1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 2414
Although the delivery period claimed by Zhang Tiangui sounds very long, it is not an exaggeration for the shipbuilding industry of this era. A ship begins with the delivery of a deposit and an order. The shipyard needs to formulate a shipbuilding plan, prepare materials, prepare berths, lay keels, It will take a certain amount of time to build the hull, launch outfitting, go to sea for sea trials, and deliver and accept.Although the Yugong-class sailboat that Liang Liping plans to order has a mature construction plan, which can save a lot of preparatory work, the construction cycle of this large sailboat is already long, let alone ordering eight ships at a time, the Sanya Shipyard is simply free. Without so many slipways, construction can only be carried out in batches, and the construction period will naturally have to be extended.

Liang Liping actually knows all these things, but Sanya Shipyard is the shipyard with the strongest technical force in Haihan, where the Yugong-class sailboat was originally born, so it also has the most experience in building this kind of cargo sailboat.Although the construction cost is higher than that of foreign shipyards, Liang Liping of course hopes that the cargo ships he ordered with a lot of money can get reliable quality assurance.

But now it seems that the three key factors of shipbuilding location, cost and delivery time cannot reach a balance that satisfies Liang Liping. Conditions are compromised.

Yu Feng did not intervene on this issue, because this is not his professional scope. It is Liang Liping who deals with shipbuilding, shipping, logistics and other fields every day. He has done a lot of preliminary work, and he believes that his wife can make an accurate judgment on the current situation and choose the most beneficial method for him.

Zhang Tiangui saw that Liang Liping was still hesitant about his suggestion, so he went on to say: "If Director Liang approves of subcontracting shipbuilding orders, then I recommend to you the government offices in Danzhou, Haikou, Hong Kong, Kaohsiung, and Zhoushan." The shipyard can build Yugong-class cargo sailboats. As for the delivery and acceptance, it can be done locally, or the shipyard can arrange to sail the ship back to Sanya for delivery.”

Liang Liping asked bluntly: "But if I place orders with these shipyards, the cost should be slightly cheaper than Sanya Shipyard, right?"

"Probably [-]% to [-]% cheaper." Zhang Tiangui frankly admitted Liang Liping's statement: "But this matter can not only be based on the price, the shipbuilding orders subcontracted by Sanya, and the future repair and maintenance, Sanya Shipyard also You have to be responsible to the end. But if Director Liang finds these shipyards to place orders on his own, then Sanya will have no corresponding responsibilities. This is not an old man’s arbitrary decision, but a long-standing regulation of the Ministry of Shipping, and all shipyards follow it. If the cargo ships ordered by Mr. Liang intend to go on a route other than Sanya, then you can choose the nearest shipyard according to the actual arrangement, but if Sanya is the home port, then the old man suggests that it is best to choose after placing the order at the Sanya shipyard. Pack it out again."

Zhang Tiangui has already made it very clear that the price difference charged by Sanya Shipyard is to bear the cost of after-sales maintenance in the future.If Liang Liping thinks that Sanya Shipyard will not need to repair and maintain these ships in the future, then there is no need to place an order here.

However, both Yu Feng and Liang Liping work in Sanya, and the shipyard company Liang Liping planned will also use Sanya as the home port to conduct business, so it is natural to consider the future maintenance needs of the ship.It seems that in order to shorten the delivery time of the order as much as possible, she can only compromise on the price and the location of the ship.

However, Liang Liping did not approve of Zhang Tiangui's plan, and asked him carefully about the situation of various government-run shipyards to confirm that these shipyards were capable of building Yugong-class cargo sailboats.

Zhang Tiangui understood what she was worried about, and said that the corresponding quality requirements and shipbuilding schedule would be written into the contract, and there was no need to worry that other shipyards could not deliver qualified cargo ships on time.Taking a step back, if such a situation really happens, Sanya Shipyard will also assume corresponding responsibilities and provide compensation or other forms of compensation to the ship owner.

