Chapter 617 Arctic Transportation
咣!
The office door was pushed open.
Zhang Yang raised his head and looked at the people coming in: "Mr. Zheng, what do you want to see me for?"
“Director Zhang, I’m here to ask for help. Our Three Banks Heavy Industry has encountered some problems and wants to allocate some funds from our Chongming Island Shipyard.”
"Mr. Zheng, if I remember correctly, when we first cooperated to build this factory, there was a clear stipulation that within the first five years of the establishment of the shipyard, there was no need to share profits with the parent company. This was to allow the shipyard to spend more time. After the initial difficult period, even when needed, the parent company needs to provide financial support." Zhang Yang said: "You are now asking for the transfer of funds, which is not in line with the original agreement."
"If we don't allocate funds, then our Three Banks Heavy Industry will..." Zheng Zhenze didn't finish his words. He couldn't say that the Three Banks Heavy Industry would go bankrupt, right?
“What’s the matter?”
“In short, we must allocate funds. Even if we give up the shares here, we must allocate our share.” Zheng Zhenze has a firm attitude.
"Mr. Zheng, don't be anxious. Calm down and think about it first. I'll go out for a while."
“Get out? Don’t even try to avoid me!”
"Why should I hide from you?" Zhang Yang glanced at Zheng Zhenze with contempt: "I went out to meet Mr. Qin."
After saying that, he looked at Zheng Xianyu who was behind Zheng Zhenze: "Let's go, you and I will greet him together. This will make it more formal."
Mr. Qin is coming?
Zheng Zhenze frowned immediately.
Theoretically, Chongming Island Shipyard has shares in their three heavy industries, so when Zheng Zhenze comes here, he is equivalent to a superior role. But if Mr. Qin comes, the two will be on the same level, or even Mr. Qin will be higher. , which is directly benchmarked against Mr. Li of the Three Bank Group.
How else can he ask for funds?
Zheng Xianyu was also stunned and quickly followed Zhang Yang.
The clock on the wall was ticking, and a few minutes later, Qin Tao's voice appeared in the corridor.
"The people from the Three Industries Heavy Industry are here? Okay, this is called arriving early rather than arriving wisely." Qin Tao's hearty words came to Zheng Zhenze's ears, but he couldn't understand it. The translator was following Zheng Xianyu, who just broke into When he came into the office, the translator came with him. When he heard that Mr. Qin was coming, he followed Zheng Xianyu.
Zheng Zhenze stood up and looked at the person who appeared at the door. A smile appeared on his face: "Mr. Qin, I am very happy to see you."
"I'm very happy too. I didn't expect that on my way back to Mingzhou, I would stop by the Chongming Island Shipyard for inspection and see you. Let's have dinner together later." Qin Tao came in with a smile and sat down in Zhang Yang's original chair. on the seat.
Now the translator continued working. Zheng Zhenze rolled his eyes a few times and finally spoke.
"Mr. Qin, when our Three Banks Heavy Industry cooperated with Mingzhou Group to establish the shipyard, it was to jointly expand the shipbuilding business. Now, our Three Banks Heavy Industry has encountered difficulties, and we hope that Mingzhou Group can lend a helping hand." Zheng Zhenze said .
Qin Tao was very emotional. Will we work together to make the shipbuilding business bigger? Stop talking nonsense. I cooperated with you in the first place just to trick you. If I don’t trick you to death, how can our shipbuilding industry in the East develop prosperously?
Now, you are in crisis, and you actually come to me for help? Isn’t this seeking skin from a tiger?
“Of course, please tell me, Mr. Zheng, we will do our best.”
"Mr. Qin, you have a good relationship with Damao. We hope you can help us find customers for ice-breaking natural gas ships." Zheng Zhenze said: "We have built eight ice-breaking natural gas ships, but the buyers have been reluctant to pay the balance. We It has been decided to sell these eight ice-breaking natural gas ships at a price lower than the market price."
Let’s not mention the money issue. As long as we get rid of the natural gas ship, all problems will be solved naturally.
"Ice-breaking natural gas ship? What a good thing!" Hearing Zheng Zhenze's words, Qin Tao immediately sighed: "This kind of ship is the most suitable ship type on the Arctic route. With this kind of ship, the Yamal oil and gas field can be easily transported It is the best choice to transport natural gas eastward to Asia or westward to Europe."
Hearing Qin Tao's words, Zheng Zhenze felt a little bitter in his heart. Yes, what you said was what the owner of Da Mao Shipwrecked us in the first place. We will not be fooled again.
The cold Arctic region also has a lot of resources. After careful excavation, 446 large oil and gas fields have been discovered throughout the Arctic region, including 330 onshore and 160 offshore. Among them, there are 61 extremely large oil and gas fields in the entire Arctic Circle, of which 43 are in Damao. The largest oil and gas area is in Western Siberia, including the Yamal Peninsula and the Godan Peninsula.
