Restarting life in Siheyuan

"This is Mr. Jiang. Mr. Jiang helped investigate the information of the two shipyards."

After leaving Repulse Bay, the convoy was waiting outside the villa area. Wu Qianqian introduced a man in his early thirties to Zhu Xuefeng. Mr. Jiang also brought two assistants, plus Secretary Chen and entourage from Wu Qianqian's side, the group was quite a large one.

"Hello, Mr. Zhu! It's an honor to meet you."

Mr. Jiang is not tall and has an ordinary appearance. He looks quite formal in a suit, much more formal than Zhu Xuefeng's casual clothes. His eyes are very lively, and although he looks very enthusiastic, one can clearly feel his surprise.

Mr. Jiang was indeed surprised. He had cooperated with Wu Qianqian several times and received several information fees from Dongsheng Company. He also had a certain understanding of Dongsheng Company. However, he never expected that the boss behind Wu Qianqian was so young.

"Hello, Mr. Jiang. I heard from Qianqian that you are very capable and have helped her a lot."

Mr. Jiang said politely, "No, no, it's all about money. Miss Wu paid for it, so it must be done beautifully. Mr. Zhu, you are really young. If Miss Wu hadn't said that you were the boss, I would have thought you were someone's son."

"You're joking. I'll have to trouble you to introduce me to them today..."

Zhu Xuefeng didn't say much and directly asked Mr. Jiang to lead the way. Today they were going to inspect two shipyards and docks, and Mr. Jiang would be responsible for the introduction.

The group first arrived at the Taikoo Dockyard, which is located in the northeast of the island, a super prime location. It is still industrial land, but with the rapid development of Hong Kong, how could the island still retain industrial land? If they can take over this place, they will be the first Chinese to set foot on the island.

"Boss Zhu, this is the Taikoo Dockyard. The dock over there is also called the Blue Chimney Warehouse Dockyard. It is the Taikoo Dockyard jointly established by the Taikoo Group and the Blue Chimney Shipping Company."

Zhu Xuefeng nodded. This place was the territory of Swire Pacific. It used to be a good place to make money. However, due to the rise of the aviation industry, Swire Pacific's attention has shifted. In the past few years, it has aggressively entered Cathay Pacific. It is said that it now holds 48% of Cathay Pacific's shares and has caused trouble for Wu Qianqian not long ago.

"Well, the place is not small, and you can see its former glory, but it has not been able to keep up with the development of the times."

It's a good piece of land, but it's incurring losses. It's really like begging with a golden bowl. The Taikoo Dockyard is now in a state of decline and the workers are listless. Zhu Xuefeng had only seen it from afar on the ferry and on the top floor of the hotel before. This is his first time to be on site.

The location of the dock is very good, it is a deep-water dock built according to the terrain, but the area seems a bit small. There is no problem docking the old cargo ships, but if it wants to dock 10,000-ton cargo ships or larger, two ships will not be able to turn around. It is indeed unable to keep up with the development.

There are eight docks in a row, and one of them is still working. A thousand-ton cargo ship is cleaning barnacles from the bottom of the ship. A dozen workers are working slowly, without a trace of energy, which seems somewhat out of place with the vibrant Hong Kong.

There were also two medium-sized cargo ships loading and unloading at the dock. There were no cargo ships coming and going at most berths, but there were three cargo ships parked there.

"The throughput here is so small now? Are those empty cargo ships their fleet?"

"Mr. Zhu, this is the main island. Bulk cargo will certainly not be unloaded here. It is more convenient to go to the Wharf. The cargo unloaded here is for the main island. The two ships loading and unloading and the three ships docked are all from Swire's fleet. There are no other cargo ships coming here to load and unload now."

"Well, that's how it is. It seems that Taiko's situation is indeed very bad." Zhu Xuefeng couldn't help feeling embarrassed after asking such an obvious question. Fortunately, he was wearing sunglasses and no one noticed his embarrassment.

"Here, it was very busy before World War II. The shipyard couldn't handle all the orders. The Swire Ocean Fleet..."

After Mr. Jiang finished his lengthy introduction, the group, led by the dock management staff, took a tour of the dock. Zhu Xuefeng did not ask any questions throughout the process, but just quietly checked the various equipment, including those that had been sealed, and had a clear idea in his mind.

"Let's go to the next house."

The Whampoa Dock and Pier are both located on Kowloon Island, just across the Victoria Harbour from Swire. They cover a larger area and although their geographical location is not as valuable as Swire, it is also a rare prime location.

