In Aesop’s timeless fable, the boastful hare challenges the slow-moving tortoise to a race, certain of an easy win. But as the story goes, the hare naps, the tortoise perseveres, and to everyone’s surprise, the underdog prevails.
There’s something unexpectedly relevant in that story when viewed through the lens of today’s global port system. For decades, the United States operated like the hare: confident, dominant and coasting on past success. Meanwhile, countries like China and Singapore played the part of the tortoise, quietly building, refining, automating — and ultimately surpassing us.
Read more here.