St. Louis, MO (KTVI-FOX2Now.com) —
A delegation of several dozen Chinese business leaders tour St. Louis on Friday. The Chinese CEO'S are potentially investing tens of millions of dollars in St. Louis.
It's hard not to get excited watching that video. What we've been discussing for years now is finally playing out. Not just the cargo hub, but all the potential ancillary Chinese investment. (the Big Idea)
Very interesting that Chinese business leaders are looking to invest in the building of a high rise office tower on the World News/proposed Montgomery Bank site.
Also good to see continuing talks between the Chinese and the NorthSide development group.
When you have finished watching the entire special report on Monday evening, you may have more interest in the recent talk, as reported by KMOV Channel 4, of a Chinese company who has shown interest in the Delmar Loop and areas of downtown St. Louis to purchase and create jobs. After watching Diane Sawyer's ABC World News report, you may have a different outlook on whether you think this type of job creation is a good idea for the St. Louis area.
goat314 wrote:Chinese Consider Investing In St. Louis
St. Louis, MO (KTVI-FOX2Now.com) —
A delegation of several dozen Chinese business leaders tour St. Louis on Friday. The Chinese CEO'S are potentially investing tens of millions of dollars in St. Louis.
^If they do open some laundry facilities, itll be with American public money collected by the Chinese on interest earned from money borrowed by the US Gov't to hand out to Americans who need a laundromat...
My hunch is we'll run into Chinese who will be able to write big checks...and are going to write those checks out to perceived friends...not perceived racists...
I dont feel Im trying to be overly PC here...just think public spaces that want to be taken seriously will need to have mutual respect for all peoples rather than school yard barbs (no matter how funny) that are ultimately rooted in fear...
...Another cog in the Atlanta machine...the non-NY, Chi, LA city that won the Summer Olympics...is deep-rooted civic belief in human dignity and universal human rights...don't underestimate this reputation and reality...markets need stability and a sense of security to thrive...making sure all market participants (people) belong fosters this and helps eliminate "outsiders" who might feel motivated to hurt the market in which they live...
"Unigroup has opened a customs brokerage office at Midamerica."
WHY NOT LAMBERT?! One of the major goals of the operation is to get pax service back to the region by lowering landing fees at Lambert, WHY must they do this at Midamerica?!
I like seeing increased activity at MidAmerica, but it's completely ridiculous that our two airports can't get their sh*t together and collaborate more.
They are doing it at Mid-America for one distinct reality, that Mid-America was essentially paid for by the Federal Government and therefore has very little debt obligation. Lambert has to cover its own debts and obiligations through landing fees, pakring fees, etc. It doesn't help that what little funding the state was going to provide in order to build a new cargo facility was essentially axed by Gov Nixon. In other words, freight forwarders are going to the cheapest place to land a charter plane in my opinion because the margins are being spread by multiple parties.
However, I give credit for MO politicians, leaders and Lambert pursuing an air cargo hub directly with chinese carriers instead of third parties freight forwarders considering the uphill battle of competition and the inherent costs. In the end, separate approaches might benefit the region as a whole.
We have accounts in both South America and China, and it was very clear that MidAmerica has the capability to handle imports from those destinations. Locating here gives us the opportunity to centralize our own operations while also supporting the growing cargo operations at MidAmerica.
Again there's this subtle suggestion that St. Louis is where China and South America (Brazil) should mingle their cargo.
"Unigroup has opened a customs brokerage office at Midamerica."
WHY NOT LAMBERT?! One of the major goals of the operation is to get pax service back to the region by lowering landing fees at Lambert, WHY must they do this at Midamerica?!
Quick thoughts:
1. Perhaps Lambert is planned for primarily US-China flights, where MidAmerica can specialize in China-US-LatAm flights. That could be a good distinction between the two hub offerings. I'll go so far as to say that this distinction has been solid in my mind for some time, and I'll all but expect MidAmerica to specialize as a go-between airport rather than a hub.
2. This is an investment by a domestic, StL-based company, not a Chinese firm. That in mind, it may be just a minor note in the big game. Or: I'm not going to get excited until I see that a Chinese outfit is setting up shop at an airport.
3. The tax comment Dredger made? Damn right, especially for somewhat speculative ventures like this one. As in all things, go with the best combination of services and pricing.
4. If the Lambert hub becomes a reality, you can bet UniGroup would want to set up another operation at Lambert. Which, after all, is a lot closer to their HQ than Mascoutah. Who knows, the MidAmerica work could further prove their efficacies as a customs broker, better promoting them for future Lambert contracts.
5. Perhaps some subsidies are underway here that we're not aware of?
6. This is just a new office starting up, not one moving from MO to IL.
7. After all, if the purely hypothetical announcement was that the local office of Expeditors International (or some like logistics company) was moving, then I'd have concern. This is a new office starting up, and I'm glad to hear of the growth.
8. Consider it progress on both sides of the river in creating an aerial logistics hub.
Addendum: Respectively, quit your bitchin'! This is good news, but the discussion ends up sounding like those teenage girls who throw hissy fits on their 16th birthdays, crying when they get a red Lexus convertible but wanting pink instead.
