BMI believes that the expansion of the Panama Canal, which is due to be completed in 2014, will have a significant impact on trade routes, port development, cargo distribution and the US shipping sector in general. Container trade will see one of the biggest changes, as expansion will enable massive post-Panamax vessels to use the… [Read more]

June’s US trade statistics have shed doubt on the efficacy of President Barack Obama’s National Export Initiative (NEI) which, launched in February, aims to double US exports by 2015. A series of marketing plans, aimed specifically at major emerging markets including India, China and Vietnam in Asia as well as Brazil and South Africa, are… [Read more]

After slumping by 12% in 2009, the largest contraction of the post-war period, global trade volumes have steadily rebounded in the first half of 2010. Yet, just as the global economic downturn laid bare the inherent chinks in the armour in the world’s financial system, the upturn is exposing a fundamental weakness in another vital… [Read more]

BMI‘s Infrastructure team has identified Australia as our favourite developed market, and here are the crucial reasons why I like Australia. Sophisticated Project Finance operations: Australia comes top in BMI’s global Project Finance Ratings. The country was one of the first to embark on the public private partnership (PPP) scheme using private funding to develop… [Read more]