Investor Watch: March 10, 2025

CordenPharma launches a $530 million project near Basel as it also expands in Boulder. Jabil aims to make more silicon photonics products in India. Saudi Aramco and partners near completion of an $11.5 billion petrochemical complex in China.

DATA CENTERS

Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary bets $70 billion on a new AI park in Alberta.

INVESTMENT PROFILE: PNK GROUP

PNK Group’s services streamline site development.

ADVERTISEMENT

The SS United States reached her highest recorded speed ever of 38.32 knots (44.1 mph), during her sea trials on June 10, 1952. It remains the greatest speed ever achieved by an ocean liner.
Photo courtesy of Charles Anderson and the SS United States Conservancy

Last Monday the last great American ocean liner, the SS United States, arrived at the Port of Mobile after an approximately 1,800-mile tow from her berth in Philadelphia, the SS United States Conservancy reported. The ship “will now undergo preparations for her deployment as the ‘World’s Largest Artificial Reef’ off Florida’s Gulf Coast near Destin-Fort Walton Beach,” the organization stated, to be paired with a shoreside museum and visitors center in Okaloosa County. It was the ship’s 401st voyage. The reefing of the hull should be complete in around one year.

“In the spirit of her record-breaking history, America’s Flagship concluded her journey from Philadelphia to Mobile faster than anticipated,” said SS United States Conservancy President Susan Gibbs of the ship that in 1952 set the record for fastest crossing of the Atlantic Ocean by a passenger liner. “As she moved through the waves for the first time in 28 years, countless onlookers and admirers along the country’s eastern seaboard were inspired by her majesty and beauty.”

In 2012, Dean Barber contributed to Site Selection this memorable account of the ship’s history and efforts to save it for posterity or redevelopment. In “Ship to Shore: A Love Story,” Susan Gibbs told him, “It really is remarkable the ship has not been scrapped before now. As the passenger ship with the longest time in layup, it has been more than a cat with nine lives. It is extraordinary that the vessel is still floating. The fact that she has lasted this long, again, is another reason why we just have to save this vessel for future generations.”

“On behalf of supporters of the SS United States from across the nation and around the globe,” Gibbs said last week, “we thank Captain Mike Vinik and his crew of the oceangoing tugboat Vinik #6 for their expert care during the tow of the ‘First Lady of the Seas’ over the course of her historic journey. The SS United States will never stop teaching us about American pride, purpose, and possibility.”

At one point on its journey south, the 53,329-gross-ton passenger liner rendezvoused with one of the largest cruise ships in the world today, Utopia of the Seas, which weighs in at 236,473 gross tons.

ADVERTISEMENT

The Carrier Center for Intelligent Buildings in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, was one of the first commercial buildings in the U.S. to achieve both WELL and LEED Platinum certifications.

Looking for ways to put career & technical education to work for your company? Carrier has a few ideas. The global HVAC company in January launched the Carrier TechVantage Initiative with a goal of hiring 1,000 U.S. service technicians and providing additional training to over 100,000 Carrier and Carrier partner HVAC technicians within five years. “By addressing the growing demand for technical expertise in the commercial HVAC sector, which is driven by rapid growth in data centers, industrial facilities and large-scale infrastructure projects, Carrier is setting a new benchmark for workforce innovation in the U.S.,” the company declared.

The company’s targeted investments include Carrier University, an approximately $4 million training facility in Charlotte, North Carolina, that the company says has already delivered nearly 22,000 hours of in-person, hands-on training for commercial HVAC technicians since it opened last year. In 2023, the company opened the $2 million Indianapolis Training Center, which has delivered over 15,000 hours to support the development of residential HVAC technicians within both Carrier and its channel partners and dealers, the company says. Altogether, the company in 2024 delivered nearly 132,000 hours of training to approximately 20,000 service technicians. It aims to deliver even more through future partnerships with vocational and technical institutions and through apprenticeships.

Photo courtesy of U.S. Geological Service, U.S. Department of the Interior

A photo posted to the U.S. Geological Service website in September 2023 offers a striking view of the Grand Prismatic Hot Spring from the vantage point of the Grand Prismatic Overlook Trail in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming. “Grand Prismatic Spring is the largest hot spring in the United States and one of the largest in the world,” says the USGS. Federal statistics show that between 1904 (when it welcomed 13,727 recreation visitors) through 2023 (when it welcomed 4.5 million, second only to the more than 4.8 million in 2021), Yellowstone welcomed a grand total of 203.7 million recreation visits.