Transport Workers Solidarity Committee

A day without busses in Cairo
http://www.almasryonline.com/portal/page/portal/MasryPortal/ARTICLE_EN?itId=UG113231&pId=UG14&pType=1

Wednesday 19 August 2009 - 10:00 PM
A day without busses

A strike by the city’s bus drivers has ended after the government gave in to most of their demands

By Lina Attalah

Many of Cairo’s public busses have disappeared from the capital city’s street over the past two days. Drivers, ticket-takers and mechanics from 14 of the 19 bus garages in Cairo and Giza governorates are on strike demanding improved working conditions and awaiting tangible responses from the authorities.

The effect on the streets was immediate, with far fewer public busses on the street and large crowds gathering at many city bus stops.

The government response was equally swift. On Wednesday evening, the strikers received an offer from the Public Transportation Authority meeting most of their demands and agreed to return to work.

The new government concessions, which will return the busses to the streets, include: an 8 percent salary increase, an exemption for drivers from most traffic fines, a monthly food allowance for LE120 for drivers and ticket-takers, and agreement to consider paying compensation to drivers and ticket-takers for their daily potential exposure to infectious diseases.

www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/shipping-holed-beneath-the-waterline-995066.html

The Independent 6 November 2008

Shipping: Holed beneath the waterline

The staggering and sudden decline in the cost of chartering a cargo ship reflects both the global economic slowdown and the ongoing credit crunch. Sarah Arnott reports

Hold on to your hat: the Baltic Dry Index was down at 826 points yesterday, a shattering [93%] drop from its high of 11,793 in May.

The index, which tracks the price of shipping bulk cargo, might not sound like a reason to choke on your cornflakes. But it is an unparalleled, if subtle, barometer of the global trade in economic building blocks like iron ore, coal and grain - and it is telling a worrying tale.

Put simply, the cost of shipping has dropped through the floor. Sending a tonne of iron ore from Brazil to China in early June would have set you back more than $100 (£62) per tonne, or around $15m per voyage. But freight rates have now dropped to only slightly over $10 per tonne, or just $1.5m for the 70-90 day journey.

As if that wasn't dramatic enough, the drop in daily charter rates is even sharper. At the peak of the market, a 170,000-tonne Capesize bulk carrier was hired out at the eye-watering daily rate of $234,000. At the beginning of this week, it was $5,611 - a fall of nearly 98 per cent.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/business/worldbusiness/12trams.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=streetcar&st=cse&oref=slogin

November 12, 2008
European Tram Makers to Gain From U.S. Streetcar Push

By JOHN TAGLIABUE
PARIS — America may have invented the streetcar, but Europe perfected it.

As gas prices soared and dozens of North American communities sought to reintroduce electric streetcars as an alternative to diesel buses, Europe’s tram builders were some of the biggest beneficiaries.

Now, as the administration of President-elect Barack Obama contemplates an infrastructure expansion to keep Americans working through a severe slowdown, trams may be one of the building blocks of economic revival and energy efficiency.

“Trams were invented by the Americans,” said Jean-Noël Debroise, vice president for product planning at Alstom, the French streetcar builder that is selling its sleek Citadis tram to cities like Houston and Toronto. “It’s a big market,” he said.

European companies like Alstom, Siemens of Germany, AnsaldoBreda of Italy, CAF of Spain and Skoda of the Czech Republic will be at the head of the line. They, along with non-European companies like Bombardier of Canada and Kinki Sharyo of Japan, are among the leading suppliers of streetcars, which are also known as light rail vehicles.