Chapter 691 The general trend
When it comes to aircraft carriers, the first thing that comes to mind are two giants. One of them still has a huge fleet of ten aircraft carriers on the sea, and the other is a skinny camel that is bigger than a horse. It can maintain its production and livelihood by selling goods. It also owns the only warship in the world outside the United States with a displacement of more than 60,000 tons. This is the intuition of ordinary people. It is difficult for them to directly think that the East also has a sister ship of the Kuznetsov.
Of course, that warship was renovated, so it does not necessarily need to use bulbous steel. However, Mingzhou Group is not just renovating it, they are also building an aircraft carrier! The ship from Siam has long been in service, and the ship from Football is almost ready. Mingzhou Group is still negotiating with Saudi Arabia and plans to build one for Saudi Arabia. It is said that satellite images now show that the ship is already being built on the other side's slipway. A brand new aircraft carrier with a very high displacement.
So, Mingzhou Group should have such a thing!
“We are competing with Mingzhou Group in the procurement bidding for this aircraft carrier. Will they help us?” Akar was worried.
"Why don't you help? Akar, at first we were in a competitive relationship, but now we are in a business relationship." Senyavin said: "Now, there is no time to hesitate, go to the east immediately!"
“Why not purchase from Da Mao?” Akar still didn’t understand.
Why? It’s not because Da Mao’s asking price is too high! These people are so dark! A boiler costs five million dollars! You know, back then, the three-line heavy industry purchased boilers for only two million US dollars each. In just a few years, the price has more than doubled!
So, we can no longer look for Da Mao, we have to change suppliers. As for looking for the United States, don’t even think about it. Although they are in the same camp, their relationship with the United States is just like that.
So, after some thought, Akar felt that it was time to go to the East to try his luck.
“Report, the aircraft carrier boiler has arrived!” At this moment, a subordinate came over and reported: “It’s at the airport. When are we going to pick up the goods?”
“Now!” said Akar. Anyway, I was planning to go to the East and had to take a plane, so I went to the airport to inspect the goods.
Senyavin was a little surprised: "No, Da Mao has always been procrastinating, and now he has delivered the boiler to us so quickly. This is not in line with their style. Could it be that what they gave us is a boiler?" A second-hand one? No, I have to go take a look too!"
This kind of thing can be done by Da Mao, who paints an old boiler and sells it as new, so they have to look more carefully!
The group of people headed to the airport, and soon found the huge thing in the loading area.
“Take it apart and take a look!” Senyavin said: “If it is a second-hand boiler, we will return it to Damao and ask them to compensate us for the loss!”
The boiler was installed in a wooden box. The wood could be pried open with a crowbar. Several people stood there and looked at the silver-white boiler exposed inside.
“Open the stove lid!”
The exterior paint can be repainted, but if it is a used second-hand boiler, the inside will not be changed, otherwise it will be a big project. Refurbishing a second-hand boiler is not necessarily more economical than building a new boiler.
So, just look inside and you’ll know!
Amidst the creaking sound, the stove lid was opened. Akar put his head in, shined a flashlight, and looked at the inner wall.
Brand new refractory bricks, bright heavy oil nozzles, and golden diesel ignition devices all prove that this boiler is brand new.
“That’s right, it’s a brand new boiler, and it doesn’t look like stock. There are no signs of oxidation.” Akar said.
“That’s strange. With Lao Maozi’s personality, it’s impossible to deliver it to us so quickly! Akar, check again to see if there are any other problems!”
Akar nodded, looked carefully inside and out, and then, in an obscure position, he touched a steel seal.
Made in China? When he saw this phrase clearly, Akar was a little shocked. Isn't this Da Mao's? How did it become Eastern?
Wait a minute, is it? Thinking of something, the expression on Akar's face was a little angry: "Da Mao sold the boilers for aircraft carriers from us at a high price, and then turned around and ordered them from the Orientals. They didn't have to produce them, they just changed hands like this and made a lot of money. The production speed in the East is very fast!”
Da Mao was so embarrassed that he became a second-rate dealer! This approach is so disgusting!
“What?” Senyavin was annoyed.
What kind of bidding is it? It’s a joke! They originally thought that bidding would lower the purchase price, but he was wrong. In this seller's market, bidding has no meaning. Instead, it may push up the price!
“Akar, go to Dongfang and ask how much their aircraft carrier boilers cost? If it’s cheap, we’ll return it to Damao due to quality issues, and then order it from Dongfang!”
