Free Republic

Why is China’s huge toll road system running massive losses despite billions of income from toll fees? It’s another strategy devised by the communist regime to siphon wealth from the public, says Cai Shenkun, a well-known Chinese economist and blogger.The Chinese state operates the largest toll road system in the world. Toll roads across the country collect more than 400 billion yuan (US$60 billion) each year. But strangely, this profitable monopoly industry reports huge losses year after year. According to recently released data by China’s Ministry of Transportation, revenue from toll roads was 409.78 billion yuan in 2015 while operating...

Prematurely accelerating the implementation of fully autonomous trucking (no driver in the cab) seems like an idea that could be fraught with risk. While driverless long-haul trucks have the potential to increase economic productivity by enabling more cost-effective transport of goods, the technology is not yet ready for prime time. There is growing pressure, however, to make it a reality sooner rather than later – particularly as long-distance trucking faces a worsening driver shortage. At the same time, highway infrastructure in many parts of the country is clearly inadequate even for today’s traffic, let alone a mixed bag of driven...

Stoodley's Tavern, Portsmouth NH, as it appears today. Here, on 13 December 1774, after a miserable day's ride of 65 miles through a snowstorm, is where Paul Revere delivered the news of British troop movements which led to the seizure by local patriots of the powder and arms at Fort William and Mary. Politico promises us that: "Obama set to unveil curbs on gun sellers: Executive actions expected next week will be part of the president's new year push to make progress on long-stalled problems before the 2016 presidential election heats up."In addition, we are told -- "Coming Soon:...

WikiLeaks is in the process of publishing more than 500,000 Saudi diplomatic documents to the Internet, the transparency website said Friday, a move that echoes its famous release of U.S. State Department cables in 2010. WikiLeaks said in a statement that it has already posted roughly 60,000 files. Most of them appear to be in Arabic. There was no immediate way to verify the authenticity of the documents, although WikiLeaks has a long track record of hosting large-scale leaks of government material. Many of the documents carried green letterhead marked "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia" or "Ministry of Foreign Affairs." Some...

Rep. John Delaney was in Hagerstown Wednesday to pitch his proposal for long-term funding of transportation and other infrastructure projects by repatriating the overseas earnings of American corporations. "There hasn't been anything really transformative to put a lot of money into infrastructure," Delaney, D-Md., told a small group of businesspeople at Bulls & Bears restaurant. He pointed out that the federal gas tax — the primary source of revenue for the Highway Trust Fund — has not been increased since the early 1990s, in part, because it is politically unpopular. It also is a regressive tax that hits lower-income people...

Researchers based in Norway believe that in around 10 years time cargo ships will have the technology to sail the seas without the need of a captain or crew. Marintek, part of the SINTEF group based in Norway, is one of a number of partners working on developing systems which can operate without the need for humans. The "Seatonomy" project is looking to have ships sailing without human crews in the next 10 to 20 years. The 12 million kroner ($1.9 million) research investment by SINTEF could actually improve ship safety as human error causes more than 75 percent of...

Five years ago talent was plentiful, companies could easily recruit for supply chain planners, and it was easier to recruit supply chain graduates - Not so today. The biggest issues are in mid-management roles. Let’s examine some of the facts from recent research. Today, 60% of companies have open positions. Fifteen percent of the planning positions are open for an average time of five months. An IBM surveys report that 51% of companies are seeing an increase in turnover of supply chain leaders. Have I convinced you yet to be worried? If so, let’s start working on an answer. Let...

... One of the first considerations is cost: is it worth the trouble and expense to ship a given item home? A quick trip around the yard reveals hundreds of white four foot by four-foot cardboard containers called “kicker boxes,” each of which costs about $5,000. They are used to ship equipment back to the U.S. As Pagan rummaged through a random box, he pulled out several small pieces of gear worth about $20,000 each. Many of the boxes, he explained, can contain as much as $200,000 worth of equipment. As retrograde has become a larger focus, these sorting operations...

The experimental four-legged, pack-hauling robots aren’t gonna be ready for duty at the front anytime soon. So the Army is considering a big step backward in front-line logistics. In place of the ultra-sophisticated BigDog cargo ‘bots that have been slowly trudging their way through the development process, the ground-combat branch wants more flesh-and-blood mules and donkeys. The Army is even considering the revival of a long-defunct headquarters, the “Animal Corps,” to oversee the four-legged recruits. The goal is to take some of the weight off soldiers’ backs during long war-zone foot patrols. In Afghanistan, it’s not uncommon for soldiers to...

Logistics is not sexy - it is tedious and boring to most people. Logistics is also the essential component to any military operations. “Amateurs talk tactics, professionals talk logistics.” Without the beans, boots, and bullets – combat operations are impossible. The Iraqi Army [IA] is organized on a modified US Army structure while the Ministry of Interior [MoI] paramilitary forces - the Federal Police [FP] and Department of Border Enforcement [DBE] are organized more on Italian Carabinarie structure. Both structures normally have support, transport, and maintenance components at each level: ----break---- The IA has built about 40 percent of its...

