[GreenYes] declining waste volumes

["Helen Spiegelman" <hspie@no.address>]

Hi all ~

I heard anecdotally that waste volumes in Alameda County (California) are
declining and this is being attributed to the economic slump. Is anyone
else seeing this?

Helen
(Vancouver, BC)

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Economic Tremors in the West Reach China
 
Quote from Article:  "The slump in traffic to the West Coast of the United States is hitting the massive Yantian container terminal operated by Hutchison Whampoa. It is suffering volume declines for the first time. A majority of Yantian's traffic is from shipping lines servicing routes to North America, where demand has been driven down by the American property slump and dwindling consumption of household consumer goods. It is expected to report a drop in volumes for the first half, having declined for five consecutive months."
 
Link to entire article:
 
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/transport/article4368529.ece
 

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Sea Freight News ? Orders for Container Ships continue to fall

 
 

 
Orders for new container ships are drying up as vessel charter rates and ocean freight rates tumble and volume growth slows on key liner trade routes. The collapse in orders, which has affected all ship sizes, follows five straight years of historically high deliveries. Only 179 container ships were contracted in the first eight months of this year, down 49 percent from the same period last year, Clarkson said. This compares with a record 566 contracts in 2005, 479 in 2006 and 530 in 2007.  Container ship contracting has been hit by "a good old double whammy" of slowing trade volume and rising shipyard prices.
 
http://www.supplychainasia.com/industry-news/sea-freight-news-orders-for-container-ships-continue-to-fall.html
 

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Financial Crisis Has Tide Rising on Shipping ETFs

Container ships are idle because of lowered U.S. demand for goods.

Commodity carriers are going to be hit the hardest with the tightening credit markets, along with dry bulk, where many of the vessels ordered were going toward.

Link to Article:  http://www.etftrends.com/2008/10/tifinancial-crisis-tide-rising-shipping-etfs.html

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Ship Rates Plunge as Credit Freeze Strands Cargo, Demand Slumps

By Alaric Nightingale and Chan Sue Ling

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- Commodity shipping rates plunged to the lowest in more than five years as a lack of trade finance left cargoes stranded and the global economic slowdown limited raw material demand.

Traders are finding it harder to get letters of credit that guarantee payments for goods, shipping executives said. Together with a slowdown in trade, that has contributed to this year's 82 percent drop in shipping costs for grain, coal and other commodities. Rates are so low that Zodiac Maritime Agencies Ltd., the line managed by Israel's billionaire Ofer family, announced today it may idle 20 of its largest ships.

``Letters of credit and the credit lines for trade currently are frozen,'' Khalid Hashim, managing director of Precious Shipping Pcl, Thailand's second-largest shipping company, said in Singapore yesterday. ``Nothing is moving because the trader doesn't want to take the risk of putting cargo on the boat and finding that nobody can pay.''

The Baltic Dry Index fell 11 percent today to 1,615, the lowest since February 2003. Rates for larger ships of the type Zodiac intends to idle fell 17 percent today, taking this year's plunge to 85 percent, according to the London-based Baltic Exchange.

Banks are leery of financing commodities and shipping transactions. Rio Tinto Group, the world's second-largest aluminum producer, may delay the planned sale of $10 billion of assets and Sterlite Industries (India) Ltd. shelved its $2.6 billion purchase of Asarco LLC. Ship owners can't find cash to finance the construction of new ships.

Link to Article:

 http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/newspid=20601087&sid=alFFUQ8a.WZM&refer=home

 

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