My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 623 The strong naturally only stand shoulder to shoulder with the strong.

Later generations summarized that the container was a product of its time that represented the nation's economic development.

Singapore thrived precisely because it rode the wave of shipping containers, becoming a positive example. Otherwise, how could such a small country have achieved national prosperity and strength, with its entire population mobilized for military service?

Only those with money and ruthlessness can stand firm in Southeast Asia, a land of poverty.

Otherwise, it would have been ruined long ago just because of its geographical advantages.

One theory is that the polar bear collapsed on this shipping container.

The confidence of China, a superior nation, in enjoying global benefits from the 1960s onwards, stemmed from the fact that the entire world revolved around Citibank's container shipping system.

Russia, which already had few ports of entry, was completely excluded from this world of containers.

Before containers, high transportation costs acted as trade barriers, similar to very high import tariffs. Citibank and Western Europe each retained a large number of low-end industries, and their industrial systems were not effectively integrated.

The Russians relied on a relatively well-developed railway transportation model to operate the OECD, effectively countering the economic performance of the entire European and American economies in the 1950s and 60s.

Even the tribe was at a disadvantage.

Until the container shipping model, a completely new mode of maritime transport, caused costs to skyrocket.

In the 1970s, the cost of handling one cubic meter of cargo was $20 for a regular cargo ship and $10 for a container.

After the container shipping process was scaled up, the price had reached $4 by 79.

According to Lin Wangfu's understanding in Singapore this year, the price of highly integrated products has dropped to $1.5!

Cheap shipping costs linked the Western industrial system, which was divided by the ocean, into a whole. International trade was no longer dominated by raw materials and manufactured goods, but by intermediate goods.

Most of the goods transported in containers are actually semi-finished products, with more than 70% being semi-finished parts and components. The global economy has become an integrated whole because of containers.

It wasn't until 70 or 80 years later that many developing countries in the Third World began to act as contract manufacturers, which was a result of the container shipping industry.

Therefore, even the fact that Wei Dong was able to launch OEM production for Apple computers in Shanghai was entirely due to the benefits of the container industry.

He knew about the path of developing foreign trade OEM processing, but he didn't know the reasons why.

All the exported goods were shipped to Citibank in containers, which were then queued up.

Inexpensive and high-quality European and American goods, especially those from Japan, swept across the world, crippling the economies of Warsaw Pact countries and utterly destroying the economies and livelihoods of Eastern European nations.

The collapse of the bear market means that the economy could no longer sustain itself.

In a sense, the poverty and destitution in mainland China was precisely due to missing out on the global container trade in the 1960s and 70s.

The shipping container was the first unified global standard of measurement in human history, with everything calculated based on the number of containers.

Mainland China is definitely a latecomer, lagging behind all other places, including Singapore and Hong Kong.

It seemed there was absolutely no chance of catching up.

Who would have thought that Wei Dong would propose such a highly computerized and intelligent model?

They made Lin Wangfu kneel down in submission.

Because he works in the computer industry and happens to be familiar with container terminals, he fully understands the feasibility of having Weidong bring it up.

When the transshipment volume reaches tens of millions of containers a year, it will inevitably rely on a large number of computer software systems to handle the operation.

This is one of the leading details that makes Singapore stand out globally. The fact that such a small place has the highest computer procurement volume in Southeast Asia speaks volumes.

The result allowed Wei Dong not only to "keenly" see this point, but also to further incorporate the concept of intelligence.

Imagine a future port handling hundreds of thousands of containers, where no workers need to run around or drive; everything flows automatically according to programmed tasks. How incredibly efficient would that be?!

Lin Wangfu, who had only thought about the sound card, couldn't help but jump up and clap his hands excitedly: "Yes! Yes! It can definitely be done! Pete! I believe you can definitely do it!"

From then on, he became Wei Dong's absolute believer in the path of science and technology.

The entire conference room was practically buzzing with excitement.

Yu Xiaoqiu couldn't resist taking pictures with her camera.

Lin Wangfu's tone of voice and behavior all indicate that he is a genuine foreign businessman, a Chinese-American foreign businessman, which is clearly different from Chi Shiming, that fake Hong Konger.

Just now he was so proud of Singapore's container terminal, and so clearly looked down on this small inland port that was still in its initial stages.

Now that even he's convinced, aren't all the people incredibly excited?

These days, people still look up to foreign businesses. The more these development zone personnel understand the outside world, the more they may admire external experts.

Now even foreign experts who were initially dismissive are now so excited about the prospects described by Wei Dong.

Everyone was even more excited and thrilled.

If a container terminal industry professional from Singapore or Hong Kong were to come, they might scoff and stubbornly believe that it's not that easy.

But it's precisely those in the IT industry who have such high hopes for this intelligent future. Even after the meeting ended and they went to inspect the dock, Lin Wangfu completely abandoned his remaining reserve, constantly squeezing into the passenger seat to discuss with Wei Dong how to achieve this.

What the hell would Wei Dong know?

But he had seen some videos of the later super smart factories: "For example, now trucks shuttle through the freight yard. If the vehicles were computer-controlled, wouldn't they no longer need a cab? Uh, they could use radar to detect collisions. Don't yachts have radar to detect whether they've been hit?"

He only found out that his own travel company had yachts and satellite phones when he learned that they were already available.

Of course, these things were luxury items at that time.