At the beginning, the bidding was just a bidding, but now the business is a business. Since they know that the boilers are produced by Easterners, of course they have to bypass the middlemen!
This should save you money! Maybe, the money for purchasing flat bulb steel can also be saved from the purchasing funds for boilers?
With Senyavin's expectations, Akar embarked on a journey to the East. This time, he came with an important mission.
In recent times, Qin Tao has been at the Mingzhou Group, so Akar met Qin Tao easily.
"Mr. Qin, we are here this time to purchase a batch of spherical flat steel from you. The strength of this steel must meet the needs of the keel of the aircraft carrier." Akar didn't talk nonsense. There was nothing worth chatting with anyway, so he directly It’s better to get into the topic.
“Are you going to start building an aircraft carrier?” Qin Tao was very excited: “Isn’t our design good?”
It turns out that Qin always thought that he would build an aircraft carrier according to that design? Akar was relieved. It would be great if the other party didn't think of the Gorshkov.
“Yes, your design is indeed very good.” Akar nodded.
“You made the right choice. Let us design the design drawings. You can also purchase various steel materials needed for aircraft carriers from us. In addition to bulb steel, there is also deck steel. Only our Mingzhou Group can meet your needs.”
“Mr. Qin, if we want 300 tons of flat steel, what is the price?” Akar continued to ask.
If you want to build a 40,000-ton aircraft carrier, you will need at least 3,000 tons of flat bulb steel, but to repair a 40,000-ton aircraft carrier, 300 tons of flat bulb steel will be more than enough for reinforcement.
"You want this much?" Qin Tao said in surprise: "This is not enough! Have you looked at the design drawings carefully? In the design drawings we gave, we need to use three thousand tons of spherical flat steel!"
Originally, Akar thought that buying hundreds of tons of flat steel would be a big deal. Who would have thought that here in Qin Tao, it would be nothing at all!
Akar's mind was thinking rapidly, and an idea quickly came into his mind: "Mr. Qin, we are just buying a few hundred tons now to try out the initial construction, and we will purchase more in the future."
"That's not cost-effective." Qin Tao said: "If you buy three thousand tons together, it is considered wholesale, and we can give you the best price. If you only buy a few hundred tons, it is considered retail."
Hundreds of tons, not a few tons, is this still considered retail? Akar knew that Qin Tao said this just to raise the price, but there was no other way but to let the other party kill him.
“Mr. Qin, if it is three thousand tons, what is the preferential price?”
“One hundred and fifty thousand dollars a ton.”
Hmm, this is still called a preferential price? The flat bulb steel required by ordinary civilian ships does not cost more than US$10,000 per ton! The ball flat steel for warships costs at most 20,000 to 30,000 US dollars, but when it comes to aircraft carriers, it becomes 150,000 US dollars per ton, which is still a preferential price!
Are they so expensive? The deck steel of an aircraft carrier only costs US$50,000 per ton!
“What if we only buy a few hundred tons?” Akar had an ominous premonition.
“That’s two hundred thousand dollars a ton.”
Two hundred thousand, three hundred tons, this is 60 million US dollars! (The Hero of East China made many arithmetic errors in the previous section, thank you readers for your understanding!)
As expected, there is not much money to buy a second-hand aircraft carrier, but when it comes to maintenance, it is simply a bottomless pit!
“Mr. Qin, can you lower the price for us? It’s too expensive! After all, we will still have to continue purchasing in the future.”
“If you continue to purchase, we can recalculate it and include the extra US$50,000 per ton into subsequent procurement funds. How about that?”
If Tuji continues to purchase, of course there will be no problem, but now, Tuji plans to purchase these hundreds of tons, so subsequent discounts are meaningless.
“Mr. Qin, can you give us a better discount this time, at the rate of US$150,000 per ton?”
Qin Tao hesitated for a moment, and then said: "If you are willing to pay the full price, then we can reduce it to US$180,000 per ton."
Akar knew that this time he might be in vain, so he would go to Damao to try his luck next?
No, I can’t go! What if Da Mao doesn't follow martial ethics and asks them for US$250,000 per ton, and then changes hands and gives the order to Mingzhou Group? This empty-handed white wolf's method is really slippery, and he can't be fooled again.
Thinking of this, Akar sighed and decided to change the topic.
“Mr. Qin, if we want to build an aircraft carrier, we have to purchase boilers. I wonder how much a boiler for your aircraft carrier costs?”
"Are you sure you are using boiler power?" Qin Tao continued to lie: "This is the wise choice."
