In the pipeline: Florida Fuel Connection says it plans to spend $75 million to build a petroleum terminal and rail transportation facility in East Feliciana Parish near the Mississippi River. According to a press release, the complex will provide a starting point for the shipment of gasoline and other fuels via rail to Florida, which lacks pipeline connections to regional oil refineries and primarily imports its fuel stocks by marine vessels. Louisiana Economic Development estimates the project will create 50 new direct jobs. FFC anticipates being fully operational by the first quarter of 2017 and at its peak will transport 240,000 barrels per day of petroleum products. The state is providing FFC an incentive package that includes, among other things, a tax credit of $2,500 for every qualifying new permanent job created. LED has more details.
Counting cars: The average age of vehicles on the road in the U.S. is rising, even as consumers snap up more new vehicles—a paradox attributable to substantial increases in reliability. The typical car on the road in the U.S. is a record-high 11.5 years old, according to a new IHS Automotive survey. Yet Americans are buying cars at an annualized rate of more than 17 million vehicles, marking a high not seen since before the Great Recession. How are vehicles getting older, while Americans are buying newer cars, too? Simple. Consumers are buying new vehicles at a faster pace and are less likely to scrap old cars that are still running fine. U.S. vehicle owners bought 42% more cars than they scrapped in 2014, according to IHS. Also last year, the number of light vehicles registered in the U.S. hit an all-time high of 257.9 million units. USA Today has the full story.
Cups of ambition: Coffee shops reportedly are the fastest-growing segment of the restaurant industry, yet a new Gallup survey the percentage of Americans who regularly drink coffee hasn’t budged. The survey shows 64% of U.S. adults report drinking at least one cup of coffee on an average day, unchanged from 2012 and remarkably similar to the figure in 1999. Additionally, coffee drinkers currently report consuming just under three cups of coffee per day, also unchanged. More specifically, 26% of American adults say they drink one cup of coffee on an average day, 19% drink two, 8% drink three, and 11% drink four or more. The remaining 36% drink none. Coffee drinkers tend to be older, with 74% of adults aged 55 and older consuming it daily, versus 50% of those aged 18 to 34. Among coffee drinkers, those younger than 35 tend to drink fewer cups per day on average—1.8—than those aged 35 and older, who consume roughly three cups per day. See the full survey results.
