The Birth of the Hong Kong Island Family.

Chapter 191 [Just in Time]

After returning to Hong Kong, Lin Zhichao immediately arranged the transportation task, organized ships, dispatched personnel, and supervised the progress of the fleet.

The four oil tankers were already headed for the Middle East. Deputy General Manager Feng Yongfa flew to the Middle East to visit the front line in person, while he sat in the headquarters and used radio waves to supervise the transportation team throughout the process.The time of the entire transportation task is accurate to the hour, and it is all in the plan, and what is needed is execution.

Because Global Shipping has a radio wave information network covering the whole world, when Lin Zhichao came to the radio room of the headquarters, it was like entering the headquarters of an information hub, where he could give advice.

He must be a qualified conductor, familiar with every waterway in the world, and the water depth of each waterway, as if a shipping map is printed in his brain.At the same time, he often updates the map in his mind in real time, which is much more reliable than some certain maps in later generations.

"Boss, all four oil tankers have left Jeddah port and are heading towards the Suez Canal. Vice President Feng has already gone to Egypt's Suez Canal to check the situation at the port." In the telegraph room of the headquarters, the information officer informed Lin Zhichao of the real-time information.

"Okay, tell everyone to follow the plan."

"Yes"

Lin Zhichao breathed a sigh of relief. After passing through the Suez Canal, there is the Mediterranean Sea; on one side of the Mediterranean Sea is Europe, and on the other side is Africa; and then passing through the Strait of Gibraltar is the North Atlantic Ocean. It is Yimapingchuan.

This route has two 'throats', and the Strait of Gibraltar is only 14KM, which is the busiest strait in the world, and the Strait of Malacca is one of the four largest straits in the world.

Of course, the most important thing is the throat of the Suez Canal. Gibraltar is a strait anyway, and no country will boldly block it.And once Suez is blocked, whether it is taking the European line or the American line, it has to pass through the Cape of Good Hope.

However, the sea at the Cape of Good Hope is very windy and turbulent. Generally, it is more dangerous for small ships to pass by, so only large ships are allowed.

At present, the world's major shipyards and major shipping companies are not so eager for the generalization of ships; it is precisely because of the closure of the Suez Canal in 1956 that the world's major shipyards have invested in large oil tankers.

In the late 50s, Japan had exceeded [-] tons.

In the late 60s, Japan had exceeded 20 tons, and oil tankers exceeding 20 tons were also called VLCCs (VERY LARGE CRUDE CARRIER)—that is, oil tankers with a load capacity between 20 and 32 tons were supertankers.

the other side.

Senior executives of HSBC are discussing Lin Zhichao's proposal, and Sandas is already a senior executive of HSBC, because the project department is a very important department.

"HSBC has broken the 'black book' of not granting shipping loans. Shipping is still a risky industry, and direct investment is too risky!" A senior executive strongly objected.

"You can't say that! Lin Zhichao started from investing in the industry with 1000 million Hong Kong dollars. In more than four years, global shipping has been worth about 1 million Hong Kong dollars (low valuation); such a high-yielding industry can be considered with professional cooperation now! "With senior executives envious of shipping's rate of return, and now led by Hong Kong Shipping No.[-], it's natural to be moved.

For a while, everyone discussed very intensely. Generally speaking, opposition and agreement are almost the same.

Chairman Douglas said to Sanders at this time: "Manager Sanders, can you tell some of your reasons, we want to hear!"

Sandas nodded. He just put forward this plan at the beginning, and he didn't dare to support it immediately, because he was also afraid that he would become a sinner of HSBC.

Now that HSBC executive Douglas asked him to speak, he would express his own thoughts. In fact, he slightly modified Lin Zhichao's words and presented them to the ears of his colleagues.

For a while, everyone started to cooperate because global shipping has been too profitable in recent years.

At this time, Douglas, as the boss, was naturally very assertive. He said: "First of all, Global Shipping has just been involved in the transportation of oil tankers. You said that they are seeking cooperation with American oil companies. This result is very important; secondly, The six largest oil tankers in the world are a bit too risky for us. Although the profits are huge, we should reduce some risks. For example, the partnership company builds four large oil tankers first, or we only hold 6% of the shares; In the end, Sunda Expert will try out some more ideas of Lin Zhichao, and we will think about it again."

Sandas immediately nodded and said, "No problem!"

At this time, a high-level supporter said: "It is best to cooperate with four ships accounting for [-]% of the shares. If we make money in the future, we can make more profits."

The opposition did not respond vigorously.

