Sep. 18--Kawasaki's largest customer has warned its suppliers that it may have to cut back on both existing and future contracts because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Patrick J. Foye, CEO of the Metropolitan Transit Authority, wrote in a letter to Kawasaki Rail Car and several other companies that "many current and all future contracts are in jeopardy" because of the "financial devastation" caused by COVID-19.
Foye said the authority, which serves much of the New York metropolitan area, is losing $200 million a week due to reduced ridership, "an unprecedented crisis that eclipses even the Great Depression's impact on our ridership and finances."
"These declines, compounded by the loss of state and local taxes and subsidies that support our organization, have left us with a $16 billion projected deficit through 2024," he wrote in the letter.
Foye said the authority needs $12 billion in emergency federal aid or it may have to eliminate much of its current and future capital spending.
Kawasaki in 2018 was awarded a contract with the authority that, if all options are exercised, would be worth $3.6 billion and include the manufacture of more than 1,600 subway cars. Most of that work would be done at the company's rail car plant in Lincoln.
Since 2011, Kawasaki has done more than $15 billion worth of work for the authority -- more than all other rail car companies combined -- with much of that work done in Lincoln, where the company's North American rail car manufacturing operations are based. Most of the work the Lincoln plant has currently is with the organization.
Of the roughly 2,000 workers at the Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing operation in northwest Lincoln, roughly 600 of them work in the rail car division. There also are a number of Kawasaki suppliers with local operations that employ hundreds more people.
An official at the Lincoln plant said that Kawasaki supports the organization in efforts to shore up its finances.
"Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp., U.S.A. currently has enough work that is fully funded to carry us through, but it is of course something we are paying attention to," Jason Hellbusch, the plant's director of administration, said in a statement. "The MTA is our No. 1 customer and if they believe that federal assistance is needed for long-term financial health, we certainly support them in that effort."
Reach the writer at 402-473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.
On Twitter @LincolnBizBuzz.
___
(c)2020 Lincoln Journal Star, Neb.
Visit Lincoln Journal Star, Neb. at www.journalstar.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
"current" - Google News
September 21, 2020 at 06:25PM
https://ift.tt/2ZVlLGV
NE: Big Kawasaki customer says current and future contracts are in jeopardy - MassTransitMag.com
"current" - Google News
https://ift.tt/3b2HZto
https://ift.tt/3c3RoCk
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "NE: Big Kawasaki customer says current and future contracts are in jeopardy - MassTransitMag.com"
Post a Comment