04-21-2014- Marketplace- Shipping news
Marketplace | Apr 21, 2014
President Obama will visit East Asia this week – stopping in Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Korea. All these nations have territorial disputes with China. The president has repeatedly promised a military and diplomatic shift of focus to the region. How much has been spent so far on the "pivot" and is it real? Plus, last week, the deadliest avalanche to rip through Mount Everest killed 13 sherpa guides. It’s prompted the sherpas to ask for better compensation, and threaten a strike, just as the climbing season begins on the mountain. Krissy Clark looks at the central role of the Sherpas in Mount Everest's climbing industry. Then , two railroads are scrambling to comply with a federal order to get fertilizer to Midwestern farmers in time for spring planting. Shipments of crude oil have squeezed out other freight, so much that farmers were being told they wouldn’t get full orders of fertilizer in time. How does oil trump other freight?