Mayor Slay was on The Morning After (of all places) on 590 AM yesterday. He covered a wide-ranging array of topics over 40 mins or so, but he did touch on the China Hub and the quote seems relevant to what's being discussed currently in this thread.
Speaking on a broader question of how to lure businesses to St. Louis, he talks about becoming more efficient:
we are competing against other regions and there’s a lot of competition, it’s a lot of hard work, and it’s not just government officials we have CEOs of our major corporations in St. Louis working together to bring the best minds and consultants together, thinking what do we need to do to position St. Louis in a better way.
I think one of the best ways we can do is be more efficient in how we provide services and I think city and county working together is the best way to do it. I think we could bring our ports together on the east, we should be working with the east side we shouldn’t have two china hub initiatives. We should have just one working together. And right now that China Hub thing could have significant long-term impact, it’s going to take some time, but if we raise our profile internationally, and we’re able to compete more globally, bring more international flights to here, utilize the excess capacity of our airports, that’ll help us in a lot of ways create jobs and be able to attract businesses more, and to be a more vibrant region, so there’s a lot to that question, but I can assure you that we’re not thinking about this in a vacuum we’re working with a lot of people who are certainly a lot smarter than I am in terms of how we position St. Louis in a better way to not only retain the big jobs that we have, but also try to attract even more.
Gone Corporate wrote:Quick thoughts:
1. Perhaps Lambert is planned for primarily US-China flights, where MidAmerica can specialize in China-US-LatAm flights. That could be a good distinction between the two hub offerings. I'll go so far as to say that this distinction has been solid in my mind for some time, and I'll all but expect MidAmerica to specialize as a go-between airport rather than a hub.
If there will be a distinction it could well turn out that Lambert will handle cargo from Chinese Airlines and MidAmerica the freight brought in by US cargo airlines, such as Southern Air. This is where it seems to be going so far.
Gone Corporate wrote:
4. If the Lambert hub becomes a reality, you can bet UniGroup would want to set up another operation at Lambert. Which, after all, is a lot closer to their HQ than Mascoutah. Who knows, the MidAmerica work could further prove their efficacies as a customs broker, better promoting them for future Lambert contracts.
They will. Representatives of Unigroup are involved in the China Hub idea and were present during the trade missions to China.
Gone Corporate wrote:
8. Consider it progress on both sides of the river in creating an aerial logistics hub.
Let MidAmerica help prove the viability of the concept.
Looks like the Latin America angle is fully on the table. Why don't we send the MO delegation to China and the IL delegation to Brazil? Looks like we can play both ends. I think the earlier point about Lambert being China-US and MidAmerica being China-South America was a good one. If each found a niche, then we could develop around that. This article suggests that Lambert would be hoping to get in on the Latin American business too... Just as we shouldn't have Clayton and Downtown headquartering the same kinds of businesses, we should not make our two airports twins. Each needs a niche.
The skeptics believe St. Louis will lose out on this due to their lack of experience.
The main variable not included in their analyses is the open and available land near the airport. This is potentially the key.
Remember that the whole "Big Idea" was the result of the McKee's. They are developing NorthPark, with all the developable land NE of I-70 & I-170 and land NW of the airport, all of which can be suited to the needs of logistics outfits. They also, of course, are the group behind the NorthSide Redevelopment project in the City. All of this land is developable to the needs of the Chinese import-export business, including domestic and international outfits looking to set up shop near the planned hub/port.
Yes, geography is key in all of this; StL's positioning at the center of the US isn't that much different from KC, Indy, Louisville, or Memphis (airport capacity is different). But one major area where we can rise ahead is positioning ourselves for the necessary affiliated developments, whether it would be Chinese warehouses for goods in transit, or an Amazon distribution house sending books to Shanghai.
And where Lambert rises above MidAmerica: the proactive lobbying and diplomacy by MO's elected leaders. While Kern has done commendable work for SoIL, StL & MO have had everyone from its Mayor & County Exec to its Federal Senators involved.
The skeptics believe St. Louis will lose out on this due to their lack of experience.
The main variable not included in their analyses is the open and available land near the airport. This is potentially the key.
Remember that the whole "Big Idea" was the result of the McKee's. They are developing NorthPark, with all the developable land NE of I-70 & I-170 and land NW of the airport, all of which can be suited to the needs of logistics outfits. They also, of course, are the group behind the NorthSide Redevelopment project in the City. All of this land is developable to the needs of the Chinese import-export business, including domestic and international outfits looking to set up shop near the planned hub/port.
Yes, geography is key in all of this; StL's positioning at the center of the US isn't that much different from KC, Indy, Louisville, or Memphis (airport capacity is different). But one major area where we can rise ahead is positioning ourselves for the necessary affiliated developments, whether it would be Chinese warehouses for goods in transit, or an Amazon distribution house sending books to Shanghai.
And where Lambert rises above MidAmerica: the proactive lobbying and diplomacy by MO's elected leaders. While Kern has done commendable work for SoIL, StL & MO have had everyone from its Mayor & County Exec to its Federal Senators involved.
How many jobs would all of this create, directly or indirectly? Tens of thousands?
