Pages

Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Africa. Show all posts

Saturday, 31 May 2025

Chinese aviation Markets!

 Competition to the United States?

China has developed some serious commercial jets that are cheaper than the sophistication of what the U.S. has for the world and they will take the market off Boeing in SE-Asia and Africa as the next few years go on with ridiculous tariffs!

The C909/919 could sweep away the European Airbus A320 as much as the Boeing 737-8/900 and MAX derivatives and be a comparison to the Brazillian Embraer E-Jets!

What will be the game changer is the MC-21 being built and used between China and Russia to replace their aging fleets and other new Russian types such as the Ilyushin 114 and Sukhoi super jet-200, Tupolev Tu-214/244 and a few others that need nothing from Europe or the U.S.

Saturday, 5 April 2025

'Lets do the Locomotion?

 U.S. tariffs will mean for Trains!

It seems a good idea to the U.S. to bring home jobs for heavy industries, but will it really work in 2025 or be the cause of more problems and broken promises as last time around to the Ohio dust belt?

The building of locomotives is not what it was and now with many nations going electric, there is no demand for Diesel and the dirt that they produce, meanwhile Africa is looking to China for conventional engines, because they are cheaper!

In the U.K. we face loosing our Scunthorpe Chinese owned steel mills and many rail projects may go under or come to nothing?

When these import taxes hit, we may need to start to look to Europe or the far-east for a Class 66 replacement, since many were built in Canada

Saturday, 2 December 2023

Another Cop-out Conference?

 Saudis are doing fossil fuel sales under the cover of green energy!

The truth to the matter is that people are meeting together for many other reasons than what they claim is on the agenda for the future of alternative green energy and despite the fine speeches, most have arrived and will leave in their high energy burning jets!

Sp much for the future is being swept away, by the people with the money and what remains of oil in the Middle-East and Russia out pricing the Arabs. So Africa has become the new market for the Gulf States, whiles solar works on a local basis to charge mobile phones and tablets, vehicles still need fossil fuels along with the generation of power?

Here is the U.K. we are seeing the demise of Dowlais top (South-Wales) open cast mine, but there is no plans to do anything with it for now but later on it may re-open to meet the needs or demand on the power grid if needs be!

Tuesday, 27 July 2021

Worlds top five ever produced civil Aircraft

 DC-3/C-47, Boeing 727/737 series, Airbus A320 series and the Cessna -172.

These are the top five produced aircraft in the civil realm, the Douglas DC-3 was introduced in 1935 and over 20,000 were built as the C-47 between 1939-45 and under license in Russia and China were up to another twenty-thousand where also built?

This mostly wooden transport was used widely after 1945 up to the 1990's by some world air forces for parachute training and counter measures as in South-Africa and Israel respectively.

With the advent of the Jet age Boeing has held the market with the 7 series fleet, but only the 727 and 737 were the most ever built of any of their types, today possibly the 777-787 may catch up. Domestic flying was popular in the U.S. between 1960 and 1980 so both types met the need 1700 to 23,000 have been built, with many 727-200 today still flying as private jets!

The Airbus A320/218/19 and the new neo versions are now taking the market off Boeing for the 21st Century, these types have a wide range of seating to distance and they are being purchased at a tremendous rate by up and coming nations.

Last the Cessna-172 4 seat light aircraft has held its ground in the aviation world since it was introduced in 1947. Used in the liaison role it has succeeded where many similar types have failed, it is used both as a civil and military supply, postal, and air ambulance as well as missionary work in Africa and Indonesia!

Thursday, 5 March 2020

Oil extraction and Drill-Ships!

SERTAO?

Port Talbot S-Wales to Falmouth, Cornwall, SW-Great Britain and now to a new buyer, after spending over a year being impounded for debts from a Brazilian exploration company!

The U.S President says that he likes oil and he is not alone, despite what we may think of Greta Thunberg and her campaign to end the use of fossil fuels it does not seem to be giving the drillers and consortiums a guilty conscience?

Africa is the new prospect for the black gold and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, formerly Zaire is where this rich harvest of crude is to be found! It is also time for the African nations to become rich that all goes with the oil industry and some Europeans might find that worrying for one reason or another?

White dominated exploitation is the traditional idea of the African and this is true from 1500 and the first European conquests by the Portugese and human slavery that eventually lead to the division of Africa and the gold/diamond mining that made South-Africa what it is today. 

Drilling at sea for both oil and gas is continuing world wide, closer to home is perhaps happening fifty-five miles NW of Belmullet in Co. Mayo Republic of Ireland!

Tuesday, 2 October 2018

African Technology. Two.

Licence building and improvisation?

These already exist and they will continue, but their are many lesser known homegrown models of adapted vehicles? While Nigeria, RSA and Kenya have developed their own drones for field reconnaissance work and helicopters play a key role in anti-terrorism, pouching and other criminal activities!

