My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 836 Hold Your Breath Before Going to Sea
Indeed, even the Guoyuan Group came to listen in after hearing the news.

It's easy to see how widely Wei Dong's employment guidance chart, covering twelve major categories including "domestic sales, foreign trade, automobiles, computers, electrical appliances, clothing, semiconductors, hotels, real estate construction, shopping malls and supermarkets, sports, and docks and ships," has been circulated.

This leader, who was only in his forties, even put on a recruitment advertisement on the spot: "We are a young unit, only established in 1983. We are responsible for the country's ocean shipping to all parts of the world. Comrade Wei Dong is right. We also have problems in our work, but these will not affect our firm steps toward development to all parts of the world. Therefore, we also need young soldiers to join us!"

It really does have the feel of a two-way job fair.

Wei Dong quickly clapped and thanked him.

How many people he can recruit for his own team depends on everyone's efforts.

Moreover, he himself was surprised to hear that he was recruiting in more than ten categories. He exclaimed, "Damn, I've covered so many categories, won't people think I'm a huge monopoly?"

He only did so because he felt compelled to show his support and take on responsibilities from so many vibrant college students.

With Guoyuan now participating in sharing the burden, it's definitely something we'd love to do.

"Yes, yes, because I was thinking that since Pyeongjing isn't by the sea, these ship-related job openings could be given to relevant colleges and universities..."

The entire audience, led by Wu Xi and his group, started to cheer.

You would never have seen such a relaxed and joyful atmosphere of freedom before.

Youth is all about passion and optimism.

Wei Dong laughed, "I've mentioned before that I used to drive a Dongfeng truck all over the country. In six months, I drove transport vehicles to East China, then to Beijing, and then back to Sichuan via the Northwest route. It was very exciting and I learned a lot. But if you were to work a regular job and drive on the highway every day, year after year, it would be very tiring and exhausting. Many long-distance truck drivers suffer from stomach ulcers and prolapsed stomachs. The road conditions are poor, and there are many safety concerns. We now have a fleet of over fifty transport vehicles operating on two routes, one in the north and one in the south, until we accidentally came across shipping two years ago..."

It was from this point that You Qili began to understand how Rang Weidong had transformed his seemingly useless fleet into a towering giant.

"If you think of the Yangtze River as a wide highway, you'll understand. It's the world's largest and most efficient water transport system. Starting from Jiangzhou and ending at Shanghai, the Yangtze River alone can cover more than half of the country's area. Water transport has the lowest cost of all modes of transport. We can unload all the transported goods along the way. But until last year, we still used human gangplanks to reach the provinces along the way, carrying the goods on our shoulders and backs. This is no different from the transport methods of a hundred years ago, except that the wooden boats have been replaced with steel barges."

The college students were completely silent, their eyes filled with deep thought.

Several cameras, especially the studio-grade camera from Brick TV that joined us today, steadily captured Wei Dong's explanation:

“We’ve started using shipping containers. Imagine a 12-meter-long, 2.4-meter-high, and 2.4-meter-wide metal box. When it departs, it’s filled with sanitary napkins, cameras, electronics, and clothing for each destination, and neatly stacked on the ship. At each dock, there’s no need for manual freight. We just use a crane to lift the box ashore, and the ship can dock and leave immediately. What used to be a 20-day journey can now be completed in seven days. Isn’t that a huge improvement in production efficiency?”

All the college students were shocked.

They could certainly hear the progress in their ears.

Is it really that simple and brutal?

Guoyuan's group must all be discussing and gesturing wildly.

They certainly knew that Wei Dong was referring to inland waterway shipping, but meant that they were currently focusing their main efforts on bulk carriers.

"That's right. Some people might say, 'Why bother trying to gain this little bit of time?' But modern industry crushes agricultural societies with its efficiency. The key to victory in this battle is whether we can transform the scattered production efficiency into a highly streamlined industrial process. Singapore, as the world's number one international transshipment port, handles nearly ten million containers a year, while Hong Kong handles four million. In contrast, our mainland's total throughput is only a few hundred thousand."

It would have been difficult to miss these data in the 1980s.

Even the relevant units themselves were unaware of this, and Wei Dong was only able to gather this comprehensive data from Lin Wangfu, Hong Kong businessmen, the Shanghai Port Authority, and customs authorities.

Wei Dong was speaking the truth, not some divine secret: "If you have the chance to go to the Hong Kong port, you'll see that a large number of bulk carrier crane ships, and even container crane ships, are already sitting idle, because modern quay cranes are taking over the container terminals..."

As he spoke, he raised an arm straight out: "Let me describe it to you. Ships with cranes, and even those huge tower cranes on the dock, are all outdated. The most advanced ones are shore cranes. They just extend their arms over the docked ships, lower the slings, lift the containers, retrieve them ashore, and put them onto the truck. They keep doing this, and a row of shore cranes can handle thousands of containers and tens of thousands of tons of cargo in no time!"

Everyone was concentrating intently on imagining things. This is the advantage of college students: they can form ideas in their minds instead of immediately resisting or resisting them.

People at Sino-Ocean Group also fell into deep thought.

