Investor Watch: January 2, 2025

COVER STORY

Site Selection presents our annual compendium of legislative and policy updates, statistics, demographic and cost insights, and project news.

SITE SELECTORS SURVEY

Georgia claims the top spot in our annual consultants’ poll, followed by the Carolinas. Power provision and labor shortages are among the consultants’ top issues.

ADVERTISEMENT

Universities nationwide are nudging international students to return to campus early to avoid potential re-entry trouble caused by anticipated immigration policy changes from the incoming presidential administration. So it pays to look at data from a report on the economic contribution of international students to the U.S. economy issued in November by NAFSA: Association of International Educators.

Setting aside the large numbers associated with Site Selection’s home page (siteselection.com), free (for corporate end-users) subscription page (https://siteselection.com/subscribe/) and Conway Custom Content home page full of state and area economic development guides (https://siteselection.com/guides-and-reports/), the 10 most viewed new stories of 2024 at siteselection.com saw an upset this year as a new July issue ranking of counties (July cover image above) toppled our traditional leader, the March issue’s highly anticipated Governor’s Cup rankings:

1. July 2024: “America’s Best Counties: More than supporting characters, counties play critical roles in regional prosperity.”
2. March 2024: “The 2023 Governor’s Cups: A newcomer to the winner’s circle and a 12-time repeat winner explain their strategies for corralling enough capital investment projects to claim the Cups.
3. November 2024: Why a UK Roadster Firm Chose A Small Virginia Town
4. March 2024: Mexico: The Dry Canal Is an Operational Reality: This is one Latin American infrastructure megaproject that is actually happening.
5. March 2024: 2023 Top Micropolitans: Ohio Delivers A Fab Five: Findlay leads the way, closing the loop on 10 years of dominance among smaller towns.
6. March 2024: Signs of Resilience and Resurgence in Ukraine: Two years on from the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian business community is actively reshaping the country’s narrative to attract investments and promote deal-making, moving away from its war-torn image and global economic uncertainties.
7. January 2024: The 2024 Regional Workforce Development Rankings
8. January 2024: Site Selectors Survey: Here Come the Boys from the South: Site selectors keep Southern locations at the top of their short lists.
9. March 2024: When It Has to Work 100% of the Time: A pair of growing operations demonstrate the value of cutting-edge skills and a deep manufacturing heritage to the South Carolina economy.
10. March 2024: An Underdog No More: A Hoosier’s 25-year trek in semiconductor manufacturing brings him back home to Indiana.

ADVERTISEMENT

A 2023 release from Kamoa Copper announcing an agreement to use Lobito Atlantic International SARL for the transportation of Kamoa-Kakula’s copper concentrate by rail from the Democratic Republic of Congo to the Atlantic Ocean port of Lobito in Angola showed current routes in red and the Lobito Railway Corridor route in orange. “Logistics costs account for over 30% of Kamoa-Kakula’s total cash costs, due to the long in-land distances travelled by road for exports to reach port,” the company said.

Foreign Policy last month published “Is the U.S. Answer to China’s Belt and Road Working?” The answer? The IDFC “has put the United States more on the map, but China remains king of global infrastructure.” Among the projects featured is the Lobito Corridor railway project in Africa, a project also profiled by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce last year and featured in a special update by U.S. officials at the United Nations in September.

Photo courtesy of MIA

Miami International Airport, which recently launched a $9 billion modernization project, expected to reach a new annual record of 55 million passengers by the end of December. MIA also anticipated more than 3 million passengers passing through during the 17-day travel period for Christmas and New Year’s Day from Saturday, December 21, to Monday, January 6, 2025.