City Analysis

1.  Based on Madrid's population of 3.234 million people I would place it as a regional metropolis on the hierarchy of central places. Madrid is the largest city in Spain and has a metropolitan area population of 6,321,389 people. This area covers about 5.335,97 km² of land. The largest suburbs are in the south and on the main areas leading out of Madrid. The main locations along the "inner ring" are Getafe, Coslada, and San Fernando de Henares. The second largest city in Spain is Barcelona with a population of 1.621 million people. Valencia is another large city in Spain 797,028 people. A smaller city in Spain is Zaragoza with a population of 679,624 people. 

2.  Not only is Madrid the largest city in Spain it is also the capital. Madrid has a very developed metro system. The metro is currently the sixth largest metro in the world and has an annual ridership of about 634,598,000. Since the city is located in the middle of the country it is the site for many routes to other parts of Spain. The Madrid-Barajas Airport is the international airport located in spain. It is the country's largest and busiest airport. Because it is a large city Madrid has a lot of clubs and restaurants to offer. Madrid is known for its nightlife and there are multiple clubs to visit throughout the night. Madrid also has many tourist destinations and attractions like the Museo del Prado. One thing that is locally unavailable in Madrid is a direct route to the ocean. The city is located in the middle of Spain so it is likely that there is a lot of importing of food into the city and very little growing of local foods.

A map of Madrid's metro system. 

View of Madrid. 

Vehicle Market Executive Summary

Based on research findings the vehicle that would produce the best market is the mid sized four-door sedan. This choice is based on the large population in Spain, 47,370,542, that consist of about 25 million drivers, anda GDP per capita of $30,400. A second reason is due to the fact that Spain consists of 166,000 kilometers of road. Most of these roads are motorways and express highways that are best suited for vehicles larger than motor scooters. Spain’s rising unemployment rate, 26%, makes owning a mid sized sedan more cost efficient. The vehicles would arrive into the country on shipping boats, then because Spain consists have a large number of roads, the vehicles would be distributed by land. Because of Spain’s current economy starting a business has been more difficult than usual, but Spain is ranked number 44 out of 185 countries to do business in.

News Summary Blog 4

http://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/News.aspx?ElementId=f716afb5-5fbf-45b8-9e0c-81601b08e265

1.  For the first time since 1971 Spain has reported a monthly trade surplus. A trade surplus is usually seen as a positive since during a trade surplus a nation has control over most of its currency, but this surplus is only indicating a large slump in imports rather than an increase in economic activity. Comparing the month of March this year to the month last year Spain has experienced a 15% decrease in imports. The trade surplus in march was reportedly 634.9 million euros. Exports also suffered a 8.1% decrease in March this year, but overall exports have increased by 2% this year. The Economy Ministry has said that this process will continue unless countries begin to reorient its sales to markets where the economy is more favorable such as the Middle East, Africa, and the United States. This week, Figures showed that the Eurozone is in its longest recession on record. Spain is the Eurozone's fourth largest economy and its unemployment rate has reached 26.7% this year.

2.  This issue relates to part 4 of the country profile. In that post I found that Spain earns about $293.2 billion a year (2009) from imports. The 15% decrease in imports will hurt Spain's economy even more. For that assignment I also found that Spain imports so many things because of their lack of resources in the country. It is estimated that 1.813 million barrels of oil are imported into the country each year. The article did not specifically mention what imports have decreased, but since Spain consists of a lot of coastline, seaports could potentially begin to suffer as well.

3.  The article hinted that this problem arose from Spain trading with markets with poor economies. The  reason why this trade surplus is such a problem is the fact that imports have dropped 15%. Due to the economic crisis economic activity is already low, this surplus did not cause activity to rise. A resolution to this problem would be for Spain to take the Economy Ministry's advice and start trading in markets with a favorable economy. A policy that could improve this situation could be implementing a trade agreement with one of the country the Economy Ministry suggested or another country with a better economy.

The Box

1.  A passage that I found interesting is, "The container is at the core of a highly automated system for moving goods from anywhere, to anywhere, with a minimum of cost and complication on the way." I found this passage interesting because it makes shipping seem so simple. Later on in the reading it mentions that shipments will travel miles and miles without even being opened or tampered with. That makes it so that companies know that their products are sure to get to their proper location with little complications. This process is also done rather quickly. I had never though about how fast a shipment occurs, but I figured it would take a long time. The fact that a container can now be shipped from Malaysia to LA in just 16 days is amazing, not to mention how little that shipment costs. 

2.  The development of the shipping container contributes to globalization by making the cost of shipping so low. these ships are able to hold a huge amount of cargo and some ships only need 20 workers on board. The low cost of shipping made it so that other countries could reasonably ship and receive goods. This allowed businesses to become international. nearly priceless shipping made it easy for manufactures to avoid higher pay costs by being able to move abroad. Computers also help make shipping costs stay low because they are able to determine when containers will be loaded and discharged, and where they are to go. This allows there to be less workers on the dock. Also, these ships have allowed trade to become much faster and efficient. 