In fact, the appreciation of assets from 1000 million to 2 million Hong Kong dollars is very enviable to the high-level executives of HSBC; this is a living successful experience, which is more effective than many sayings.

In fact, the cooperation proposed by Lin Zhichao does not affect his own interests.Assuming that HSBC agrees to cooperate, he will use the excess funds to continue to purchase large oil tankers in the name of global shipping.

Because during the closure of Suez in 1956, the global shortage of oil tankers was at least nearly [-] million tons, otherwise the price would not have skyrocketed several times in the previous life.

And Lin Zhichao is not like Bao Yugang in his previous life, he will always be short of money to do shipping, he has grasped the cycle, basically he will not be short of a lot of money.Therefore, a company that takes HSBC to make a fortune will not exceed a load capacity of more than 500 million tons in the future, while global shipping may have a load capacity of more than 1500 million tons.

In the afternoon, Lin Zhichao took a car to the newly filled Central Pier, ready to arrive at Kowloon Star Pier by ferry.

Last year, the reclamation project in Causeway Bay was completed, namely the Victoria Park site, which filled the gap in Causeway Bay (the typhoon shelter was filled); and this year, the reclamation project in Central was also completed, that is, the site for the Central Pier and the City Hall.

Reclamation has always been an important way for Hong Kong's development. Reclamation can obtain a lot of economic benefits and fiscal revenue. Therefore, before the awareness of environmental protection was not strong in the 80s, Hong Kong had been reclamating the sea.

Later generations of Victoria Harbor became narrower and narrower, and were even jokingly called "Victoria River" and "Victoria Canal".

Lin Zhichao doesn't like to take the car ferry, but likes to take the car to the Central Ferry Terminal, change to the ferry, and then take the car that picks him up at the Star Ferry Terminal.

In this way, he can enjoy the scenery of Victoria Harbor and both sides.He himself also likes taking his family for a stroll along the central coast of Victoria Harbor after dinner at night, admiring the view of Victoria Harbour.

The current Central is far from the high-rise buildings of later generations. Even from a high altitude, you will find that there is still a lot of greenery in Central. Many plots do not even have buildings. At least half of the land is empty on the "satellite map". .

When he came to the Yangtze River Industrial Park, Lin Zhichao walked into the plastic factory located on the first floor. He knew that the rubber flower of Plastic Changjiang Plastic Factory had been successfully developed.

"Boss, the samples are all ready!" Tao Derong greeted him happily.

Lin Zhichao nodded, and then walked into the showroom. Sure enough, beautiful and lifelike plastic flowers appeared in front of his eyes, such as a bunch of grapes, a bunch of tulips, a cluster of orchids, etc. After less than a year of research and development by Changjiang Plastic Factory, it is finally It worked.

"Strictly keep it secret! At the same time, come up with a plan to purchase equipment, train workers and technicians, etc. You must know that this technology is not very high. Assuming someone imitates it, the technology can be finished in half a year at most. Faster It even only takes three months. Therefore, we must quickly and accurately occupy the market. Even if our initial investment is larger and the preparation time is longer, it will not be a problem!"

In his previous life, although Li Jiacheng was the first choice to import plastic flowers, the restricted factory was too small and the funds were insufficient, so his income was limited; it is said that Li Jiacheng's entire plastic flower career only earned tens of millions of Hong Kong dollars.

But Hong Kong's plastic flower industry is a big industry, which can generate tens of billions of foreign exchange for Hong Kong. As a "person who fills the gap in the market", it does not even earn one-tenth of the income, which is undoubtedly a failure.

And Lin Zhichao at least needs to earn [-] million Hong Kong dollars in the plastic flower industry to be worthy of the founder of R&D.

Tao Derong said: "After the plastic flower is put into production, if you want to enter the European and American markets, the common way is to go through a foreign firm in Hong Kong. They have branches in Europe and the United States and have stable customers. The two parties have established long-term trust."

Lin Zhichao immediately said: "This method is not transparent! We don't know where the products are sold to? Who is the agent? How much is the CIF price, wholesale price, and retail price? How is the market? What is the feedback from consumers?"

Tao Derong immediately said: "Then we can only form a team by ourselves and go to Europe and the United States for sales. However, this product is not like a wig, the sales are relatively concentrated, but scattered throughout the western world. So while we are slowly opening up the market, Hong Kong Followers will appear soon."

Lin Zhichao nodded and said: "So, we need to have strong productivity, a huge sales network, superb technology and growing technology from the very beginning. We can make samples into exquisite magazines and send them to large wholesalers in Europe and America. businessmen, if they find a business opportunity, they will come to Hong Kong for inspection.”

