelzip]

From China to Europe, why go across the ocean at all?

Sending a container from China to Europe by rail cost twice as much as by ship, but gets there in half the time.


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[Marshwheeling]

China has big plans and they play the LONG game.

And they are inscrutable.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

The Freight Railroad Town in NM is Belen.
Going East, the trains climb out of the Rio Grande Valley through some foothills.
When they reach Mountainair, they are out on the Flat!
The Highway East of Mountainair parallels the Railroad and that’s I’ve seen the long Trains.
Usually several Motors pulling and a few pushing, but don’t recall seeing a Motor in the middle.