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Equipment is split among air, sea and road freight.
FORMULA One visits 24 locations annually across 21 countries, and its equipment needs to be present. It is a gargantuan operation.
'I've been here 39 years. We used to do 16 races, five international, now it's 15 international and nine Europeans,' Paul Fowler, vice president of motorsport product for DHL Motorsport, Formula One's longtime logistics partner, said in an interview. Follow us on our official WhatsApp channel for breaking news alerts and key updates!
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The Star
3 hours ago
- The Star
No work for ‘gooey-duck' divers
FOR over two decades, Suquamish tribal member Joshua George has dived into the emerald waters of the Salish Sea in Washington state looking for an unusually phallic clam that's coveted thousands of kilometres away. George is a geoduck diver. Pronounced 'gooey-duck,' the world's largest burrowing clam has been harvested in tidelands by George's indigenous ancestors in the US Pacific Northwest since before Europeans arrived. In recent years, it has also become a delicacy in China, with Washington sending 90% of its geoducks there, creating a niche yet lucrative American seafood export. But the trade war between the US and China is now crippling an entire industry that hand-harvests geoducks, leaving divers without work, Seattle exporters without business and Chinese aficionados with fewer of these prized clams. 'It's the first time in 24 years where I don't know when or if we'll be going back to work or if I have to find another job or what we're going to do,' George said. A customer looking at geoducks from Canada at a restaurant in Sanya in southern China's Hainan province. — AP US President Donald Trump's tariff-driven economic feud with China, which dates back to his first term in office, swiftly resumed in February within weeks of taking back the White House. By April, Trump had placed tariffs of at least 145% on China, which led China to retaliate with tariffs of 125% on the United States. Last month, the United States and China agreed to slash their massive tariffs. The United States agreed to drop the 145% tax Trump imposed last month to 30%. China agreed to lower its tariff rate on US goods to 10% from 125%. But the tariffs remain. Enter the geoduck, weighing about a kilogramme and so entrenched in local culture that it is the mascot for Evergreen State College in Olympia. The meaty mollusk is best described as sweet and briny, and it's often sliced raw for crisp sashimi out west while China consumers prefer it chewy in stir-fries or hot pot soups. A child looking at geoducks from Canada at a restaurant in Sanya. — AP Pre-tariff costs were as high as US$100 for 500g in restaurants, so it's a dish generally reserved for special occasions like Chinese New Year, or to celebrate a business gathering. Unlike other products with long-lasting shelf life and standing inventory, the trade war has had an immediate, direct effect on the delicate geoducks, which are shipped alive the same day of harvest. 'The whole market, everybody just had to stop,' said Jim Boure, general manager of Suquamish Seafoods, an enterprise of the Suquamish Tribe. 'We started getting phone calls from buyers saying orders are cancelled.' The millions of kilogrammes of geoducks shipped annually to China come from two main sources: wild harvests on tracts of seafloor that are split between the Washington State Department of Natural Resources and Puget Sound Treaty Indian Tribes, and tideland farms. The state's share is auctioned to private exporters that often hire contract divers to harvest them. As of late April, Washington state divers had only pulled about half of the expected harvest from the state tracts, said Blain Reeves, an aquatic resources division manager for the state's Department of Natural Resources. Daniel McRae unloading a bag of harvested geoduck clams from his brother Derrick (hidden) on their boat near Illahee State Park in Bremerton, Washington. — AP Last year, the state and tribes collectively harvested about 1.5 million kilos of wild Washington geoduck for sale. The state generated US$22.4mil in revenue for their half of the clams, which went towards paying for aquatic restoration projects locally. The state doesn't track how much is harvested by private farmers. 'If only half the pounds that were contracted are harvested, then our revenue is halved,' Reeves said. The Suquamish operation has no orders to harvest for at the moment, but it still must keep up with the maintenance to stay ready for business if and when the trade war ends. In April, George's team made a quick trip to collect a handful of the clams for state lab testing. Two whole geoducks (left) are displayed with a sashimi preparation of the clam, at Chelsea Farms Oyster Bar in Olympia, Washington. — AP 'When we're doing the job, and it's not all this other political stuff behind the scenes and everything else, we love this,' said George, adding that diving, which takes place early in the day so that the geoducks are on an airplane by evening, has allowed him to watch his kids grow up. Fellow diver Kyle Purser said he cherishes his underwater job, but now fears it's being taken away. 'When you're watching your money disappear and you've got families to feed and not knowing when you're going to get your next paycheck, (it's) very stressful,' he said. The geoduck import market was already facing weaker demand in recent years due to the loss in demand following the pandemic. While the tariffs have only exacerbated troubles for geoduck sellers in Washington, there's also been an unintended consequence: the American trade war has inadvertently boosted the Canadian geoduck business, which is facing a lower tariff rate. Washington state in the US and Canada's British Columbia province are the two primary places where the wild geoducks grow naturally for commercial harvest. The two countries did healthy business primarily serving Chinese appetites for decades, in part because quantities are limited. It's a labour-intensive and heavily-regulated harvest, as divers must go several metres below the surface to dig for the clams. 