The Star Ferry took the group to Kowloon Island. Not far from the ferry terminal is the Wharf Wharf, where cargo ships are constantly coming and going. It does not seem like they are in the same city as Swire at all. A deep-water berth formed by reclaimed land stretches far out into Victoria Bay, with dozens of giant cargo ships docked waiting to unload. The docking conditions here are indeed incomparable to Swire.

"Let's go. Come back after you visit the Huangpu Dockyard."

With such busy shipping, we can already expect shipping to flourish again.

Whampoa Dockyard is not too far from Kowloon Wharf. Kowloon Island is not much bigger and both are located in Victoria Harbour. However, the situation is completely different. It is similar to Taikoo Dockyard, with rows of docks standing in the seaside yard.

The situation here is slightly better than that of the Taikoo Dockyard. There are a series of nine docks, and three of them are still in use. Two ships are probably being repaired, and one is being repainted. There is also a medium-sized cargo ship loading and unloading at the dock in the distance, and there are also several cargo ships lying there.

“Only one-third of the dockyards have work to do. The situation here is no better than that of Taikoo.”

Wu Qianqian sighed, these two companies were the symbols of Hong Kong's prosperity decades ago, but she didn't expect them to decline to this extent now. The situations of the two companies are similar. The shipyard is the biggest drag, the cargo ships are barely maintaining, and the terminal business is also very little.

Both shipyards have a long history. They once monopolized Hong Kong's ship repair and shipbuilding market. With the mainland behind them, they had no shortage of orders. Hong Kong's positioning led to the prosperity of its shipping industry. The prosperous shipping industry also greatly promoted the development of Hong Kong. The two promoted each other and created the prosperity of Hong Kong before World War II and the glory of the two shipyards.

The scale of the fleet at that time was unmatched in Southeast Asia, and it was able to travel to Europe and the United States to engage in ocean trade, which was also a very profitable business. Unfortunately, the ocean became a graveyard for cargo ships during World War II. Even the Victoria Harbour hiding in Hong Kong was bombed and plundered and completely destroyed. The Swire Ocean Fleet and Dockyard alone lost a total of nearly 40 ocean-going freighters.

After Xiao Zi occupied Hong Kong, they directly occupied two shipyards. After the war, the two foreign companies regained ownership, rebuilt and updated all the facilities. The business at that time was rejuvenated again and was extremely popular for a time. They mainly engaged in commercial cargo transportation from the mainland to foreign countries.

Unfortunately, with the changes in the domestic political situation, a large number of businessmen fled with their money, and foreign trade collapsed rapidly. It has not recovered until after liberation, and until now. Coupled with the rapid development of the aviation industry, the cost of ocean freight has remained high, and it seems that it cannot keep up with the development of the times. The shipbuilding business has suddenly become extremely bleak.

With the expansion of the Wharf, the profitability of the two shipyards and terminals has been greatly reduced again. Cargo ships coming to Hong Kong have chosen the Wharf, which has more convenient logistics. Even businesses such as replenishing fresh water, overhauling cargo ships, and cleaning barnacles from the bottom of ships have become extremely scarce.

In the past decade, the company has been unable to make ends meet. A large number of equipment has been idle, and the docks have been shut down. The company has been barely maintaining its operations by selling cargo ships from the fleet, but the situation has never been truly alleviated, resulting in the layoffs of a large number of workers. Even the few workers who remain have a hard time making a living. The average monthly income of a worker is only 60 or 70 Hong Kong dollars. In order to survive, countless workers have been forced to move to the Kowloon Wharf to work as manual laborers. Although manual labor is hard, they can still earn a little more every month, and an income of around 100 Hong Kong dollars is still very tempting.

Jardine Matheson shifted its interest to the aviation, real estate and sugar industries, and completely stopped investing.

“How many workers did Taikoo and Whampoa have at their peak?”

The investigator looked at the mysterious boss in front of him. Although he did not understand what the boss meant, fortunately he had checked the information at that time.

"In 52, when the number of Taikoo workers peaked at more than , there are now less than left. Together with the crew and management staff, there are barely people. The number at Whampoa is about the same."

There are only five cargo ships left in Swire's fleet, which can only travel around Southeast Asia and cannot go any further. The two largest cargo ships now are only 3,000 tons, and the others are small cargo ships of 1,000 to 2,000 tons. They no longer have the majesty of the Hong Kong ocean-going cargo fleet. These ships are Swire's main assets now, and they cannot sail far without repairs.

