Chapter 924 Ocean
East Africa's actions in Mindanao demonstrated East Africa's determination to explore the ocean. Correspondingly, in 1897, 27 new large-scale shipbuilding companies were established in East Africa. With the expansion of territory, the number of available ports in East Africa also increased significantly. These ports There are those from the mainland and those from overseas colonies. The mainland is mainly in the south and west.
At the same time, territorial expansion, along with the expansion of East Africa’s inland waterway shipping mileage, has also seen the rapid growth of inland water transport ports. Especially under East Africa’s ambitious “East Africa Grand Canal” plan, the prospects for the inland shipping industry are even brighter.
At the same time, overseas territories such as Lanfang Overseas Province, Southern Ryukyu Islands, Northern Hawaiian Kingdom, Balabac Island, and Mindanao also provide a large number of excellent ports for the East African ocean strategy.
Among them, Balabac Island’s important role has also been reflected with the annexation of East Africa to Mindanao. It connects the Mindanao colony and the Lanfang Overseas Province.
"At present, a total of 25 key ports have been identified and put into construction in our country. They are concentrated in the east and there are fewer ports in the west. However, each developed port has good conditions. The cities where these 25 ports are located basically correspond to the coastal areas. The regional economy is relatively developed," Ernst said to the government personnel.
Although the coastline of East Africa is relatively straight and lacks excellent seaports, the number of seaports that have been built and developed in East Africa currently exceeds 40. These more than 40 ports are basically responsible for East Africa's national foreign trade, among which the more important ones are 25, which is the most valued in East Africa.
In contrast, there are inland water transport ports. The number of inland water ports in East Africa has exceeded 200. The difference between the two is significant, and with the development of inland economy, this gap will further widen.
In the Great Lakes region alone, there are more than 60 ports, mainly distributed along the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) and the rivers that flow into the Great Lakes.
Followed by Lake Malawi Basin and Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika). These three regions are the most developed areas of East Africa's inland waterway shipping industry, and together account for more than 50% of East Africa's inland waterway shipping.
Of course, although the number of inland river ports far exceeds that of sea ports, the value between the two is obviously unequal. It is not even an exaggeration to say that the importance of one external liaison sea port is more important than ten inland river ports.
"Currently, our country's development and utilization of the ocean clearly lags behind other countries in the world. Not to mention compared with those large territorial countries, the number of seaports in Germany also exceeds ours, although its shipping ports are mainly small and medium-sized ports in the Baltic Sea. Lord.”
German shipping ports are concentrated in the north, including Kaliningrad in Poland and Russia in the previous life. Therefore, there are not many German shipping ports, but most of them are restricted to the Baltic Sea. Economic development in peacetime is not a big problem, but during war, It is basically impossible for its navy to achieve much.
Similar countries include Tsarist Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Unlike its previous life, the Austro-Hungarian Empire now sits on the Adriatic coast such as Venice and Trieste, but it is also the Adriatic that limits the performance of its navy.
Not to mention Tsarist Russia. The Baltic Sea and the Black Sea are its main economic sea areas. Both sea areas are restricted. Although the Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Ocean have ports, neither area is suitable for economic activities. Among them, Murmansk is known as The port is not frozen all year round, but it is not an economically active area in Russia. Like Vladivostok, it has more prominent military uses.
Of course, except for these three unlucky guys, the shipping conditions of other world powers, at least in terms of the number of seaports, are only inferior to those of Brazil and the Far Eastern Empire in East Africa.
From this point of view, the number of seaports in East Africa is insufficient, but more than adequate. With the limited number of seaports and the increasingly frequent overseas trade in East Africa, the East African government naturally attaches unprecedented importance to the available ports.
"Faced with increasingly fierce maritime competition, East Africa cannot only develop the inland without paying attention to port construction. In addition to some special-purpose ports, the number of commercial ports should exceed at least one hundred, so as to better promote coastal economic development and ease the current situation. There is pressure from ports. "Special-purpose ports mainly refer to military ports. In this regard, East Africa takes great care of the navy and basically reserves the best port areas in various major sea areas as naval bases.
The goal of exceeding one hundred seaports is somewhat difficult, but it is not impossible to achieve because there are still a large number of undeveloped bays in East Africa, especially in the eastern Mozambique region.
In the past, these African countries had few seaports, mainly because they lacked economic strength and lacked the ability to develop and utilize these bays or river estuaries.
Of course, the country's inactive foreign trade is also an important factor. In the past, the economic level of African countries was that the existing ports were fully sufficient, so the local governments were not enthusiastic about building new ports, or they were powerless due to knowledge, war, etc.
The most typical example is that the Eastern powers help these African countries build infrastructure such as ports and roads. If it were not for the rise of emerging powers, Africa would not even be able to gain a chance.
Under the rule of East Africa, this situation will naturally not occur. East Africa itself is one of the "infrastructure maniacs" of this era, so the East African government is more attentive to the construction of seaports.
“In addition to local maritime navigation construction, there should also be breakthroughs in the construction of colonial ports, of which Pontianak, Zamboanga and Davao are the focus.”
As for other colonies, they are mainly reflected in their strategic value. The economic value is difficult to compete with the above three ports. Although the resources of Lanfang Overseas Province are worse, the area is not small, and Mindanao has basically the same characteristics except climate and population. No shortcomings.
Others, such as the Southern Ryukyu Islands, the Northern Kingdom of Hawaii, etc., are too small in area. Some islands in the Southern Ryukyu Islands even have water sources. Therefore, these colonies can barely be used as naval bases, and their economic prospects are not very good. Great potential.
The Alaska colony was an accident. Although the area, resources, and population are not small, East Africa currently does not have the strength to develop Alaska. After all, after all the hard work and vigorous development, it would be a huge loss if the peaches were picked by surrounding forces.
Alaska is surrounded by wolves. Canada, the United States, Tsarist Russia, and Japan all have this strength. Similarly, the Southern Ryukyu Islands and the Northern Kingdom of Hawaii also have this possibility. Therefore, for these three areas, the East African government’s main strategy Stability is still the priority. As long as the stability of local governance can be ensured, long-term development will be possible in the future.
"Of course, port construction is equivalent to road construction, and it is impossible without vehicles. Compared with other major countries in the world, our country's shipbuilding industry is far behind, so vigorously promoting the development of the shipbuilding industry is the key to the next ten to twenty years. , one of the important tasks of the government and enterprises.”
“The shipbuilding industry is one of the major heavy industry sectors in the world, involving various fields such as metallurgy, machinery, electrical, chemistry, etc. It can effectively promote the development of related industries, so investment in the shipbuilding industry is very important, especially the training of relevant personnel. It’s a long-term process.”
As Ernst said, many officials in the East African government are also very clear that the development of the shipbuilding industry cannot be separated from the support of personnel and technology. After all, the project volume is huge, the process is complex, the investment is large and the system is focused.
The shipbuilding industry has been a veritable industrial pearl since the Age of Discovery, and if East Africa wants to compete with other countries in the ocean, it is naturally inseparable from the great development of the local shipbuilding industry.
(End of this chapter)