Of course, Qin Tao knew that the natives bought the boiler with the intention of using it in the modification of the Anadolu. Now they are in a difficult situation. Even if they encounter various problems, they have to grit their teeth and spend money to solve the problems. , However, if he sees through it without revealing it, he will assume that the other party is building a brand new aircraft carrier.
"Yes, we have planned to use boilers as power. This method is more economical. We hope to purchase cheap boilers from you. If the price is too expensive, we can only choose gas turbines."
“Boilers are not expensive, only five million dollars each.” Qin Tao said with a smile.
Akar froze right there, five million? The same as the big money? Impossible, absolutely impossible, Damao, the middleman, makes the difference!
“Mr. Qin, we come here with sincerity, please give us a reasonable price!” Akar said.
"Don't worry, I haven't finished speaking yet." Qin Tao said: "What I just said is the price of buying a single boiler. According to the design, your aircraft carrier needs four boilers, so you can enjoy the wholesale price. How about four and a half million units? Is this price cheap enough? If you purchase an LM2500 gas turbine, one unit will cost more than US$10 million. Moreover, even if you use four units, you may not be able to reach three. For a speed of ten knots, a boiler is most suitable in terms of price and performance.”
It’s only half a million cheaper, so what’s the use? What he hopes is to get it cheaper by one to two million, or even at a half discount!
“Mr. Qin, wasn’t the boiler you sold to Sanhang Heavy Industry a few years ago worth two million dollars a piece? How come the price has increased so much when it got to us?”
"This is not that we are increasing prices, this is that the exchange rate is changing." Qin Tao said: "When we sold boilers to Three Banks Heavy Industry, our exchange rate was around 4. What is it now? Now our exchange rate is 8.3! Our exchange rate is 8.3. The exchange rate has doubled, so of course the price will double. In addition, our labor costs have continued to rise over the years, from two million US dollars to five million US dollars. Isn't it normal? If you have RMB , settle directly with our RMB, these things will not happen."
An increase in the exchange rate is good for imports, but not good for exports. Over the years, the exchange rate has changed a lot. In the early 1990s, it was around four o'clock, and now it is around eight o'clock. Qin Tao took this as an argument, of course. It is also reasonable.
If you think this is not cost-effective, then change it to RMB. Don’t regard the US dollar as your only foreign exchange reserve. Don’t you see that Americans can harvest the world’s wealth by printing worthless waste paper? Our currency is more stable.
Of course, Qin Tao's current deception will not lead to any results. The current RMB does not have that kind of influence, but it is logical to use it to explain the price. There is no other way. Who asked you to trade in US dollars? It’s not that the price we sell is too high, it’s because the U.S. dollar is not valuable.
Hearing what Qin Tao said, Akar could only accept it. After all, this was the truth.
But, it’s still too expensive, what should I do?
"Mr. Akar, if you are really determined to build an aircraft carrier, you must do it as soon as possible. After all, we also need a lot of steel domestically. The production capacity of our Mingzhou Group's steel plant is just enough for our own use. If you don't hurry up, If you place an order, it will probably take a long time to deliver. By the way, do you want to purchase aircraft carrier deck steel?"
They have many choices for steel materials such as hulls, but not much for deck steel!
Mingzhou Group also sells deck steel. If you want to build an aircraft carrier, you will definitely need deck steel, but if you just modify the aircraft carrier, that is not necessarily the case.
Akar shook his head: "Let's talk about the order we just made first."
Mingzhou Group’s deck steel is good and can withstand the impact of heavy fighter jets taking off and landing, but the price is definitely not cheap. The local chickens can’t afford to spend this money just to repair the aircraft carrier, so why would they consider purchasing deck steel.
Anyway, it's not landing, it's just taking off. You can try using domestically produced steel. If it still doesn't work, then just don't build that jump deck. Anyway, China doesn't have the money to purchase vertical take-off and landing fighter jets for the time being. The Mingzhou Group's purchase of fighter jets is another terrible expense.
In fact, Turkey is unambiguous in terms of defense spending. For example, in 1998, defense spending was US$8.78 billion, ranking 12th in the world. However, this aircraft carrier was an accident!
Each year's defense expenditures have been used for the previous year. A normal country must allocate these expenditures. Therefore, even if they have a lot of defense expenditures, they will not attack this aircraft carrier. number.
Their army also needs a large amount of funds, and there is simply no way to spare this money. Now, they are just pretending to be fat, and they have to tighten their belts to raise money even if they have no money. It is impossible to spend money lavishly. .