There are only four ships left at Huangpu, and its situation is similar to that of Swire. They are truly two brothers in distress.

I heard that Swire and Whampoa had a total of six large ships of more than 6,000 tons that had to be sold. Zhu Xuefeng wanted to laugh in his heart. Four of them were bought by Chen Dong. The money he paid at that time was not much. After all, no one was optimistic about the shipping market. The cost of shipping was very high at that time. I will talk about the details later.

"Even so, HSBC still values ​​the two shipyards at more than 6 million? This shipyard and dock look like they are close to being scrapped."

Both shipyards were basically in a state of suspension, with no new ship orders, and only the cargo ships of their own fleet were unloading at the dock, which greatly reduced the scale. Wu Qianqian made a note that although these cargo ships were a bit old, their main structures were fine and there was no serious corrosion, thanks to the workers who had nothing to do and would pull them ashore to clean the barnacles when they had nothing to do.

"That's the general situation. The two companies have only nine ships in total, and the docks are all abandoned. The valuation is obviously a bit high."

Zhu Xuefeng lied with his eyes open. The dock was idle, but it had all the necessary equipment and had basically been sealed after maintenance, so it was not too difficult to resume production.

“Also, there are too few ships, and they are all small, so they can only sail in Southeast Asia.”

Wu Qianqian had seen it in the information, but she was also a little disappointed after seeing it in person. A cargo ship in this state would certainly have a hard time sailing on the ocean.

"Boss, I asked, many of their boats have been converted into dredging boats. The real estate business in Hong Kong is doing well now. Several bosses bought some and converted them to dredging. I heard they make more money than running boats."

"You mean Mr. Huo from Lixing Real Estate?"

Wu Qianqian had also heard that the majority of the sand used in Hong Kong's engineering projects is supplied by people with the surname Huo.

"Miss Wu is right, it's the Huo family."

Zhu Xuefeng knew that the Huo family had started quite early and now had a certain reputation in the real estate industry in Hong Kong. However, not many people may know that the Huo family actually got its start by digging sand.

He was truly a businessman with a unique vision. In later generations, his family became the "King of Sea Sand" in Hong Kong, which was similar to the alternative history of the gold rush in the West in the 19th century. Perhaps few people in later generations knew that the famous Huo family actually rose to prominence by relying on sea sand.

While others are panning for gold, I sell water. If you sell water, I sell food and tools. Then I design wear-resistant jeans. There are many truly smart people. In addition to those who are panning for gold, these people have all made a fortune. The Huo family is now also digging sand. It's quite interesting.

"Have you had any contact with the Huo family?"

Wu Qianqian was stunned. No way, the master even wants to get involved in digging sand?
"I haven't come into contact with it. Master, do you want to modify these cargo ships as well?"

Knowing that Wu Qianqian had misunderstood the message and that there were outsiders present, Zhu Xuefeng was too lazy to explain and smiled, "I didn't have that thought. I was just asking because I was curious. Let's go to the Wharf to take a look."

"Business at Wharf Holdings is very good, but unfortunately they won't sell at all."

When the idea of ​​enclosing land was proposed, Wharf Holdings and these two were on the list. However, Wharf Holdings is now doing a booming business and has been listed. If anyone wants to take over, they have to go to the stock market to collect shares. The actual controller now is HSBC, which has no shortage of money and would not sell it. So the two had to give up.

"Let's go and have a look. They are all freight terminals. Why are there so few activities at these two terminals while theirs is so prosperous? Let's go and have a look first and get a direct feeling."

After explaining casually, the group came to the Wharf. It was indeed different here. There were many cargo ships waiting to unload at the dock, and many dock workers were carrying out the most primitive handling like ants.

There were also simple mechanical ship unloading machines not far away, which looked varied. There were several small electric cranes with a lifting capacity of about one ton, several electromagnetic magnets, and a cabin lift. These things were not found at the two docks, and I didn't know whether they had been sold or not.

The unloading of bulk cargo such as coal and sand has been switched to slippery operations, and some miscellaneous cargo loading and unloading also uses mobile loading and unloading machinery. This has freed many loading and unloading workers from levers, ropes and baskets, greatly improved loading and unloading efficiency, and greatly shortened ship loading and unloading time.

The Wharf management staff invited by Mr. Jiang were very proud.

"Unloading here is much more efficient than in other places. Other ports take three to four days to unload a 700-ton coal ship, but we only need three days to unload a 3-ton coal ship if the ship is good. Besides, other ports find it difficult to berth cargo ships of 4 tons or more."

