GLDPartners News Blog
Grupo Mexico to Buy Florida East Coast Railway: What This Signals
Fortress Investment Group is selling the Florida East Coast Railway to a Mexican interest and this is a quite interesting transaction for several reasons. Fortress may be a seller that would sell to anyone willing to pay the right price - and you would expect as much, but the wider story is that FECR is a strong addition to someone else's business strategy. Grupo Mexico's purchase is a strategic play to establish railroad transportation presence in the US and for the expansion of intermodal service. There is certainly growth potential for FECR as evidenced by the Ports they serve.
Knight-Swift Merger: A Taste of What’s to Come in US Trucking?
Certainly to many the announced trucking industry merger caught some by surprise. Both companies have been well-run with class-leading best practices and the new company will be headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. It will be the largest in its business class and a huge enterprise with $5B in annual revenues, supported by 23,000 tractors, 77,000 trailers and 23,000 employees. To most sector analysts, this match-up makes sense and will create a North American trucking industry behemoth.
Will Canadian Transport Assets Be Sold to Capitalize Infrastructure? Not Yet.
The federal Government in Canada has budget challenges and that is, in part driving considerations to privatize its main seaports and airports. This is an extremely important issue that has deep financial, political, and underlying competitiveness consequences and a go-slow strategy is surely quite prudent. With Canada having some of the most efficient and professionally managed transport assets in the world, this isn't generally a matter of selling-off poorly performing assets or assets that have severely poor infrastructure. Certainly there will be a perspective of the potential for private players offering access to global financial markets and some will refer to the advantages of global asset management platforms. But critically, many of Canada's seaports and airports are well-managed and with high-quality infrastructure in-place.
Albuquerque Project Yields New Rail and Airport Opportunities
Cambridge Systematics and GLDPartners were recently engaged by the Mid-Region Council of Governments and the Albuquerque-Bernalillo County Trade Alliance to assess the greater Albuquerque region's trade-related infrastructure and define the best opportunities to grow trade in New Mexico's main metropolitan region. The recommendations have been published on MR-COG's website: Albuquerque Project Yields New Rail and Airport Opportunities.
Container Fee Proposal: A New California Tax Proposal on US Trade
The South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) has proposed new fees on containers moved through California seaports. On March 3, the SCAQMD adopted a “comprehensive clean air blueprint” that it said would improve the health and lives of all residents across its region by reducing ozone and particulate matter emissions as required by the federal Clean Air Act.
Trump’s Skinny Budget: Concerns for Transport Projects/Economic Development
To read the Administration’s preliminary budget – released by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) a week ago – you might not realize that this is the same President who ran on a platform to rebuild America’s infrastructure and create jobs. Referred to as the “skinny budget,” by the Administration, this preliminary FY 2018 federal budget targets the US Department of Transportation (DOT) for a $2.4 billion budget reduction, and a $946 million reduction to the department’s FY 2017 budget. Included in those reductions will be the elimination of many of the Department’s discretionary grant programs – TIGER, FAST Lane, new starts, small starts, essential air service, and Amtrak’s long-distance train service – and research programs including intelligent transportation systems and vehicle safety. The Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s community block grant program are also on the chopping block.