My old roommate put it best...
"Who do the Americans actually think runs their country? How could they not know, I mean, like, who do they put in place of Jews as the people who run this country?"
Excellent question, because many cannot answer it.
The China Thread
- Thread starter God's lonely asperger
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My old roommate put it best...
"Who do the Americans actually think runs their country? How could they not know, I mean, like, who do they put in place of Jews as the people who run this country?"
Excellent question, because many cannot answer it.
^The setting on this bridge is spectacular, but the bridge itself is somewhat generic, as the main supports of that suspension bridge are not particularly high, it's just that there is a deep canyon below the main span.
In comparison the Millau bridge built in the south of France 20 years ago is a lot deeper (nearly 350m long legs) and much more spectacular as a structure.
The real impressive aspect of that Chinese bridge is that it only cost $290 million to build, that is amazing. A project like this in N America would cost about 10 times as much, at least.
In comparison the Millau bridge built in the south of France 20 years ago is a lot deeper (nearly 350m long legs) and much more spectacular as a structure.
The real impressive aspect of that Chinese bridge is that it only cost $290 million to build, that is amazing. A project like this in N America would cost about 10 times as much, at least.
Even easier when they replace their own high IQ/hard working people with 80 IQ third world immigrants and everything falls apart.
Thank Goodness for Trump then. He's trying to put a stop to this.
Is he?
That is some skill (most people don't know how hard that is) I bet she has an awesome dad.
But back to the topic.
China was already gunning for the Northern Sea Route, even without this hassle with Poland. Maritime shipping, while more expensive for a single container, is much more profitable than road and rail in the grand scheme of things - a single truck can carry up to 2 TEU (twenty-foot equivalent units), a EU compliant freight train around 150 TEU, while containerships can carry tens of thousands of TEU (the Arctic Express service will use "smaller" ships: "Istanbul Bridge" which departed China last week carries only up to 4,900 TEU).
China Expands Global Trade Network with Launch of First ‘Arctic Express’ Container Service
Around a decade after shipping giant COSCO sent its first merchant ship across Russia’s Northern Sea Route, Chinese operator Sealegend is looking to make history with the launch of the first “Arctic Express” – an 18-day routing from Ningbo, China to Felixstowe, UK.gcaptain.com
"Istanbul Bridge" the first ship of the new Arctic Express line made it to Europe.
Chinese Containership ‘Istanbul Bridge’ Reaches UK via Arctic Route in Record 20 Days
Chinese containership Istanbul Bridge arrived at the UK’s largest terminal Felixstowe early on October 13. The Panamax vessel completed the 7,500 nautical mile voyage via the Arctic Northern Sea Route in just 20 days. A comparable voyage through the Suez Canal measures 11,000 nautical miles and...
gcaptain.com
No way through winter (which is 9 months up there) unless the Russians are willing to give them a private icebreaker per ship.
Nah, this voyage was completed solo - it's still the summer navigation season (July-October).
Doable year-round under certain conditions like the ship's ice class and icebreaker activity.
They generally try to run convoys - one icebreaker is paving the way for more than one ship (helps mitigate the costs).
They had price controls on some staples when I lived there.
I was always curious about the Chinese banking system at the top levels, but because of the difficulty of getting reliable information, I never really looked to deeply into it, although I know some trivia. I was there when they fluctuated their exchange rate to the dollar quite a bit from 2005-2008 between 6-8 RMB : 1 USD if I remember correctly. From memory, it then stayed at around 6½ RMB : 1 USD for quite some time, pretty much until covid, while HK never changed at 7.7 HKD : 1 USD.
There is so little trust in their system that at whatever branch you open your account, you have to always return to that exact branch in order to do anything significant. When I was there, you could not even transfer a small amount of money, even 100 RMB, from let's say a Bank of China branch in Guangzhou to a Bank of China branch in the next city over, Shenzhen.
How does the Chinese monetary system and banking system work? Is it a normal model, just disconnected from the Western one?
The branch thing is similar in some European countries, for example France. I think in China though things might have changed, in that a lot of the financial transactions can be handled thought the main apps.
I'm aware of that, but is that sustainable year round?
It's technically feasible. Definitely in winter, although I have some doubts about spring when the ice begins to drift - no icebreaker will save a ship from an iceberg.
But whether it's financially sustainable is another matter. I recall that some Russian LNG shipments from the Arctic had to be subsidized. As for Chinese containerships? I'd guess it depends on the cargo value.