《经济学人》双语：美国卡车司机和铁路工人的命运

原文标题
American freight
Watching the wheels
Truckers and railwaymen face leaner times ahead
美国货运
观察车轮
卡车司机和铁路工人前路艰难

American railways and truckers are at a crossroads
Will their fortunes diverge?
美国铁路和卡车运输正处于十字路口
他们的命运会不同吗？

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IN SOME WAYS, freight rail and trucking seem to be direct competitors.Companies that need to get a container of goods from one city to another can choose between them.
从某些方面来说，货运铁路和卡车运输似乎是直接竞争对手。把一箱货物从一个城市运到另一个城市的公司需要在它们之间进行选择。

Rail is more cost-effective, fuel-efficient and can move greater volumes on a single trip. Trucking is usually faster and, unless the container is going from rail yard to rail yard, more direct.
铁路的性价比和燃料效率更高，单趟可以运输更大的货量。卡车运输的速度更快，如果集装箱不是从一个铁路站运到另一个铁路站，那么卡车运输可以直达。

In America, both sectors boomed during the pandemic, as service-deprived shoppers stocked up on stuff.
在美国，这两个行业在疫情期间都蓬勃发展，因为服务匮乏的购物者囤积了大量物资。

Now both are bracing for an economic slowdown, which may also affect them in similar ways.
现在这两个行业都在为经济放缓做准备，它们受经济影响也类似。

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Start with rail. Cost-cutting and price rises brought huge profits to American freight-rail firms in 2021 and 2022, despite lower volumes than before the pandemic.

首先说说铁路。尽管2021-2022年间的货运量低于疫情前，但成本下降和运费价格上涨为美国货运铁路公司带来了巨额利润。

Railways embraced “precision scheduling”, which reduces how long full train carriages sit in yards waiting for a long train to be built.

铁路采用了“精确调度”法，这减少了整列火车车厢在站里等待组装长途火车的时间。

The industry is also consolidating, which leads to greater pricing power.

该行业也在整合，这使运输公司有更大的定价权。

On April 14th Canadian Pacific will complete its purchase of Kansas City Southern, the first big freight-rail merger that the Surface Transportation Board (STB), the federal rail regulator, has approved since the 1990s.

4月14日，加拿大太平洋将完成对堪萨斯城南方公司的收购，这是联邦铁路监管机构——地面运输委员会（STB）自1990年代以来批准的首个大型货运铁路合并案。

That will leave America with just six large “Class I” rail companies.
这将使美国只剩下6家大型“一级”铁路公司。

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Counterintuitively, the merger may end up enhancing competition.

与直觉相反的是，合并可能最终会使竞争更加激烈。

That is because not all rail companies compete against each other directly.Rather, the country is split into duopolies: CSX and Norfolk Southern rule the east; Union Pacific and BNSF dominate the west.

这是因为并非所有铁路公司都直接相互竞争。相反，美国铁路形成了双寡头趋势：CSX运输和诺福克南方铁路主导东部区域；联合太平洋铁路和BNSF主导西部区域。

Those lines meet in the Midwest, where they compete with Canadian National and, now, the enlarged Canadian Pacific, which will provide the first train lines running from Canadian ports through the heart of America into Mexico.
这些线路在中西部交汇，在那里他们与加拿大国家铁路公司竞争，现在与扩大后的加拿大太平洋铁路公司竞争，后者将提供加拿大港口--美国腹地--墨西哥的首条火车线路。

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Instead of less choice, in other words, customers in America’s most crowded rail corridor, which runs through the centre of the country, will now have the option of moving goods on a single line from the northern to the southern border.
换句话说，美国最繁忙的铁路走廊贯穿该国中部，客户现在可以选择在一条线路上从北部边境向南部边境运送货物，而不是减少选择。

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If the merger is unlikely to boost margins for the industry, could more cost-cutting? Probably not.

如果合并不太可能提高行业利润率，那么是否可以进一步削减成本呢？可能不会。

Fuel, though down from recent peaks, remains pricier than before the war in Ukraine.

燃料价格虽然低于最近的峰值，但仍比乌克兰战前高。

Precision scheduling has come under scrutiny after a chemical-train derailment in Ohio in February.

在 2 月份俄亥俄州发生化学物品列车的脱轨事件后，精确调度受到了严格审查。

If Congress passes rail-safety legislation, that may reduce efficiency and increase costs. Non-fuel expenses such as insurance are already going up.
如果国会通过铁路安全立法，那么可能会降低铁路效率也会增加成本。保险等非燃料费用都已上涨。

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So are labour costs, as rail firms recruit workers to improve service.

由于铁路公司招聘工人来改善服务，劳动力成本也在上升。

At the start of 2023 they employed 8% more people than a year earlier, even though volumes and traffic had fallen in the preceding 12 months.

