To speculatively answer your original question about why Business Insider reported the plans in US Customary units: It's an American media company. Albeit owned

To speculatively answer your original question about why Business Insider reported the plans in US Customary units: It's an American media company. Albeit owned by a German publishing house. And the article was authored by someone out of London (where imperial units are still used commonly). But if you check other sources on the same news (eg Chinese state media company Xinhua [1] used only metric, or the Russian state-owned RT [2] uses only metric, while the Canada-based Reuters [3] uses a bizarre mix of only-metric, only-imperial, and both) - They're all writing for their target audience. Without watching the original TV address, I couldn't say which was originally used. [1] http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/africa/2021-05/16/c_139948357.htm http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/africa/2021-05/16/c_1399483... [2] https://www.rt.com/news/523483-suez-canal-expand-southern-stretch-blockage/ https://www.rt.com/news/523483-suez-canal-expand-southern-st... [3] https://www.reuters.com/world/suez-canal-chief-says-southern-stretch-be-expanded-2021-05-11/ https://www.reuters.com/world/suez-canal-chief-says-southern...