The quality of the natural gas extracted from the Yamal oil and gas field is good, but its transportation is very difficult. After all, this place is within the Arctic Circle, close to the Arctic Ocean, and it is freezing and uninhabited. Without oil and gas resources, it would be impossible. Inhabited.
It is already difficult to extract oil and natural gas, and it is even more difficult to transport the natural gas out. This place is too cold, and the cost of building a natural gas pipeline will be unacceptable. Even if it is built, Later maintenance costs are also huge.
So, the best way is to load it on a natural gas ship and ship it out.
So far, there is no natural gas pipeline exported to the Far East seaport. It would be great if it could be transported by natural gas ships.
These benefits can be easily understood by just talking about them. This is how Sanxing Heavy Industries was fooled. Now, Mr. Qin has come up with this trick again. They will never stumble on the same stone twice.
"Yes, Mr. Qin, we know this, but the shipowners of Da Mao refuse to take over the ship!" Zheng Zhenze said: "Now, they are in arrears with a large amount of construction funds, so we can only sell the ship."
"It's not cost-effective to sell it. You might as well just use these ships for transportation." Qin Tao said: "As long as you need it, I can help contact the person in charge of the Yamal oil and gas field. You can directly drive the natural gas ships there and transport them." Transport the natural gas back and you will have money."
Be a ship owner?
Shipyards build ships, and shipowners ship ships. These are originally two different industries. But now, Qin Tao gave them an idea to operate across industries.
"Our Mingzhou Group can help purchase these ships, but we have to purchase them according to market conditions. No one wants this kind of ice-breaking natural gas ship, and the price will be very low. If you sell the ship to us , sell eight ships together, and I will give you up to ten million US dollars." Qin Tao said: "And these eight ships only need to make one trip, and the freight can earn tens of millions of dollars. You..."
“Mr. Qin, are you willing to help contact Yamal Oil and Gas Field?” Zheng Zhenze suddenly became excited.
He had originally made up his mind to allocate funds from here. After all, this was the only way to go. But now he didn't expect that there was a third way.
"Yes." Qin Tao nodded: "We are good friends. Since you are in trouble, of course you have to lend a helping hand. Anyway, for us, it is just a matter of a few words. You can recruit a group of crew members and go to Yamal Oil and gas field transportation. While the weather is still warm, we should be able to make three or five trips. If you are worried, I can also help you contact Damao's icebreaker."
Zheng Zhenze’s heart was racing.
It’s better to rely on yourself than to rely on others. It’s not easy to sell these ships. Now, let’s just do the transportation by ourselves. As long as they are transported a few times, their three heavy industries will be able to recover!
“Thank you, Mr. Qin, let’s go back and prepare now.” Zheng Zhenze said excitedly.
Now, natural gas has been regarded as an energy substitute, and the demand is increasing. If their three-line heavy industry gets involved in the construction and transportation of natural gas ships, their profits will double in the future!
Zheng Zhenze walked away in a hurry. Zheng Xianyu thought of something and his face became very ugly.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Qin Tao looked at Oppa in front of him: “Are you a little worried?”
“Mr. Qin, I...”
“It’s okay, just tell me what you’re worried about.”
"I can not."
“Haha, are you worried about why I was so kind to point out a way for you Three Lines of Heavy Industry and help you contact Damao’s oil and gas fields?”
Yes, this is what Zheng Xianyu is worried about. In the past few years, he has been working at Chongming Island Shipyard. He has heard more and more legends about Qin Tao, and he has become more and more familiar with Qin Tao.
Mr. Qin is not the kind of kind person who likes to help others. What is the conspiracy behind Mr. Qin being so proactive?
Zheng Xianyu was stunned when Qin Tao said these words: "Mr. Qin, how do you know what I am thinking?"
Mr. Qin is really awesome! After Zheng Xianyu suddenly spoke, he realized that what he said was incorrect and quickly covered his mouth.
Qin Tao smiled and said, "It doesn't matter. I really don't have a good reputation. People from Dazhou Heavy Industry once came up to throw dirty water on me when I was giving a speech at the opening of the aircraft carrier park. However, the clean will self-clean." "Whether I am a good person or a bad person will naturally be judged by history."
"As for this matter, my idea is very simple. If these eight ice-breaking natural gas ships are not used, the Three Industries Heavy Industry will be in crisis. Once they become anxious, they will withdraw their investment from our Chongming Island Shipyard. Qin Tao said: "Our shipyard is currently developing smoothly, but we cannot have problems due to changes in shareholders. Do you understand now?"