'They love the fact that it tastes like the sea,' said James Austin, president of Canada's Underwater Harvesters Association. 'It's a product that's really a hit with the Chinese. It's all about the wild coastline. It's really prestigious.' Austin said he expects there will be 1.25 million kilos of Canadian geoducks harvested in 2025, worth approximately US$43.4mil in revenue. While demand has been relatively low but still steady for Canadian's geoducks, Austin said they're now the leading exporters for China, which has helped them negotiate higher prices as a result. 'We have no competitors right now,' Austin said. Yang Bin at Beihai Huaxiashougang Health Industry Company in Beihai city of Guangxi province in China said their seafood wholesale important business no longer gets geoduck from the United States. 'We don't care about US tariffs because we can get geoduck from other countries with stable prices,' Yang said. On their first week back to work since the tariff fight brought business to a standstill in Washington state, Derrick McRae and his brother pulled up about 360kg of wild geoducks in just one April day. He donned a full-body diving outfit with an oxygen line tethered to his boat to dive under the cold waters of an inland sea channel west of Seattle. Kneeled on the seafloor, McRae used a water spray gun to move the sand covering the geoducks. In the cloud of sediment, he felt for the neck with his hand, pulling the clam and stuffing it in a net attached to him. 'We're just kind of waiting on the edge of our seats to see what happens next,' McRae said. — AP
The Star
11 hours ago
- The Star
Roundup: Europeans turn away from U.S. amid growing anti-American sentiment
LONDON, June 6 (Xinhua) -- While waiting in line outside Rome's iconic Gallery Borghese with his family, Polish tourist Antoni Furman shared why the United States is never on his holiday list. "Europe is much less crowded, and the U.S. tariffs on the European Union affect our pockets," he said. Furman represents a growing number of Europeans opting out of engaging with the United States. A wave of anti-American sentiment is sweeping across the continent, as U.S. policies strain the transatlantic relationship and influence everyday decisions - from travel choices to consumer behavior. Inbound travel to the U.S. is projected to decline by 8.7 percent in 2025, with the sharpest drops expected from Canada and Western Europe, according to Oxford Economics. Data from the U.S. National Travel and Tourism Office revealed that trips from overseas fell by 11.6 percent in March 2025 compared to the previous year. Visits from Western Europe alone plummeted 17.2 percent. Germany, Spain, and Ireland each saw declines exceeding 20 percent, while the United Kingdom and France recorded decreases of around 10 percent. Travel booking platform Omio reported a 16 percent increase in U.S. trip cancellations in the first quarter (Q1) year-on-year, with cancellation rates from the UK, Germany, and France nearing 40 percent. Tourism Economics, part of Oxford Economics, noted a 10 percent decline in European trip plans to the U.S. for the 2025 summer season. Oxford Economics pointed to several causes for the gloomy tourism outlook: trade tariffs targeting traditional allies, troubling media reports on border security, and controversial travel advisories. Adam Sacks, president of Tourism Economics, criticized the Trump administration's approach, noting that Trump's aggressive rhetoric toward the European Union (EU), Greenland, and Canada are all unforced errors, and have impacts on how people view the U.S. A British woman working in sports echoed this sentiment, saying, "I disagree with many of Trump's policies. The U.S. just doesn't seem like a positive place. I'd rather visit France - and I think most Brits complain about Trump's policies." Avoiding travel is just one of the many ways Europeans are rejecting American influence. From daily household goods to tech and media, European consumers are actively boycotting U.S. brands. In Denmark, a Facebook group titled "Boykot varer fra USA (Boycott goods from USA)" surged to 95,000 members by April. Similar initiatives emerged in Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, and Poland, urging consumers to favor European-made products. On Reddit, around 200,000 members of the BuyFromEU community share alternatives to American brands such as Netflix, McDonald's, and Apple - down to everyday items like socks, ketchup, and headphones. To support the movement, European developers have launched barcode-scanning apps to help consumers identify the country of origin for products. Many supermarkets now feature dedicated sections for European goods, with clear signage highlighting EU-made products. Goldman Sachs analysts warned that the U.S. could lose up to 90 billion U.S. dollars in revenue in 2025 due to declining tourism and mounting international boycotts. The resulting slowdown could modestly drag on the country's GDP, primarily through reduced foreign tourism. Trump has destroyed the reputation of the U.S., said Paul English, co-founder of travel website Kayak. He stressed that the reduction of travels to the U.S. is not only one more terrible blow to the country's economy, but also represents reputation damage that could take generations to repair.