Let Wei Dong use an analogy: "Let's think of this as a continuous supply of ammunition in the war. The reason why the Japanese were so hard to defeat in the War of Resistance Against Japan was that they had industrialization as support, a complete supply of weapons, and iron lumps like airplanes, artillery, and tanks that we didn't have at the time. So we could only use human lives to fill the gaps. Now we have airplanes, artillery, and tanks, but others won't wait for you. On an imported sanitary napkin automated production line, twenty workers are equivalent to a thousand workers on our ordinary line. One shore machine can replace four thousand times the efficiency of ship loading and unloading workers. Isn't that kind of efficiency terrifying?"

The entire audience of college students fell silent, but their eyes were filled with a spark of hope.

Wei Dong did not disappoint everyone: "But a weakness may be a strength. Our current backwardness is, to some extent, our advantage. As long as we recognize the gap and understand the direction, we can catch up and directly target the latest model. When many foreign ports realize the importance of containers and hesitate to weigh the cost of upgrading, we can avoid generations of development and change, and directly start building from the most advanced or the most mature second-advanced. Then, with our huge size advantage, we can gradually win."

At this point, some people who understood began to be pleasantly surprised!
Is this another way of thinking? Honestly, Wei Dong only said those things because he was referring to the container.

He had never even touched this thing when he was a security guard.

Completely clueless.

But it was only after Lao Fang pulled him into participating in the construction of the wharf and the development of Guoji that he gradually began to hone his skills and deal with Hong Kong businessmen in this area.

Perhaps the only thing that the Sky Eye was pointing to was the giant container ships in those short videos that were so full they were practically overflowing, which left a deep impression on his mind.

In fact, bulk carriers are the mainstream in the world at this time. Guoyuan's choice lacked foresight, but it wasn't a big mistake at the time.

Even if you make a mistake, it might actually work out.

There has been an overemphasis on the importance and future of containers, which is somewhat excessive.

This left a stereotype about Guo Yuan and his group, as well as all the college students present, regardless of their major.

"My view is based on the development of Singapore. Compared with Hong Kong and the mainland, there are still many gaps to be filled in the domestic container terminals and container ships. As I mentioned before, the various categories of foreign trade production and processing industries that are booming in the coastal areas will eventually transport countless Chinese-made products to the world, which means huge transportation volume. At this time, efficiency is the key to our success."

"So let me ask you again: with the construction of the expressway from Yuezhou to Pengzhen and the huge container terminal in Pengzhen, do you understand its purpose and function?"

This is already a matter of logical consistency.

Since reform and opening up have begun, it means an increase in foreign trade, which will inevitably lead to an increase in maritime trade.

Previously, the main vessels used for transporting various coal, iron, and oil deposits, as well as grain, beans, and sugar food raw materials, were bulk carriers, which would have been more suitable.

Whether it's imports or exports, bulk carriers are the mainstay.

But if it's transformed into industrial products, that's where containers come into their own.

Only those who are certain that domestically produced industrial products will be exported and shipped to the world in massive quantities will place their bets on containers and related ports and ships.

Rang Weidong was referring to shipping containers.

But these tens of thousands of people are university teachers and students, as well as insightful individuals from various ministries and departments in Beijing.

This line of thinking extends beyond containers and is applicable everywhere!
All outdated industries are not scary. As long as we learn this trick, we can first cooperate and join forces to follow up, understand and confirm that there are no problems, increase investment and expand the scale, and gradually gain victory by leveraging our huge size advantage.

In any case, some people at the scene looked horrified.

Thirty or forty years from now, the phrase "overtaking on a curve" that all netizens take for granted is not so convenient. It is the result of countless people's hard work and the gradual accumulation of knowledge across various disciplines before finally achieving a breakthrough.

But by the 1980s, many people already felt the gap was too big and were filled with despair at the thought of not being able to catch up.

Wei Dong surprisingly jumped out to say it was a good thing, that a blank sheet of paper is easy to draw on, which is exactly what makes it easier for us to draw the best blueprint.

This was followed by another round of enthusiastic applause!
Many college students had never seen shipping containers or highways before, yet they excitedly shouted, "We want to go to Pengzhen to see the highways, to see the container terminal, and to fight!"

Wei Dong, however, took the microphone and advised again: "The forefront of reform and opening up is in Pengzhen now, but if you actually go to Pengzhen and experience it, you will find that it is not easy to join in the bustling scene, because everyone is a college graduate who has just entered society. Do you have outstanding qualifications and achievements? Do you have enough funds to compete? So I suggest that everyone be patient and first practice in the fields you are familiar with in various industries. Once you have truly acquired the fighting ability, then you can jump into the sea."

This is the real deal.

No newspapers, magazines, or television news will tell the truth about Pengzhen.

You Qili, who had suffered a setback in Pengzhen last year, couldn't help but straighten up and chuckle awkwardly.

He can swim and even considers himself a swimming expert, but he choked badly on water in the complex sea conditions of Pengzhen.

Wei Dong is the most down-to-earth and gradual role model: "When I was still selling cured meat and sanitary napkins, I never thought about going to Shenzhen to try my luck. I only chose to do what I could do in front of me in a down-to-earth manner. But I will not give up my ideals. I will only go to Shanghai, Shenzhen, or even every corner of the motherland with confidence when I need to go there one day!"

The shouts were so loud that even college students could understand them.

But who knew that Wei Dong's earliest dream was to buy an airplane?
(End of this chapter)