Japanese Industry Suffers Massive Damage The massive earthquake that hit the northeastern region of Japan on Friday dealt a hard blow to almost all the country's industries from manufacturing to logistics. Not only did an explosion at a nuclear power plant result in disruption to electricity supply but ports, roads and railways in the northeast also sustained heavy damage. The manufacturing industry may suffer worse-than-expected losses as many companies have making increasing investment in the Miyagi Prefecture, which was hardest hit by the disaster. Taking advantage of cheaper labor than in centers like Tokyo and Osaka and closer proximity to...

After months of contentious of disagreement, the U.S. Air Force is coming around to agreeing with U.S. Navy claims that the F-35 will cost much more to maintain, rather than (as the F-35 promoters assert) less. It was a year ago that the U.S. Navy, after nervously watching as the manufacturing costs of the new F-35C and F-35B carrier aircraft increase, concluded that these aircraft would also be a lot more expensive to maintain. It comes down to this. Currently, it costs the navy, on average, $19,000 an hour to operate its AV-8 vertical takeoff or F-18C fighter aircraft. The...

Israel wants the Obama administration and Lockheed-Martin Company to set up a US-run logistics and maintenance center for the F-35 Lightning II fighter jet in the Negev, reports "Defense News", quoting US and Israeli government and industry sources. Lockheed-Martin is the chief contractor for the F-35, which is due to become the next-generation mainstay of the Israel Air Force. Defense News" says that Israeli officials consider construction of a large logistics center to be a critical factor for independent operational capabilities, especially since airports and seaports are liable to be targets of rocket and missile attacks in a war. Ministry...

The IDF has revealed a new strategy designed to secure the army's weapons and ammunition in case of war. Over the past two years, the army has been shifting equipment in order to keep it secure. The policy was revealed by head of IDF Logistics Brigadier-General Nissim Peretz on Wednesday in a conference at the Institute for National Security Studies. Top commanders looked into various methods of protecting supplies, and ultimately decided that fortification was not the answer, Peretz said. The new strategy will allow the IDF access to supplies in case of war while protecting equipment from targeted strikes,...

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2010 – With 60 percent of the surge force, along with their equipment and supplies, yet to be delivered to Afghanistan by President Barack Obama’s August deadline, the commander charged with making it happen said he has assured commanders that everything is on track. Air Force Gen. Duncan J. McNabb, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, credited the close cooperation between the transportation and logistics communities as among the contributing factors why Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, will get the forces he needs, on time, and with the distribution network required to sustain...

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2010 – The Army command charged with management of the logistical aspect of the Iraq drawdown and Afghanistan buildup looks to be ahead of schedule, Army Lt. Gen. William G. Webster Jr., said today. President Barack Obama announced in December that the U.S. would increase its footprint in Afghanistan by 30,000 troops. Initial estimates suggested that the buildup of troops and equipment would take about 18 months in order to maintain a responsible drawdown of some of the same equipment in Iraq. But after months of putting those plans into action, troops heading to Afghanistan will be...

Norwegian military intelligence believes that the number of Russian military aircraft operating off the Norwegian coast will decline this year. The reason is logistics. The new Russian defense budget has cut fuel purchases for the air force. No fuel, no flying. The Russians are doing this because, despite lower oil prices (for Russians main export) and the aftereffects of the global recession, Russia has to rebuild its' armed forces. By cutting fuel purchases, more money is available for new equipment. A year ago, former Russian president, and current prime minister, Vladimir Putin, announced that, despite the current recession, and low...

According to the Military Transportation Department of the PLA General Logistics Department (GLD), over 1,000 railway stations in China have been equipped with military transportation facilities, establishing a rather complete railway support network and enhancing greatly the strategic projection capability of the Chinese armed forces. The rapid development of China’s railway offered Chinese armed forces favourable opportunities to better its strategic projection capability. The GLD suggested to establish military facilities such as material loading and unloading facilities and military platforms, so as to keep pace with the national and local efforts to build new railways and rebuild the old ones....

As the Chinese Air Force puts an increasing number of modern combat aircraft into service, it has realized that it's logistical support services have to modernize as well. Logistics is essential if these modern aircraft (like the Su-30) can be kept in battle. To do that, these aircraft need large quantities of fuel, weapons, spare parts, and people who know how to get that stuff to where it is needed, and on time. The emphasis is on "generating sorties" (rearming and refueling modern fighters quickly so they can fly many more sorties per day). Before modern aircraft, like the Su-27/30...

Israel has put an eighth KC-707 aerial refueling aircraft into service. It cost $23 million to convert a Boeing 707 transport into a tanker. Israel introduced the first of these aircraft in 1983, and is in the process of refurbishing the older ones. With these tankers, Israeli F-15s and F-16s can stay in the air longer, and make strikes on distant targets, like Iran. Israel first used the KC-707 to attack Palestinian terrorists, 2,000 kilometers away, in Tunis, Tunisia, in 1985. The U.S. Air Force introduced a similar aircraft, the KC-135, over fifty years ago. All 732 KC-135s were built...