Singapore must guard against going the way of Venice

[Jacmar]

Actually if you want to worry about the trade routes, Singapore need to watch closely the opening up of the Old Silk Road that China is rebuilding to Europe. Marco Polo would be smiling in his grave. In any case this Silk Road is not any easier either with very hilly terrain and sandy deserts too. To add to this the route has to go through many Muslim countries with extremist in the midst. If it is established then many containers can be carried across to Europe similar to the trans-Siberian railway.

[Jared Seah]

Some years back, when WTI was threatening USD 150.00, we did an exercise to test the feasibility of sending containers from Shenzhen and Qingdao to Germany via the trans-Siberian railway.

The contents of the test containers from Shenzhen and Qingdao arrived in Düsseldorf pretty much "destroyed'.

1. Trains and tracks are not the same in Europe. We had to lift and change rail carts often.

2. It's not seamless rail all the way. Some parts have to switch to container trucks...

3. Customs and paperwork were nightmares to contend with.

Thankfully, WTI crude did not extend above USD 150, for now.


The North Sea route is the real McCoy.


But then, we have always met competition head-on. In aviation, the "new" KL and Bangkok airports were supposed to challenge Changi airport's status as the regional aviation hub...

The real threat is whenever challenged, we simply roll-over and suck our thumbs.

Thankfully, we have Singaporeans that are more durians than strawberries

[corydorus]

True, adversity is alway there in one form or another. The challenge is to how to overcome it and not sucking thumb and no action. We have to rise to challenge by willing to Change.

[gzbkel]

Nice to hear all the views here.
For me, I try to stay optimistic, but see it as a wake up call for more diversification.
Current portfolio is heavily concentrated in Singapore. (Main reason is because I didn't want to deal with other countries' withholding tax)