At least one ship has cargo to deliver today. An overview of the world's busiest container port.
Borrowing a journalistic device from the
Brian Lehrer Show, I present today’s “
Uncommon Economic Indicator,” signs of the global downturn in pictures and events, rather than cold numbers. Most of the activity I have seen in Singapore seems oblivious to the larger economic climate, and the economy has stayed healthy in a few ways. Several important banks operating here stayed well away from the complex financial instruments that have threatened to topple American and European giants. The proliferation of cranes across the skyline demonstrates a confidence in continued demand for commercial and residential real estate. The construction shown above, outside my building's sky terrace, certainly has been running at a blistering pace.
However, from these same windows and in the background of the same image (detail, above) can be seen this
revealing marker of the worldwide drop in trade. The waters around Singapore
have filled up with a massive flotilla of unladen cargo ships. Notice the lack of shipping containers piled on their decks. Demand for goods in almost every market has plummeted so these ships have nowhere to go. Instead they wait in deep-water anchorage. The view above looks off to the southeast, and the pile-up beyond the port and past Sentosa appears below.
This online map shows the larger parking-lot conditions in real time. The effects of stagnation remain unknown, but the prognoses suggest that Singapore
cannot defy gravity endlessly.
Another view (below) looking southeast, but from a higher floor.
At least one ship has cargo to deliver today. An overview of the world's busiest container port.
Borrowing a journalistic device from the Brian Lehrer Show, I present today’s “Uncommon Economic Indicator,” signs of the global downturn in pictures and events, rather than cold numbers. Most of the activity I have seen in Singapore seems oblivious to the larger economic climate, and the economy has stayed healthy in a few ways. Several important banks operating here stayed well away from the complex financial instruments that have threatened to topple American and European giants. The proliferation of cranes across the skyline demonstrates a confidence in continued demand for commercial and residential real estate. The construction shown above, outside my building's sky terrace, certainly has been running at a blistering pace.
However, from these same windows and in the background of the same image (detail, above) can be seen this revealing marker of the worldwide drop in trade. The waters around Singapore have filled up with a massive flotilla of unladen cargo ships. Notice the lack of shipping containers piled on their decks. Demand for goods in almost every market has plummeted so these ships have nowhere to go. Instead they wait in deep-water anchorage. The view above looks off to the southeast, and the pile-up beyond the port and past Sentosa appears below. This online map shows the larger parking-lot conditions in real time. The effects of stagnation remain unknown, but the prognoses suggest that Singapore cannot defy gravity endlessly.
Another view (below) looking southeast, but from a higher floor.
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