After hearing this explanation, Liang Liping felt that such conditions were acceptable, so he spent some time confirming with Zhang Tiangui how to subcontract the order of these eight ships to ensure the fastest delivery time.

After roughly negotiating these details, Zhang Tiangui asked Liang Liping when she planned to sign a formal shipbuilding contract. After all, the shipyard would not officially start the relevant procedures until her shipbuilding payment was in place.Liang Liping said that he still needs to meet with officials of other relevant departments before he can confirm whether the shipbuilding plan needs to be changed, and there will be news within two or three days at the earliest.

The next person Liang Liping will meet is Schneider, who is in charge of finance and trade.The next day, when she met Schneider, Yu Feng didn't follow him because he couldn't leave because of the on-site production work in the factory.

The purpose of Liang Liping's meeting with Schneider is to use the bonus shares of the husband and wife as collateral to obtain a loan from Haihan Bank for shipbuilding and start a shipping company.For this reason, she also prepared a business plan in advance to deal with Schneider's review.

Schneider patiently read Liang Liping's plan, nodded and praised: "This plan is very professional, but if you want to run this company, it means you have to leave your current position. Am I right to understand that?"

Liang Liping's current job is under the Ministry of Commerce, and Schneider can be regarded as her immediate boss, so it is only natural to ask about this matter.Liang Liping did not deny Schneider's interpretation, nodded and said: "After the company opens, I will definitely not be able to continue working in the Ministry of Commerce, at least not a full-time position. But I have been waiting for more than ten years, and I have to do something. That’s why I made up my mind to come here.”

"I must say, this is really a great loss for the Ministry of Commerce. From an official point of view, I am very reluctant to let you go." Schneider paused, and then said: "But from a personal point of view, I will still congratulate you Bravely took this step. After so many years, many people have forgotten their original intention to come to this world, content with having fun, and are unwilling to work hard... I am glad to see someone like you stand up and do it Some things that only us time travelers can do."

Liang Liping didn't expect Schneider to have such a high opinion of him, so he hurriedly said a few words modestly, thinking that today's matter should go more smoothly than he expected.

But Schneider immediately changed the topic: "Although you have resigned from the public office, the Ministry of Commerce will still assign personnel to supervise your shipping company. This is also for your own good."

Liang Liping nodded and said, "I understand this rule."

Not all private commercial organizations are subject to the supervision of the Ministry of Commerce, but if they want to receive official business, they must have corresponding qualifications, and accepting official supervision is one of the necessary conditions.It may be difficult for Liang Liping's shipping company to attract enough freight business from the private sector at the initial stage of opening, so it is very likely that it will have to rely on the government to provide some supporting business, and then some corresponding conditions must be implemented.And Liang Liping was originally a practitioner, so he naturally understood what Schneider meant.

Schneider continued: "Your husband is in Tiandu all the year round, and you usually have to take care of your family and children, so the two of you may not be qualified for long-term business trips. Your shipping company can take care of your destination. A part of the business is entrusted to the Ministry of Commerce, which can avoid many unnecessary troubles."

When Schneider read the proposal, he keenly noticed some weak links, such as the staffing of professionals.With Liang Liping's current conditions, it should be difficult to recruit enough professional business people to set up offices overseas in a short period of time, and it may not even be possible to recruit all the required crew members, and the couple cannot leave for a long time Sanya is traveling around to handle various affairs. In this case, entrusting part of the business to the Ministry of Commerce is probably the best solution.

As for the loan, the preferential conditions provided by Schneider also reflect the tendency to support private entrepreneurship. The interest rate is low and the repayment period can be adjusted flexibly. If the operating condition of the shipping company is good, it may only take one or two years to repay the loan. .

These conditions given by Schneider are actually in line with Liang Liping's wishes.Why doesn't she know where her shortcomings are? Funds, personnel, and business methods are difficult for her to solve by herself. The reason why she dares to jump out to start a business under such conditions is that she relies on business the enormous resources that the Ministry can provide for it.After the establishment of this shipping company, it still had to be attached to the Ministry of Commerce for a long period of time, so that Liang Liping could have a buffer time to solve various problems.

