Kaiser Permanente strike looms | Grupo México company found responsible for massive toxic spill | Panama Canal reduces capacity… again

In today's Portfolio Intelligence Daily, where we highlight under the radar investment themes and idiosyncratic company risks:

• Kaiser Permanente strike looms
• Grupo México company found responsible for massive toxic spill
• Panama Canal reduces capacity… again

Auquan’s analyst team curates these summaries from our intelligence engine, which uses retrieval augmented generation (RAG AI) to uncover unique insights at scale, typically involving emerging markets, supply chains, financially-material ESG risks, and the impact of regulatory changes.

"People would like it if AI could do the heavy lifting for them, and condense all the information down to what is actually useful for the associates. Employees could therefore focus on what humans are good at: Thinking, making decisions, dropping conclusions, not just pulling data from different data sources and joining them together... the creative, interesting, and decision making tasks." — Chandini Jain, CEO, Auquan

Read this interview with Chandini Jain in Maddyness.

Kaiser Permanente strike looms

The healthcare worker unions at Kaiser Permanente do not expect a new agreement with the healthcare provider, raising the risk of a strike.?

• Their current contract is expiring, and the unions are preparing for strike action.
• In September, over 75,000 Kaiser healthcare workers announced a strike from Oct. 4 to Oct. 7.?
• This strike would take place across multiple states including California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Virginia, and Washington DC.?
• The coalition workers are demanding resolution on three issues. These include a short-staffing crisis, a pay increase, and an improvement in medical plans.

Select timeline?

• October 2, 2023 | Kaiser Permanente workers say deal unlikely to avert strike (Reuters)
• October 1, 2023 | Kaiser Permanente contract expires (CNN)
• September 29, 2023 | Overworked and understaffed: Kaiser workers are on the brink of a nationwide strike (NPR)

Tags: #kaiserpermanente #strike #labor #healthcare #us?

Grupo México company found responsible for massive toxic spill

A ruling from Semarnat has confirmed that the Buenavista del Cobre mining company, owned by Grupo México, has consistently polluted the territory where the Sonora and Bacanuchi rivers are located.

• The Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (Semarnat), or Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources, is the Mexican government agency responsible for the conservation and sustainable use of the country's ecosystems and natural resources, as well as pollution control, climate change prevention, and water resource management.
• In 2014, the mining company had a spill of 40 million liters of acidulated copper sulfate solution into the Bacanuchi and Sonora rivers, considered the largest toxic spill in the history of mining in Mexico, impacting over 22 thousand individuals.?
• According to the Semarnat report, the spill occurred due to a poor and inadequate hydrological design of the mine's Tinajas 1 system.
• Grupo México is a Mexican conglomerate and one of the largest companies in Mexico, with operations in a variety of industries, including mining, transportation, infrastructure, and energy.

Select timeline

• October 1, 2023 | Contaminación en río Sonora persiste tras derrame de Grupo México en 2014, confirma SEMARNAT (ZETA de Tijuana)
• September 30, 2023 | Derrame de Grupo México en río Sonora ?no fue un accidente?, reconoce Semarnat (Desinformémonos)
• September 28, 2023 | Grupo Mexico mining company is responsible for pollution of the Sonora River: Semarnat (Pie de Pagina)

Tags: #mining #mexico #toxicspill #pollution #grupomexico #esg

Panama Canal reduces capacity… again

The Panama Canal will decrease the maximum number of ships allowed per day from 32 to 31 in response to a months-long drought that caused a decrease in the supply of fresh water needed to operate the locks.?

• Normally, the canal operates with daily averages of 36 to 38 ships.

• The Panama Canal Authority, which manages the waterway, said earlier this month that the measures were necessary due to the unprecedented challenges posed by the severe drought, which has no historical precedence.
• In June, the Panama Canal Authority announced that it will further restrict the maximum ship depth that can pass through the canal due to a drought that has lowered water levels.
• Asia-to-US cargo can choose to go through the Suez Canal or use ports in Southern California, which would then require loading containers onto trains or trucks for transport to population centres in the Midwest and East Coast.

Select timeline

• September 30, 2023 | Panama Canal reduces the maximum number of ships travelling the waterway to 31 per day (ABC News)
• August 21, 2023 | Major shipping routes are struggling with water shortages. El Ni?o could make it worse (CNBC)
• May 22, 2023 | Severe Drought Forces Panama Canal To Impose Shipping Restrictions (Marine Insight)

Tags: #panamacanal #drought #climatechange #shipping #logistics #elnino?

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