Zheng Xianyu nodded. Mr. Qin was so smart. They came here just after they met. Mr. Qin didn't hear Zhang Yang talk about Sanhang Heavy Industry's car security and the allocation of funds here. But now, Mr. Qin said it, It shows that he has already thought of this ending.
“Well, I understand. You helped Sanhang Heavy Industry solve the problem without spending a penny.” Zheng Xianyu was full of admiration for Qin Tao, that’s amazing!
Xu Zhengyang, who was following Qin Tao, felt happy in his heart. You guys don’t know yet, but there is a more devious plan behind this, right?
If you can’t sell the boat, use it for yourself!
"Report, Da Mao has taken the initiative to contact us. They are very supportive of our actions and are willing to dispatch icebreakers to help us when needed. Let us open up shipping routes with confidence and boldness." Zheng Zhenze's subordinate Pu Renjun spoke.
“Sure enough, a few words from Mr. Qin can help us solve big problems. The relationship between Mr. Qin and Damo is really good.” Zheng Zhenze said with emotion.
"Yes, they said they accepted President Qin's commission and took the initiative to contact us, but they made a request." Pu Renjun said.
"explain!"
“They require our ships to install GLONASS navigation system terminals,” said Park Im-joon.
Zheng Zhenze was surprised: "Can this navigation system be used?"
When it comes to global navigation systems, the most famous one now is GPS. After Mao shot down the passenger plane of Kimchi Country, the Americans began to open this system to the private sector. Nowadays, all sailing ships have to install this system. The price is not expensive either.
Of course, Da Mao has a similar system. During the Red Empire era, it began to launch satellites one after another. By 1995, Da Mao finally completed the networking of the GLONASS satellite system after spending huge sums of money. It was also composed of 24 The principle and scheme are similar to GPS. The 24 satellites are distributed in 3 orbital planes. These 3 orbital planes are 120 degrees apart, and satellites in the same plane are 45 degrees apart.
This global navigation system has a positioning accuracy of up to 1 meter and a speed error of only 15 cm/second. From these data, it is already very good.
However, Damao’s satellite positioning system has one biggest flaw: the satellite life is low!
Compared with the lifespan of GPS, which can last for more than ten years or even decades, DaMao's satellites only have a lifespan of one or two years, which means that if you want to maintain this positioning system, you need to constantly reissue failed satellites to keep DaMao Due to their economic strength, they simply do not have the ability to continuously launch networking satellites, resulting in the system's operating effects becoming increasingly poor.
The network was just completed in 1995. Now in 1997, the positioning system can still meet the needs of the area near Da Mao. After a while, it will probably be paralyzed.
However, there is nothing to say, and he can understand it. After all, Da Mao has always regarded the Arctic route as a route under their control, and ships coming and going have to pay tolls. In this way, just like the Pyramid State, they can make a lot of money by relying on the Suez Canal. profit.
So, how to declare sovereignty?
The mandatory requirement to install your own satellite navigation system is one of them, you have to follow mine!
“Then let’s purchase it, how much will it cost?”
“Each unit is US$50,000, and the wholesale price of ten units is US$400,000.” Park Renjun said.
Zheng Zhenze was stunned for a moment: "It's so expensive, are they trying to steal money?"
In later generations, a separate GPS receiving module cost only a few yuan, but in the 1990s, it was still relatively expensive. Purchasing a dedicated GPS receiver cost several thousand yuan.
However, a few thousand is already the limit. Da Mao is so black, it costs tens of thousands!
No wonder Park Renjun's face looks very bad.
"Buy it. If we delay the time, it will be impossible to open the Arctic route until winter comes." After a brief thought, Zheng Zhenze nodded. For their group, an investment of hundreds of thousands is not much.
"Also, if we want to open up this route, it is best to hire experienced sailors to pilot it for us."
"Of course."
“We found more than 20 sailors from Da Mao. These sailors used to work on Da Mao’s icebreakers and entered and exited the Arctic shipping lanes many times.” Park Renjun continued: “It’s just that the wages they require are very high.”
"How high? Do they want ten thousand dollars a month?" Zheng Zhenze's tone was teasing.
Now, Da Mao is living a miserable life. The average salary of their employees is only 65 US dollars a month, and the pension is less than 20 US dollars. If there is a job that pays one hundred dollars a month, they will all rush to get it, let alone working for the three heavy industries now. If they are offered a job with three to five hundred dollars, they are already in heaven.
“That’s right, they want ten thousand dollars a month and three months’ salary in advance.”
Ten thousand US dollars, which is US$30,000 in three months, and with more than 20 people, that is another US$6 to 7 million in expenses!
"Look for one of them! Why do we need so many navigators? One person is enough. Even if we pay him 15,000 a month, it will only be 40,000 to 50,000 US dollars." Zheng Zhenze said.
