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Italy Joins China's New Silk Road Project

(www.bbc.com)
132 points pseudolus | 2 comments | 23 Mar 19 13:13 UTC | HN request time: 0.407s | source
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coliveira ◴[23 Mar 19 16:16 UTC] No.19471036[source]▶
China is doing what is a great advancement for the world: integrating east and west, and in the process bringing the long forgotten areas in the middle east into the world trading order. The more investment in the Silk road, the more we will have a robust economic system integrating countries that until now were forgotten by the previous world order.
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NicoJuicy ◴[23 Mar 19 16:26 UTC] No.19471076[source]▶
A train road can't handle economic scale like ships can. The belt is a excuse for modern colonization through debts
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coliveira ◴[23 Mar 19 16:34 UTC] No.19471106[source]▶
Trains are still the most fuel economical way to transport products through long distances. And trains can also transport loads to intermediary locations in a much more efficient way than ships.
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NicoJuicy ◴[23 Mar 19 16:36 UTC] No.19471124[source]▶
No, they are not.

Ships try to deliver cargo as deep in the country as possible. Then trucks take over ( Europe), because of different destinations.

You think they are joining the world trade order, I just see an expensive debt trap that won't even change 0,1% in a countries trade

replies(1): >>19471459 #
1. yorwba ◴[23 Mar 19 17:48 UTC] No.19471459[source]▶
The advantage of trucks over trains isn't as large as you seem to believe. E.g. at the port of Hamburg, the majority of cargo (55%) is transported onwards by truck, but the share of trains (42.8%) isn't that much smaller. https://www.hafen-hamburg.de/en/statistics/modalsplit
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2. NicoJuicy ◴[24 Mar 19 08:59 UTC] No.19475262[source]▶
In all my statements, the statement of trucks vs trains was irrelevant. Your numbers side with the fact that after harbor, trucks are more popular.

It's that I call bullshit on the one road one belt.

That trains vs container ships is irrelevant. Trains lose big time

That's it's more a "build useless infrastructure that you otherwise can't afford and that Chinese will build with no locals" debt trap for countries to China.