Now, Akar just wants to finalize the urgent project.
“Mr. Qin, if we purchase flat bulb steel and boilers together, can you give us another discount?”
Akar looked at Qin Tao with expectant eyes.
Qin Tao shook his head: "How is that possible? It is already the cheapest. If you purchase it together with the deck steel, we may be able to give you a zero. You'd better contact your superiors quickly and share our plan with your superiors. Tell me."
Akar had no choice but to stand up and say goodbye.
Looking at Akar's leaving figure, Zhao Ling frowned: "According to the original plan, the Tuji people purchased these from Da Mao. Now, if they come to us to purchase, will Da Mao be unhappy? "
"What can we do about this?" Qin Tao said: "Customers are God. Since customers have chosen us, we can't push them away. As for the explanation with Lao Maozi, we can order more club missiles. As compensation."
As long as the old man makes money, now he orders more missiles and then sells them to the pyramid countries. Then he can make two profits and everyone will be happy.
Zhao Ling nodded, she and Brother Tao still have a lot to learn. If you want to achieve a win-win situation, you still have to use many methods. Brother Tao is already very comfortable in this aspect.
“President Qin, we just received news that the Tropical Glory has been rescued and the Suez Canal route has been completely opened.” Xu Zhengyang came over and reported to Qin Tao.
“Where is our dredger?”
“Our dredger Sky Whale is passing through the Gulf of Aden and heading for the Red Sea under the **** of warships.”
Qin Tao nodded: "After arriving at the Red Sea, let the dredgers wait there. When the fleet out of the Red Sea gathers, they will return with this fleet. Inform the Pyramid State that they must give us a Accurate reply.”
After saying this, Qin Tao felt that it was not enough and continued to add: "Also, reveal this news to reporters and let them continue to put pressure on the Pyramid State."
At first, it was to show Mingzhou Group's concern and help for the global economy that it sent the dredger there for free. However, now that it's over, it has to make some money before coming back. Otherwise, this trip will be in vain?
Pyramid Country, Osama came to the capital. Before he entered the conference room, he heard roaring sounds coming from inside.
"Two million dollars a day, which means almost half of our canal revenue is handed over to them. This is impossible, absolutely impossible!" One person said: "Easterners strongly support the Arctic route, and many cargo ships are now starting If we take that route, the number of cargo ships passing through our canal will not be as good as before, so we have to increase revenue and reduce expenditure!"
"It's not just because our canal has limited access. If we widen the canal, those cargo ships will continue to come back. That's the largest dredger in the world, and it's not much more than two million dollars a day. If we don't seize the opportunity this time, Next time we want to widen the canal, it will definitely cost more.”
“Damn it, that Mingzhou Group must have done all this!”
“How is it possible? That cargo ship has nothing to do with the Mingzhou Group.”
“That Mr. Qin made several remarks about the canal being blocked must have been behind his back, even if it was a curse!”
Osama pushed open the door of the conference room and looked at the commotion below and the serious-faced leaders on the podium. He felt helpless. The Oriental's move was so slippery that they didn't even react at first. , now, having been swept away by this tide, it is impossible to turn back.
“Osama, you are here? As the head of the canal management office, what do you think?” the leader asked him.
"Everyone, my opinion is no longer important. I have brought a joint request from 32 shipowners around the world. They unanimously ask us to widen the shipping route, completely solve the problem of shipping lane congestion, and even widen the shipping lane to meet the needs of two-way traffic." Osama said: "Now, various media in Europe are also talking about this matter. Hiring the dredger of Mingzhou Group to widen the waterway is a general trend that cannot be stopped."
“What is the general trend, it is clearly promoted by the Mingzhou Group in secret!”
"Everyone, Mingzhou Group is quite good to us, especially the submarine they built for us, and its performance has reached the highest level of similar submarines. I believe that Mingzhou Group will not do these things. After all, they are a world-famous The multinational group doesn't care about our project construction costs at all." Mamish spoke.
“That’s our money too, we don’t have that money!”
“If the canal is not widened, our income will plummet!”
“Okay, stop arguing.” The leader on the rostrum finally spoke: “Wending the canal and increasing our income is a good project. We must take a longer-term view. This is what we must do!”
“But, it’s two million per day. If the Mingzhou Group’s dredger works for a year...”
"According to their construction capabilities, we have determined a ten-day construction period. They can widen it as wide as they can without delaying our existing canal traffic order. The cost will be collected from the owner of the Tropical Glory ship. They must You have to give us this money first!”
(End of this chapter)