3.  Locations with large docks are who will gain from the transformation of global transportation. When this transformation began small docks became inadequate because these shipping boats were just too big for them to take on. Old shipping locations also lost in this transformation because the costs of modernizing the location was too expensive. Small towns close to the docks with lots of space benefit. They have the available space to store the items being shipped to and from the docks. Large industrial complexes also benefit because the cost of shipping is so low. 

News Summary Blog 3

http://www.elmundo.es/elmundo/2013/05/06/madrid/1367829709.html

1.  The article is a basic summary of unemployment rates in Madrid during the month of April compared to the previous month and year. Unemployment has gone down in April by .48% less than it was in March. Though, unemployment is still significantly higher this April than it was last. since last April unemployment has risen by 37,713 people or 7.10%. Though nationally, unemployment is at the lowest its been in April since 2007 with a .91% increase in employment. Of the 569,030 people unemployed in Madrid 287,710 of them are women with the remaining 281,320 being men. The two sectors that are facing the most unemployment at the moment are the construction industry and the agriculture sector. The article then goes on to mention unemployment rates among foreign residents. Unemployment rates in this group are much lower than those of Spanish citizens in Madrid. From March to April unemployment among foreigners fell 1.29%. There is a slight difference in the major sectors experiencing high unemployment. Foreigners are also experiencing unemployment in the construction and agriculture sectors, but are also experiencing the most unemployment in services sector. During April 131,866 people received some kind of benefits. Right now the average amount received per month is 881.2 euros per month which totals to more than 336.1 million euros per year.

2.  This relates to class because we were talking about immigration and emigration last week. Due to Spain's current economy I was a little confused as to why immigration was still so high. This article seems to show that foreigners are not having as hard of a time finding work as Spanish citizens are. This is very interesting to me and I would like to know why this is. I would also like to have known where the foreign residents that are able to attain jobs are coming from. These numbers could be what is contributing to the immigration rate in Spain regardless of the current economy.

3.  There is no specific cause of this situation mentioned in the article, but one can assume it is due to the current economic crisis. A solution I can think of for the problem is to create more jobs for Spanish residents. This would save money also considering the government is paying 336.1 million euros a year in benefits to foreign residents as well as citizens. I think the government could implement some kind of policy to improve this situation, but I don't know what that policy would look like, or if that could even be done.

Country Profile Part 5

1. Water transportation
     The Port of Valencia is the largest ocean port in spain and is located in Valencia in the Mediterranean Sea basin. The traffic capacity of this port in about 57 million metric tons of cargo. The port also employs many residents of the area and generates 51% of Spain's GDP.
     Other major ports in Spain include the Port of Barcelona, Algeciras, and the Port of Vigo. The Port of Barcelona is Catalonia's largest port. Algeciras is one of the largest ports in Europe. The Port of Vigo is the biggest fishing port in the world.

2. Land transportation
     There are a number of high speed rail lines in spain known as the AVE (Alta Velocidad Español) and like most of the trains in Spain, it is operated by RENFE. RENFE also operates freight systems on the Spanish nationalized infrastructure company. The rail line is 2,665 km long and is the longest in Europe and 2nd longest in the world after China. The line connects Madrid with several other large cities in Spain. These high speed trains can reach speeds up to 186 mph. Also, Madrid has the sixth longest subway system in the world.
     The Spanish motorway network is the fourth largest in the world behind the United States, China, and Canada. There are two types of roads in spain autopistas and autovías. The difference between these two kinds of roads is mainly historical. Both are divided highways with full access control with speeds between 37 and 75 mph. Autopistas are mainly for travel and are often toll roads. Autovías are usually upgrades of older roads and do not contain tolls. These roads are meant for slower speeds so it is acceptable for bicycles and agricultural machinery to use them.

3. Air transportation
     The biggest international airport in Spain is Madrid-Barajas airport which is the main international airport in madrid serving over 49 million passengers in 2010 and 2011. Since opening in 1928 it has become one of the most important aviation centers in europe. The second biggest international airport is Barcelona-El Prat. The airport mainly serves domestic flights in Europe and North Africa, but also offers flights to southeast Asia, Latin America, and North America. The Alicante airport is the sixth busiest airport in spain and about 80% of flights are international.
     Two very important domestic airports in spain are the Sabadell airport and the Cuatro Vientos airport. The Sabadell airport in located in Sabadell and the Cuatro Vientos airport is located in Madrid and is the oldest airport in Spain. The Cuatro Vientos was originally a military airbase and was then converted to a civil airport. The Sabadell airports is home to the oldest aviation club in spain and includes a training school.