It is indeed different here at Hutchison Whampoa. The wharf extending into the harbor makes it easier for large ships to dock, and the equipment is far superior to that of Swire and Whampoa terminals. It seems that a lot of money has been spent on it. In addition to the advantage of geographical location, the loading and unloading and transportation costs are indeed much more reasonable than those two terminals.

But there is really nothing to brag about taking three days to unload a 10,000-ton cargo ship. In today's Shanghai, the fact that a 10,000-ton cargo ship can be unloaded in one day is often reported in internal newspapers with a low profile. The equipment in Shanghai is probably not as good as that of the Wharf Terminal. It relies on passion, great collaboration and the wisdom of the workers.

Of course, there must be some good things that are not available here. If we want to take over this place, we have to arrange people to go to Shanghai to learn from them. With the current good cooperative relationship with the mainland, these things should not be a problem, and we may even form certain business cooperation.

"Those outside would rather queue here than go to other docks. You see, even if you queue for three days here, the work will be done earlier than at other docks. Besides, while they are queuing, the crew can go to Kowloon for a stroll. How convenient."

This place is closer to the Kowloon business district, which is indeed a huge advantage. It is indeed a good place. No wonder such a big financial war was stirred up in later generations for the shares of Kowloon Wharf Terminal.

“Mr. Zhu, after the listing of Wharf Terminal, it raised 2300 million Hong Kong dollars and spent a huge amount of money to expand the deep-water berths and update the equipment, which improved the efficiency of loading and unloading, and can save a lot of costs for freight. The other two companies did not follow up, so the terminal became like this.” Mr. Jiang explained in a low voice again.

"It's a very detailed investigation, very good."

Zhu Xuefeng looked at the inconspicuous Mr. Jiang in front of him with great interest. The information was very comprehensive. This part was not included in the report. Seeing that the master was interested in Mr. Jiang, Wu Qianqian said with a smile.

"I invited Mr. Jiang with great difficulty. Mr. Jiang's information in this regard is still very reliable."

"Well, thank you for your hard work, Mr. Jiang."

"It should, it should."

While Mr. Jiang was still being polite, Zhu Xuefeng had already turned around and sighed. Mr. Jiang had good investigative skills, but his fees were not cheap. They were much more corrupt than those guys in Beijing. He asked Wu Qianqian for five thousand dollars for a piece of bird droppings, which was enough to buy three small ordinary houses in Hong Kong. He had to suggest that Wu Qianqian set up her own commercial investigation team as soon as possible.

"There are still too many cargo ships waiting in line, and the Wharf Terminal alone cannot handle it all."

"There are now nearly 30,000 cargo ships sailing across the Hong Kong River each year, and our Wharf Terminal accounts for 70% to 80%. It's a pity that there is no room for expansion at the terminal, otherwise, more people would come here to load and unload."

The dock managers were proud but also regretful. They had inspected two docks, but unfortunately the prices were not low and large investments would be required in the later stages. Moreover, the two shipyards without orders were a huge burden. After repeated consideration, they did not make a move. Otherwise, Dongsheng Company would have no chance at all.

Thirty thousand a year, less than a hundred ships a day, the tonnage of cargo ships is not too large. For Hong Kong, which is known as a free port and one of the top ten ports in the world, this logistics is not exaggerated. Zhu Xuefeng knows that there will be more and more every year. As long as he implements his plan, there is still great potential for the two docks and piers.

Sooner or later, Hong Kong's industrial areas will have to move out of the main island and Kowloon to more remote areas, and logistics will naturally move with them. The areas that are not optimistic now are brewing huge opportunities. Except for Zhu Xuefeng, no one could have imagined the speed of Hong Kong's development and the need for rapid expansion in the next 30 years.

With his memory from later life, Zhu Xuefeng had carefully analyzed the existing land and development areas in Hong Kong and had already sketched out several alternative plans in his mind.

In fact, there is an even crazier idea, but the conditions are not ripe now. That is to apply to the Hong Kong government for an island reef, and then reclaim land on your own. According to Hong Kong's current policies, the land formed by reclamation will give the reclamators great power.

The idea of ​​blowing sand to build an island only existed in Zhu Xuefeng's mind. He had not communicated with anyone. After all, it was a bit too crazy. The first step was to have his own shipyard.

"Mr. Jiang, thank you for your detailed introduction. It's a pleasure to work with you!" (End of this chapter)