The Star
2 days ago
- The Star
Motor racing-Wheatley confident Audi will be winners in F1
FILE PHOTO: Formula One F1 - Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, Imola, Italy - May 18, 2025 Sauber team principal Jonathan Wheatley arrives ahead of the race REUTERS/Jakub Porzycki/File Photo (Reuters) -Timing is everything in Formula One and Jonathan Wheatley reckons he got his right in leaving Red Bull, the team with the most race wins and drivers' titles this century, to become principal of Sauber. The Swiss-based team will become the Audi works outfit from next season but were at the bottom of the standings until Nico Hulkenberg's fifth place in Spain last Sunday raised them two places to eighth. Sauber have won only once since 1993 -- in 2008 when owned by BMW -- and there are nagging questions about how competitive the 2026 engine will be, with early reports not encouraging. But Wheatley said they had all the building blocks for success. "We're looking at a campus expansion, we've got an ambitious program ahead of us and investment from Audi and QIA (Qatar Investment Authority). I'm really, really super-excited about where we're at," the Briton told Reuters. "I do not come to work to make up the numbers. I absolutely believe that we'll get on that path and we'll be winning races and world championships." Wheatley has decades of experience, now in his 35th year in Formula One after starting as a junior mechanic with Benetton. He joined Red Bull from Renault in 2006 and was sporting director when he left at the end of last season. With Red Bull he won six constructors' titles, eight drivers' titles and 120 grands prix. He was also instrumental in securing Max Verstappen's first title in 2021 after a radio conversation with race director Michael Masi triggered a fateful change to the safety car procedure. The Briton said such experiences had shaped him and would help in his new role, which he started in April. "The radio transcripts in Abu Dhabi showed the extreme competitive passion from all the teams and I can't begin to tell you what that feels like on the pitwall in a world championship life or death situation," he said. "There's a lot of people in my position in the sport who are intensely competitive. I've absolutely absorbed myself in that (at Red Bull) and I'm absorbing myself here. It really genuinely feels like my team already and I've only been here two months." Wheatley said the move to principal felt "entirely natural" and, unlike that from Renault to Red Bull, had involved no agonising. Red Bull had the most dominant season in Formula One history in 2023, winning 21 of 22 races, but were then in the firing line. Team boss Christian Horner faced allegations, of which he was cleared, of improper conduct towards a female employee. Relations with Verstappen's father Jos soured and star designer Adrian Newey announced his departure for Aston Martin. Wheatley, who could have stayed, said his decision was all about future opportunity. "There was a huge amount of talented people in that team over the whole period I was there. I've learned from as many of them as I could... we knitted a team together there and we did something quite extraordinary. "I absolutely loved that initial stage of transforming a team and then I kind of wanted to do it again... the idea of coming to this team in this transition period at this point in history was enormously attractive to me." While former Ferrari team boss Mattia Binotto heads the Audi project, Wheatley is in charge at the track and plans to attend all the races. "It's going to take time, but where we're starting from is a good place," he said. (Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Toby Davis)
