单选题
Some economists believe that the United States can
be utilized as a "land bridge" for the shipment of containerized cargo between
Europe and the Far East. Under the land- bridge concept, containerized freight
traveling between Europe Line and the Far East would be shipped by ocean carrier
to the United States East Coast, unloaded and placed on special railway flatc,
rs, and shipped via railroad to a West Coast port. At this port, the containers
would then be loaded on ships bound to a Far East port of entry. This procedure
would be reversed for material traveling in the opposite direction. Thus, a land
transportation system would be substituted for marine transportation during part
of the movement of goods between Europe and the Far East. If a
land-bridge system of shipment were deemed feasible and competitive with
alternative methods, it would open a completely new market for both United
States steamship lines and railroads. At present, foreign lines carry all Far
East-Europe freight. American carriers get none of this trade, and the all-water
route excludes the railroads. The system established by a land
bridge could also serve to handle goods now being shipped between the United
States West Coast and Europe, or goods shipped between the Far East and the
United States Gulf and East Coast. Currently, there are 20 foreign lines
carrying West Coast freight to Europe via the Panama Canal, but not one United
States line. Thus, in addition to the land bridge getting this new business for
the railroads, it also gives the United States East Coast ships an opportunity
to compete for this trade. While this method of shipment will
probably not add to the labor requirements at East and West Coast piers, it does
have the potential of absorbing some of the jobs that the containerization of
current cargo has eliminated or could eliminate. Thus, the possibility of
creating new jobs for longshoremen is not an expected benefit of such a system,
but it will most certainly create other labor requirements. The land-bridge
concept has the potential of offering new job openings for United States railway
workers and seamen. In addition, there would be expansion of labor requirements
for people in the shipbuilding and container manufacturing business.
By making United States rail transportation an export service, the
land-bridge system would have a favorable effect on our balance of payments.
Such a system also has the potential of relieving the United States government
of part of the burden it now bears in the form of subsidies to the shipping
industry. The federal government subsidizes the construction and operation of
scheduled vessels. Some 52 percent of the income from their operation comes from
the government in that these ships are used for all our military and other
government-related export shipments. The land-bridge requirement for scheduled
sailings could effect a shift from the use of these scheduled lines for shipment
of government goods to commercial cargo of the land bridge. This would then open
some of the lucrative government business to the unscheduled, unsubsidized
lines.
单选题
According to the passage, if a land-bridge system were feasible, it
would ______.
A. create employment in the bridge-building industry
B. decrease the amount of air freight
C. create a new market for steamship lines and railroads