Tao Derong heard that this is the rhythm of a big fight, and quickly said: "Boss, since this is the case, we must immediately expand the management team, purchase a large number of equipment, and recruit many plastic technicians in Hong Kong."

Lin Zhichao said: "Okay, I will let the group assist you to complete it, and everything must be kept strictly confidential. I hope that within three months, everything will be ready. Also, the original plastic industry should stop production. It is not profitable to produce daily necessities. , Sell all the second-hand and old equipment. The factory that produces plastic flowers must fully arrange the factory buildings on this floor."

Tao Derong said without hesitation: "Okay!"

This is equivalent to cutting off an industry with an annual profit of 70 million. Of course, this is a big cake for other companies, but for Changjiang Plastic Factory, it is a drag.

Finally, Lin Zhichao suddenly asked curiously: "I remember that there are parents and plastic factories in Hong Kong. How has it developed in the past few years?"

Tao Derong didn't think it was strange, he knew that the boss had a good memory and knew this factory before.Coincidentally, he also knew something about this factory.

"Boss, you are asking the right question! A recent incident happened in this Changhe Plastic Factory, because it produced a large number of poor-quality products, and people returned them one after another. At the same time, material suppliers stopped supplying goods and banks stopped lending. And to collect the loan, I am afraid their boss will have a hard time getting through this time."

Lin Zhichao said in his heart - the timing is just in time. If Li Jiacheng has a big crisis at this time, it will take at least a year to recover. By then, there are already many plastic flower factories in Hong Kong, and he will not even be able to squeeze into the first echelon. .

Lacking this crucial opportunity, no matter how capable the Li family is, they could become a tens of billionaires, even Cheng Yutong, Li Zhaoji and others could not keep up with him.

The reason is very simple. Everyone was buying the bottom in 1967. If your funds are small, it means that the cake you get is small.

Good thing!

After all, Lin Zhichao really admired Li Jiacheng's ability and vision!

"This is a proper negative teaching material. Quality and technology are the first life of the industry. You have to remember it!"

Tao Derong immediately straightened his body and said, "Remember!"

Changhe Plastic Factory.

Li Jiacheng obviously had a great ordeal in his life. This time his ordeal was not caused by an irresistible natural or man-made disaster, but was caused by his mistakes.

It turns out that in order to produce more products (small profits but high sales), he has been asking employees to work overtime. On average, each employee has to work 16-18 hours a day to maximize the remaining value.Not only that, Changhe Plastic Factory lacks professional plastic talents, and his professional plastic talents often need to go outside to run business and negotiate business.

Therefore, Changhe Plastic Factory produced a large number of inferior products, and the warehouse was full of finished toys with poor quality and delayed delivery. Some customers came to ask for compensation, and new customers turned away when they saw the products.

People often say: "If you are not afraid of losing business, you are afraid of losing business." This is the situation of Changhe Plastic Factory today.

"Li Sheng, according to the time of the contract, you should pay for our raw materials. The total is 1.5 Hong Kong dollars!" A raw material merchant asked for the arrears at the first time, but he heard the wind.

Li Jiacheng quickly said: "Wang Sheng, can you wait for a while? I know you are because of that incident, but I can tell you responsibly that I can definitely afford your raw material costs."

"That can't be done, it's time for the contract, Li Sheng, you have to be honest when doing business!"

Li Jiacheng was immediately forced into a corner, and could only bring the raw materials to the warehouse, pointing at the large pile of products, and said roguely, "I really can't afford the money, so why don't you just take me away."

"What do you want? What do we want you for? What we want is money!"

"If you don't pay, we will immediately stop supplying the goods, and we will spread the scandal of your reckless payment in the industry. You will have no business in the future."

Li Jiacheng blushed immediately, and was forced by the raw material merchant to be unable to cope, so he could only beg for mercy.

After all, the raw material merchants who came one after another were finally invited away.

The wall collapsed and everyone pushed, the bank learned that Cheung Wo Plastic Factory was in crisis, and sent staff to press for the loan.Li Jiacheng, who was devastated and miserable, had to smile and beg the bank to relax the deadline.Banks hold the power of life and death of enterprises, Cheung Wo Plastic Factory is on the verge of liquidation.

Only half of the products in Changhe Plastic Factory have no quality problems, and the production capacity is insufficient, so employees have to be laid off.The family members of some of the laid-off employees came to the door to cry, and some stayed in the office. The workshop and the factory did not have a moment of peace.

The remaining employees were panicked and worried about the future of Changhe Plastic Factory.

(End of this chapter)