"yes."
“We have to be quick, we will set off tomorrow.” Zheng Zhenze said.
“Okay.” Park Renjun went out.
Early the next morning, eight natural gas ships were ready to set off.
The ship is painted black so that it is most conspicuous in the white Arctic Ocean, making it easier for search and rescue personnel at any time in the event of an accident.
At the dock of Sanhang Heavy Industry, Mr. Li from Sanhang Group attended the ceremony in person.
"Today, we are very happy to see that our three-line heavy industry has embarked on a new journey. We are not only going to build ships, but also get involved in ocean transportation. The natural gas ships we produce will sail around the world, especially in the Arctic. , only our three-line heavy industry can build this type of natural gas ship!”
"The advantages of the Arctic route are huge. It can shorten the transportation voyage of one or two months to 15 days, saving more than half of the transportation cost! Our Sanhang Group has made new contributions to the global environmental protection cause! Now, I hope that our ships The team can return triumphantly with a full load of natural gas!”
“Please rest assured that the group will definitely complete this mission!” Zheng Zhenze replied: “Now, please set sail for our fleet!”
The first ice-breaking liquefied gas ship was launched first. On its bow, the ship name DAON is very conspicuous. This word in Korean means that all good things will come. They are looking forward to this voyage. (I don’t know how to pronounce it in Korean, and I don’t know how to type in Korean. It is said that the name on the bow of the ship must be written in Korean.)
The DAON number is at the front, followed by the NURI number, GAON number, GARAM number, MIR number, HANBADA number, RAON number...
The huge transport fleet set sail!
This is a new beginning for Sanhang Heavy Industry. From now on, they will not only build ships, but also get involved in the maritime transportation industry, and it is also the most profitable natural gas transportation! Although their ships are heavy due to their ice-breaking capabilities, they are a must-have capability for sailing in the Arctic. Although they will consume more fuel, they can make up for this shortcoming by shortening the route and even save more.
One by one, natural gas ships started moving, heading north, passing through the Bering Strait and entering the East Siberian Sea.
Huge chunks of ice floating on the sea. This sight frightened the crew.
You know, the Titanic sank because it hit ice floating on the sea. The real sunken ship is definitely not as romantic as the Titanic. In this kind of ice and snow, once it is hit and sunk, it almost means With death.
However, the experienced navigator Krikalev didn't care at all. He was talking endlessly about his experience to the people around him.
"In the past few years, I have been working on the Rossiya nuclear-powered icebreaker. In our country, most of the icebreakers are nuclear-powered, which can reduce fuel consumption. Each of our rooms is very warm. However, we I am not afraid of the cold either. In 1986, I reached the North Pole for the first time. By the way, do you know what our tradition is?"
Krikalev looked at Captain Cui Wenji.
Sailors have their own special rituals. For example, for a sailor who crosses the equator for the first time, a common prank is to make him drink sea water. So, what is the prank when reaching the North Pole?
Hearing the translated words, Cui Wenji shook his head: "I'm sorry, we don't know. Please work hard and guide us in the right direction."
“I have been working hard.” Krikalev said, “Do you want to know?”
The people on the bridge were looking forward to it, but they didn’t dare to say it. Krikalev smiled and said, “Our tradition is to take off our clothes and run around on the ice. Of course, if you are braver, Yes, you can jump in and swim for a while.”
It is said that Lao Maozi is a born fighting nation. At this point, it is really true. Lao Maozi is the only one in the world who dares to swim in ice water.
“Won’t you freeze to death?” Finally a crew member asked.
"Of course not, we will all drink this before going down." Krikalev said, taking out a small bottle of vodka from his pocket: "Look, that's it."
As he spoke, he unscrewed the lid and poured a few big mouthfuls into his mouth.
“Hey, you can’t drink alcohol during work, otherwise your wages will be deducted!” Cui Wenji became anxious.
“Salary deduction?” Krikalev’s eyes widened: “What did you say? Do you want to fire me? If you fire me, I will jump out and swim back from the water now!”
Cui Wenji was dumbfounded immediately. He really wanted this unreliable navigator to get out, but three months' salary had been paid in advance! If Krikalev leaves now, their fleet will have no pilot!
Damn it, why don’t you hire a few more navigators? Carefully selected navigators are so unreliable!
PS: Thanks to l599xl, Xiuzhu Maomao, Qingmichuan Mo, Haoqiang Book Friends, Dust in the Fireworks of the World, Book Friends 120417064001967, Book Friends 20191117233155380, Starry Nightmare, Book Friends 20161208120215196, Luo Luo and other friends for their rewards. Thank you all for reading. Friends subscribe and vote!
(End of this chapter)