尽管在过去12个月中运量和交通量都有所下降，但在2023年初，他们雇佣的人数比一年前多了8%。

Amit Mehrotra of Deutsche Bank notes that adding staff even as volumes decline is a sign that “rail is playing the long game and focusing on service.” But, he concedes, “the bumper-profit period is over.”
德意志银行的阿米特·梅赫罗特拉指出，即使在运量下降的情况下还增加员工，表明“铁路要专注于服务并做好打持久战”的迹象。但是他也承认，“铁路暴利时代已经结束了。”

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The same could be true for hauliers, for many similar reasons.

由于许多类似的原因，对于卡车运输公司来说情况也是如此。

During the pandemic, demand soared and the number of trucking firms, starting one of which requires little more from an entrepreneur than securing the right licence and a lorry, steadily increased.

在疫情期间，需求激增，加上创办一家卡车运输公司很简单，只需要创业者提供相关许可证和一辆卡车即可，卡车运输公司数量稳步增加。

Today America has nearly 600,000 such companies, 100,000 more than in 2019.

如今，美国有近 60 万家此类公司，比 2019 年增加了 10 万家。

Capacity has been recovering from a covid-induced dip: in February it was 4% higher than the year before.

产能一直在从疫情的低谷中恢复：2月份比去年同期高4%。

But the market is much softer: in the fourth quarter of 2022 freight volumes fell to their lowest level since 2014.
但市场要疲软得多：2022 年第四季度货运量降至 2014 年以来的最低水平。

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The combination of robust supply and weakening demand has produced an unusual pricing situation.

强劲的供应和疲软的需求相结合，产生了不寻常的定价情况。

Typically, rates in the spot market, which shippers use when they have freight to move straight away, exceed contract rates, which shippers and trucking firms set for a fixed term, usually a year.

一般情况下，现货市场的价格（托运人在需要立即运输货物时）高于合同价格（托运人和卡车运输公司约定固定期限，通常为一年）。

For roughly the past 12 months, says Dan Murray of the American Transportation Research Institute, an industry body, “the spot market has been on life support” (see chart).

美国运输研究所（一个行业机构）的丹·穆雷说，大约在过去 12 个月里，“现货市场在生命线上挣扎”（见图表）。

In February, spot rates were more than 70% lower than the year before—and below contract rates.
2月份，现货价格比去年同期低70%以上——且低于合同价格。

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This price signal could lead some truckers to call it a day. Others may, like their railway rivals, try to consolidate.

这个价格信号可能会让一些卡车司机收工不干了。其他卡车运输公司可能会像竞争的铁路公司一样，尝试整合。

On March 21st Knight-Swift, one of America’s biggest truckers, agreed to buy biggish but struggling US Xpress.

3月21日，美国最大的卡车运输公司之一Knight-Swift同意收购规模较大但陷入困境的US Xpress。

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In the longer run, however, things may be looking up for American truckers and railwaymen alike.

然而，从长远来看，美国卡车司机和铁路工人的情况可能都会好转。

The government is ploughing hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to boost domestic manufacturing, particularly of green-energy equipment and semiconductors.

政府正在投入数千亿美元的补贴来促进国内制造业，尤其是绿色能源设备和半导体行业。

If those handouts have the desired effect, that could mean more intermediate goods, in addition to finished products, to ferry around America’s vastness.
如果这些补贴产生了预期效果，那意味着除了成品外，还有更多中间产品需要在美国广袤的土地上运输。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量864左右）
原文出自：2023年4月8日《The Economist》Business版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
精确调度Precision Scheduled Railroading (PSR)是一种运营铁路的方法，通过在单个车厢上安排和管理货物运输，以实现最大资产利用率。这是一种商业策略，旨在通过整合网络、放弃效率低下的服务和线路，并将交通从以货物场为中心的轮毂-辐条运营转移到点对点的列车运动 。PSR已经被多家美国铁路公司采用，包括联合太平洋铁路、诺福克南方铁路、CSX运输、加拿大太平洋铁路和加拿大国家铁路。

【重点句子】（3 个）
Rail is more cost-effective, fuel-efficient and can move greater volumes on a single trip. Trucking is usually faster and, unless the container is going from rail yard to rail yard, more direct.
铁路的性价比和燃料效率更高，单趟可以运输更大的货量。卡车运输的速度更快，如果集装箱不是从一个铁路站运到另一个铁路站，那么卡车运输可以直达。

The combination of robust supply and weakening demand has produced an unusual pricing situation.
强劲的供应和疲软的需求相结合，产生了不寻常的定价情况。

In the longer run, however, things may be looking up for American truckers and railwaymen alike.
然而，从长远来看，美国卡车司机和铁路工人的情况可能都会好转。