"In addition, I suggest that you start contacting the business now to see if it is possible to undertake some long-term and stable freight business, such as the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Industry, and the Ministry of Agriculture. They have a lot of goods to be shipped in and out every year. As long as you allocate a little, it will be enough for your eight boats to run." Schneider continued to suggest to Liang Liping: "Although these departments will be a little slower to pay and settle accounts, but fortunately, the business is stable, as long as you can receive it, you basically don't need it." Worried about losing money."

Hearing what he said, Liang Liping recalled Lu Zhanpeng's suggestion of using Miaoli, Taiwan as a cargo destination when he was sailing on a boat the day before yesterday. The proposed plan was mentioned, but she did not mention Lu Zhanpeng's name specifically out of caution, so as to avoid unnecessary complications.

After listening, Schneider asked: "You didn't agree to the other party at the time, because you thought the local cargo volume was not enough to support the establishment of a dedicated cargo route?"

Liang Liping frankly admitted Schneider's guess, and said that the local development process does not seem to be ideal. If a special route is to be established, the shipping company has to carry out some targeted modifications to the cargo ship and provide special training for the crew. These additional investments may not be able to earn back.

Schneider said with a smile: "It seems that you haven't found someone who really knows the local development situation for resources!"

Liang Liping heard that his tone seemed to have something to say, so he quickly asked him why.

Schneider said: "Miaoli's oil production area has not been operating satisfactorily. A large part of the reason is that the local transportation problems have not been well resolved, which has slowed down our process of industrialization. There are already preliminary plans to fundamentally solve the local transportation problem.”

Liang Liping is not an outsider, so Schneider revealed to him a little bit about the content of the development plan.Miaoli already has dozens of square kilometers of coastal plains, and the local water system is well developed. The soil quality of these alluvial plains is very fertile, which is very suitable for agricultural development and the cultivation of food and various economic crops.Therefore, the executive committee plans to take advantage of the time when a large number of refugee populations can be obtained from the north to introduce immigrant populations to Miaoli.

Of course, this is just one of them. The real plan of the Executive Committee is to build a transportation channel from Chusulkeng Oilfield to the coastline. The current idea is to lay rails and build a railway.However, because the length of this route may exceed [-] miles, and relevant departments are still discussing its feasibility, the Ministry of Construction has sent commissioners to Miaoli to survey the local environment and formulate corresponding construction plans.But whether it is roads or railways, the construction of this land passage for opening up oil production areas will definitely start this year.

In addition, the freight wharf near the coast is also a part of related projects. Liang Liping has already heard about the wharf from Lu Zhanpeng.Once this channel is built, the time required for the forty to fifty li journey from the coast to the oil production area can be cut by more than half.Coupled with the large number of refugees who are about to move into the area for resettlement, the local freight demand will definitely be much greater than it is now.Of course, whether the transportation volume of petrochemical products will increase depends to a large extent on whether the relevant departments can achieve breakthroughs in oil recovery and refining technologies.

Schneider said: "The news you have received is indeed correct. There is currently no stable demand for shipping in the local area, but it also means that there is no competition. Those who start first may have the opportunity to take over the local shipping business."

After talking with Lu Zhanpeng last time, Liang Liping also specifically went to understand the relevant situation, and raised a question: "As far as I know, the current local oil production is still very limited, and the refined oil after refining is just Even less, maybe ten tons a month, is it really necessary to build special roads and docks?"

Schneider said: "Miaoli's oil production is indeed very low, but this is the only oil field that we have the conditions to exploit. The petrochemical base planned by the Ministry of Industry has been prepared for several years, but many large-scale equipment are difficult to transport through the current mode of transportation. To the oil production area, road construction is necessary. Besides, after the completion of these infrastructures, they will not only be used to transport petrochemical products, but also local agricultural products and forest trees. In the long run, it will definitely be cost-effective.”

(End of this chapter)