Weekly Newsletter
June 15, 2017
In the News  
Lidl Grabs More Land in Chesterfield

Trazpezium Brewing Co. Based in Petersburg  Adds Satellite Taproom, Plans Brandy Rollout

Massive Ships Highlight New Era at the Port of Virginia 
Partner Spotlight
Colliers International Group Inc. is a global leader in commercial real estate services with more than 16,300 professionals operating from 502 offices in 67 countries. With an enterprising culture and significant insider ownership, Colliers professionals provide a full range of services to real estate occupiers, owners and investors worldwide. Services include brokerage, global corporate solutions, investment sales and capital markets, project management and workplace solutions, property and asset management, consulting, valuation and appraisal services, and customized research and thought leadership.

Locally, Colliers International in Richmond and Norfolk is a full-service commercial real estate firm providing integrated services to clients in central Virginia since 1910. The staff of more than 40 professionals specializes in the sale and leasing of office, industrial, retail, multifamily, investments and land.
 
 
Assessing U.S. Manufacturing's Recovery

By Laura Putre | IndustryWeek | Full Article    

U.S. manufacturing got walloped during the Great Recession. It lost 20% of its output and 15% of its workforce. "That's second only to the Great Depression of the 1930s, when it lost about half its total output,"says Cliff Waldman,chief economist for the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation (MAPI), a manufacturing leadership organization.

The manufacturing economy bottomed out in mid-2009. But by the end of that year, things were looking up-manufacturing was recovering faster than the rest of the overall economy. "In fact, it was helping to pull the overall economy out of the bottom of the Great Recession," says Waldman.

While the factory sector still hasn't recovered from the Great Recession, says Waldman, being 4% to 5% lower than its pre-recession peak, it is showing some rallying signs. Manufacturing employment was up every month from January to April 2017 (it dipped slightly in May) and output grew 2.7% in the first quarter of 2017.
Southern Ports Break Records as Panama Canal Anniversary Nears
 
By Rebecca Spalding | Bloomberg | Full Article

Southern ports are experiencing a record foreign trade boom thanks in part to an expanded Panama Canal that permits Asian cargo ships to reach them more easily.
Georgia Ports Authority and the Port of Virginia, which include the nation's fourth and fifth largest ranked by volume, respectively, each moved the most cargo they have ever handled in May. The two ports posted more than 10 percent year-over-year volume growth for the month.

The uptick in foreign trade throughout the region comes thanks in part to last June's widening of the Panama Canal, which allowed the larger vessels that shipping lines favor to travel between Asia and the eastern seaboard through the passage. Previously, ports on the West Coast, which include the nation's largest by volume, typically handled such ships.
The expansion also coincided with a population boom that has made the south home to 10 of the 15 fastest growing cities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, meaning there is a growing market for goods being imported.