Money remains an issue and many continue to try to do their best with what they have, keeping it flying for as long as possible or buying second hand! China is todays largest supplier of trucks, trains and other equipment and it has so many mining interest that this looks like it will continue for some time yet?

Technology is now all over the continent of Africa, through computing, solar panels and mobile telephones! So it will not be hard to improve avionics on all types of aircraft and helicopters with night-vision and other? Many nations have also developed their own missiles and rockets, but from all this has come some good ideas to improve living standards, transport, road and rail!

Tuesday, 28 August 2018

African Technology. One.

Arms, civilian and Space!

Republic of South-Africa is the leading military industry complex on the continent of Africa and has a well established arms industry in aviation and vehicles as well as small arms! Atlas was responsible for the conversion and adaption of many aircraft and helicopters to meet local conditions and requirements in the long wars in Namibia, Rhodesia/Zimbabwe and Botswana.

French Mirage jets to an Israeli co-opt development programme, Aloutte-II/III conversions for bush operations. Many trucks and jeeps along with former British armour went under prolonged development to meet the local requirement from ANC resistance to full out war.

Today BAE Systems has an extensive military component in the RSA with a huge range of vehicles on offer.

Kenya and Nigeria meantime have extensive experience in rocketry and the launching of western satellites, which has encouraged them to develop their own ideas about going into space. 

Meanwhile both have also over the years developed their own drones for battlefield operation, perhaps more so Nigeria than any other.

Egypt, Algeria and Ethiopia also have their own successful similar industries and with the advent of more and more computer technology a bright future to move away from small fire arms and artillery?

Tuesday, 27 February 2018

Transport in Africa. Part-One.

Changing Continent?

Not much is thought about the continent of Africa, when it comes to transport it all seems backward? But this is far from the truth, in fact it is seeing some of the latest technology being tested before we might get it?

Republic South-Africa, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya and Botswana are fast growing economies with the technology and industry to back them up and they are aiming higher than Europe in some areas? Solar power, Aviation, mechanical engineering, mining and automobiles as well as Space flight are on the cards for them to pursue in the next one-hundred years!

What is not much known about the continent is that is has a long space-race history with Europeans using facilities in Kenya and Nigeria and that RSA is one of the most advanced nations with an established Locomotive, military, vehicle and aviation industry!

China, Russia and the U.S. along with Europe and the U.K. have had a long history of supplying equipment, but it has been the Africans who have adapted everything to meet their own needs!

Tuesday, 17 October 2017

Canadian Bombardier CS100/300. Part-Two.

N-Ireland Costs.

It looks as if the deal with the DUP has now paid off with the probable closure of the Sydenham Bombardier works and the loss of two-thousand skilled jobs? The British government will not give in to the U.S. now that BAE has laid off workers in connection to its reduced production of Hawk and Typhoon jets, with a slump in the Persian Gulf sales department?

The U.S. will just keep increasing the tax tariffs on Canada, until they are re-assured that the U.S. aviation industry is secured. The one point of a thorn in the flesh is the Belfast plant and the incentives that have been poured into over the years peace-process or none the U.S do not care!

Canada's hope now lies in the world market, but these aircraft are up against similar competition by Brazils Embraer E-170.190/5, Russia's MC-21 and the  Sukhoi Superjet-100/200. Meanwhile both China and Japan are developing similar sized aircraft for their own markets?

Both Boeing and Airbus currently hold the world market in a very large range of aircraft, Boeing 737-6/700, Airbus A321neo, A319/18, that are all similar to the CS100/300?

But what Bombardier has, is that their aircraft meets the replacement criteria for the recently retired Boeing 737-300 series and its short runway ability? This does not mean its a STOL type, but rather it can handle smaller runways and airports, where other aircraft need longer runways?

Perhaps the real truth is U.S. Jealousy over missing a small advantage in the aviation market? AFRICA?

Tuesday, 8 August 2017

Container Shipping is Changing?

Framed Supported.

The problem with container shipping is that boxes can be lost in rough weather conditions and so a new framed structure system has been adapted to compensate for this. All vessels will have to be updated to this new design and many more vessels will now be on the market for sale?

The new ships will restrict size and capacity for the first time, this will be a sort of standardisation? These vessels will be the largest built and will remain in service until technology demands what is to come next?

Another reason is the demise of smaller container ships is China's plan to build railways networks across Asia, Russia in to the Europe and the U.K. via the channel tunnel.

Also into the Middle-East, Arabia and on into the African continent. It is not clear if they also want to build a tunnel from Eastern-Russia into Alaska and on down through N-America into S-America?

Rail would now dominate land routes and call for less need of shipping, being restricted to Australia, New Zealand, Pacific islands, and the Caribbean?