But Lin Wangfu didn't bother with any explanations, nodding repeatedly: "That's a brilliant idea, so insightful! You've seen too much ahead!"

It was quite obvious that the two of them had been going to the docks every few days in Penang to watch the lithography machines and other equipment being loaded into containers and sent to small cargo ships, which Wei Dong had never mentioned.

It was after returning to Hong Kong, or even returning here again, or even after hearing Lin Wangfu talk about the importance of modern container terminals, that he "suddenly had an inspiration."

For these R&D-driven entrepreneurial geniuses, this kind of inspiration is the most important thing.

Just like Lin Wangfu chose to make computers produce high-fidelity sound comparable to speakers, and made this his career direction.

This inspiration aligns with the direction of developing computers towards multimedia, and this creative idea is the most important.

As for how the sound card itself implements this, that's just a technical matter.

It's not that important, you can just try it slowly.

And all the people in the industrial zone, docks, containers, and surrounding towns felt extremely proud and elated as they watched this Singaporean businessman suddenly become so enthusiastic and jubilant that he almost wagged his tail off!

The degree of cooperation is extremely high.

In reality, Wei Dong did nothing specific; he didn't resolve any issues.

But after making a few grand promises, the district and town authorities are now actively discussing where to start land reclamation and river reclamation, and the dock company is exploring how to expand the berths.

The containers are being actively showcased at the already completed cargo yard, with expectations for future improvements.

Rang Weidong actually paid ten million US dollars to the container company, but he wasn't keen on using that money to buy the most urgently needed imported port machinery later.

Once the deep-water terminal is built, after a 10,000-ton giant ship docks, a movable quay crane is used to lift the container onto the ship in one step, and the same process is used for unloading.

Currently, the main berths are 3.5-ton bulk cargo berths, with only one simple container berth, which is operated by a less efficient gantry crane.

There are only twelve such shore cranes in the whole country. Even the nearby Yuezhou Port, which has been the southern gateway for so many years, does not have shore cranes and uses gantry cranes instead.

After seeing the scene and hearing these introductions, Wei Dong frowned even more.

The unexpected instruction was: "This kind of thing should be made domestically as much as possible. It's not a matter of durability, but since we've found a domestic manufacturer to replace it, we should provide a lifetime warranty and maintenance commitment since we've assisted in the exploration. Purchasing domestic products may have many problems in the short term, but that's precisely when we need to practice and accumulate technology in the early stages when our loading and unloading volume is insufficient. I remember there's a factory in China called Zhenhua that makes this, right? Look for it."

More than thirty years later, the president of Citibank confidently boasted that he would restore Citibank's manufacturing glory, only to have something on the back of the port machine blown off by the wind, revealing the huge Chinese characters "振华" (Zhenhua), a classic scene that was a slap in the face.

At least for Rang Weidong, this was the first time a security guard in a prefecture-level city had suddenly felt that the country seemed to have become stronger.

It left a deep impression on me.

As a result, someone on the scene immediately knew: "Huhai Port Machinery Plant, they were partially restructured and called Zhenhua, the equipment..." With a troubled look, he reminded: "Mr. Fang requires the wharf to be built to a high standard, and everything from the equipment to the process must meet the standards of the European shareholders."

Despite being overjoyed, Wei Dong managed to control his expression and wouldn't be easily swayed by his subordinates to oppose Lao Fang. He still possessed this keen sense of the system, even though Lao Fang was now supporting him with all his might.

Therefore, I only asked about the price of Zhenhua's equipment.

It was indeed much cheaper. At that time, products from Mitsubishi, Mitsui, and Krupp were often worth seven or eight million US dollars per unit!
If you include shipping, installation, and after-sales maintenance, it easily exceeds ten million US dollars.

Zhenhua's offer was over four million US dollars. The reason for using US dollars was that several key components still needed to be imported. To put it bluntly, they could only import the components and manufacture them if the buyer paid them in US dollars. It was a typical case of shirking responsibility.

But this is different from the kind of reselling that You Qili and his group did with nothing; this is a typical case of a poor unit having no money.

And especially since there is no foreign exchange.

So it is said that after Shanghai Port introduced a shore crane from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in 83, the Shanghai Port Machinery Factory made several offers but failed to close the deal.

We simply don't have the US dollars to import key components.

Having gone through what happened with Feilubin, Wei Dong must have undergone some changes in his heart, changes that only he himself understands.

After thinking for a moment, he proposed: "I will invest extra funds to purchase it, which is an unplanned purchase. I will report to Mr. Fang how it will be handled by the company. We must use Zhenhua's machines. I will ask them to order two units first. I happen to have a ship in Shanghai that needs to be delivered recently. They must have some connections in Shanghai Port. If they can help us prioritize loading the ship, I will give them the order for these two units."

It just so happens that Chen Wenliang proposed a cash transaction for 10,000 computers, with US dollars to be delivered in Hong Kong, so that the foreign exchange could be used by Zhenhua Hong Kong Machinery.

This was a way to establish a good relationship with Zhenhua Port Machinery, so that they could also have connections at the port in Shanghai and better support the research and development of domestically produced equipment.

Wei Dong still believes that if a team can develop into a world-class wave pool in twenty or thirty years, there must be a reason for its success.

Offering help at this time will yield valuable assistance.

Especially since we need to focus on ports and containers, how can we not get involved with such a future superpower?

(End of this chapter)