Thread: Bridge Comes to San Francisco With a Made-in-China Label

Bridge Comes to San Francisco With a Made-in-China Label
Ryan Pyle for The New York Times

By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: June 25, 2011
SHANGHAI — Talk about outsourcing.
Add to Portfolio


Jim Wilson/The New York Times

At a sprawling manufacturing complex here, hundreds of Chinese laborers are now completing work on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Next month, the last four of more than two dozen giant steel modules — each with a roadbed segment about half the size of a football field — will be loaded onto a huge ship and transported 6,500 miles to Oakland. There, they will be assembled to fit into the eastern span of the new Bay Bridge.

The project is part of China’s continual move up the global economic value chain — from cheap toys to Apple iPads to commercial jetliners — as it aims to become the world’s civil engineer.

The assembly work in California, and the pouring of the concrete road surface, will be done by Americans. But construction of the bridge decks and the materials that went into them are a Made in China affair. California officials say the state saved hundreds of millions of dollars by turning to China.

“They’ve produced a pretty impressive bridge for us,â€

He arrives at 7 a.m. and leaves at 11 p.m., often working seven days a week.

Working 16 hr days, seven days a week, for $12 a day. Wonder if he can take a nap, on the job ?

Originally Posted by magyart

He arrives at 7 a.m. and leaves at 11 p.m., often working seven days a week.

Working 16 hr days, seven days a week, for $12 a day. Wonder if he can take a nap, on the job ?

How about meal breaks & restroom breaks?