b'may 25 - june 21, 2020breakbUlk qUarTerly 9BBC Chartering launchesPort of Redwood Citys Zortman says new Caribbean Service imports are down but construction demand BBCCharteringbringsCaribbean market, accordingremains strongreliabilityandflexibilitytoto Per Petersen, President of the Caribbean Sea with a newBBCCharteringUSA.WeBy Stas Margananis, AJOTservice sailing twice a monthhavecustomersalloverthe from the port of Houston toworld who trust us to performThePortofRedwoodCity,Californiafrom Canada that are used by batch plants and Cartagena,PointLisas,andon a global basis, and now wewhich imports sand and aggregates for the Sili- ready mix to produce concrete for construction.Georgetown.Wecancallcan offer them regular servicecon Valley construction industry, reports thatZortmansaysmajorprojectslikethe manyotherCaribbeanportsto the Caribbean. tonnages for 2020 are down compared to 2019,Facebook expansion and other Silicon Valley on an inducement basis. BBCiscommittingtobut the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions on con- expansionshavebeenmajorconsumersof Clients are looking for along-term growth in the Carib- struction by the State of California could allevi- concrete but these projects, may now be sub-financially strong and depend- beanwithregularservicetoate the downturn. ject to change and we dont know what those ableoceancarrierinthekey ports.Kristine Zortman, executive director, Port ofchanges are.Redwood City told AJOT: By comparison, weShe said There is a latent impact that we are about 15-20% lower than the same period lastexpect to see in the next couple of months.Cruz seeks to end dependenceyear, however as the cargo is still coming into theHowever, the good news is that public on China for rare earth metals Port we will see if those numbers improve nowinfrastructure projects have continuedthat all construction is allowed in the State. SomeShe cited:construction was halted during the stay-at-home The California Department of Transportation Senator Ted Cruz said heaccording to the Congressionalorders but now that the State has lifted restric- freeway express lane project continues. plans to introduce legislationResearch Service. Some mem- tions we expect an uptick. Localcitiescontactsandinfrastructure thataimstoendU.S.reli- bersofCongresshavebeenprojects are continuing. ance on China for rare earthpushing for years for the U.S. toi mPortings anD anDa ggregatesThe Silicon Valley Water District continues elements used in the manu- reduce its reliance on China forIn April 2020, the Port reported 5 vesselits operations. facturing of products includ- the elements, particularly afterarrivals generating a monthly tonnage total of The impact to the Port is that we are running ingconsumerelectronics,trade restrictions in 2010 that139,095. The cumulative fiscal year tonnagetwo budgets for the fiscal year. The first budget electric vehicles and fighter(DEPENDENCEcontin- for 2020 is 1,845,153 metric tons. is at current levels while the second one proj-planes. ued on page 11) The prime imports are sand and aggregatesects a 30% reduction.The bill is part of a push inCongresstoshiftsupply chains, particularly in indus- LIBERTY GLOBAL LOGISTICS llctriescriticalfornational defense,awayfromChina and back toward the U.S.MuchliketheChinese Communist Party has threat- SIMPLIFYING YOUR OCEAN TRANSPORTATIONened to cut off the U.S. from life-savingmedicinesmade in China, the Chinese Com-munistPartycouldalsocut off our access to these materi-als,significantlythreatening U.S. national security, Cruz, a Texas Republican, said in a statement. The Ore Act will help ensure China never has that opportunity by establish-ing a rare earth elements and critical minerals supply chain in the U.S.Thebillwouldcreate tax incentives for companies tobuyrareearthelements within the U.S. It would also requiretheDefenseDepart-menttodoso,andwould provide money for pilot pro-grams to expand the Ameri-can rare earths industry.The legislation is among anumberofproposalsto strike back at Chinawhom manyRepublicans,includ-ing President Donald Trump, faultfornotactingsooner to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.whichledto morethan280,000deaths worldwideandmorethan 80,000 in the U.S.CruzandotherRepub-licanshavealreadyintro-ducedmeasurestoreduce U.S.dependencyonChina fordrugsandothermedical equipment.Theyhavealso sponsoredlegislationtolet U.S. citizens sue China over harm caused by the virus and have called for banning live wildlifemarketswheretheCONTACT US AT:Ports of call - Beaumont, Freeport, Jacksonville, Baltimore, virus may have originated. Phone: 516-488-8800 Wilmington, Livorno, Beirut, Aqaba, Jeddah, Jebel Ali, Abu China provided 71% of the global rare earth elements pro- Website: www.LibertyGL.com Dhabi, Hamad Kuwait, Dammam, Karachiduced in 2018 and was the topFor Rate Quotes: [email protected] Transshipment - Mersin, Alexandria, Bahrain, Mumbai,supplier to the U.S. that year,For Bookings: [email protected] Abu Dhabi, Doha, Sohar'