African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 924 Ocean
East Africa's actions in Mindanao demonstrated its determination to explore the ocean. Correspondingly, in 1897, 27 new large-scale ship repair and construction companies were established in East Africa. With the expansion of territory, the number of available ports in East Africa also increased significantly. These ports were both local and in overseas colonies, with the local ports mainly in the south and west.

At the same time, with the expansion of territory, the mileage of inland shipping in East Africa has been expanded, and inland water transport ports have also grown rapidly. Especially under East Africa’s ambitious "Grand Canal of East Africa" ​​plan, the prospects for the inland shipping industry are even broader.

At the same time, overseas territories such as the Lan Fang Overseas Province, the South Ryukyu Islands, the Kingdom of North Hawaii, Balabac Island, and Mindanao also provided a large number of excellent ports for the East African ocean strategy.

Among them, the important role of Balabac Island was also reflected with the incorporation of East Africa into Mindanao, as it connected the colony of Mindanao and the overseas province of Lanfang.

"At present, there are a total of 25 key ports that have been identified and put into construction in our country. They are concentrated in the east. There are relatively few ports in the west, but each developed port has good conditions. The cities where these 25 ports are located basically correspond to the more economically developed areas in the coastal areas." Ernst said to government officials.

Although East Africa's coastline is relatively straight and lacks excellent seaports, there are currently more than 25 seaports that have been built and developed in East Africa. These ports basically bear the national foreign trade of East Africa, and the more important of them are the ones that East Africa attaches the most importance to.

In contrast, the number of inland waterway ports in East Africa has exceeded 200. The difference between the two is significant, and with the development of the inland economy, this gap will further widen.

There are more than sixty ports in the Great Lakes region alone, mainly distributed on the Great Lake (Lake Victoria) and along the rivers that flow into the Great Lake.

The next is the Lake Malawi Basin and Lake Solon (Lake Tanganyika). These three regions are the most developed areas in East Africa's inland waterway shipping industry, and together they account for more than 50% of East Africa's inland waterway shipping.

Of course, although the number of inland ports far exceeds that of seaports, the value of the two is obviously not equal. It is not an exaggeration to say that the importance of a seaport for external liaison is more important than ten inland ports.

"At present, my country's development and utilization of the ocean lags behind other countries in the world. Not to mention those territorially large countries, even Germany has more seaports than my country, although its seaports are mainly small and medium-sized ports in the Baltic Sea."

Germany's shipping ports are concentrated in the north, including Poland in the past and Kaliningrad in Russia, so there are quite a few German shipping ports, but most of them are confined to the Baltic Sea. This does not hinder economic development in peacetime, but in wartime, it is basically impossible for its navy to achieve much success.

Other similar countries include Tsarist Russia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The Austro-Hungarian Empire is no longer like in the past. It now owns Venice, Trieste and other cities on the Adriatic coast, but it is also the Adriatic Sea that limits the performance of its navy.

Not to mention Tsarist Russia. The Baltic Sea and the Black Sea are its main economic seas, and both of these seas are restricted. Although there are seaports in the Pacific Ocean and the Arctic Ocean, neither is suitable for economic activities. Among them, Murmansk is known as an ice-free port all year round, but it is not a more active economic region in Russia. Like Vladivostok, its military use is more prominent.

Of course, apart from 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 East Empire.

The main reason for the Far Eastern Empire's opening to the sea was too short a period of time, and even under the threat of the powerful foreign powers' powerful ships and guns, it opened up some areas as trading ports. The problem with Brazil, on the other hand, was entirely due to its poor economic development and unbalanced regional development.

From this point of view, the number of seaports in East Africa is not as good as that in other countries, but it is better than that in other countries. However, given the limited number of seaports and the increasingly frequent overseas trade in East Africa, the governments of East Africa naturally attach unprecedented importance to the available ports.

"Faced with increasingly fierce maritime competition, East Africa cannot only develop its inland areas while paying attention to port construction. Apart from some special-purpose ports, the number of commercial ports should be at least over 100. Only in this way can it better drive coastal economic development and relieve the pressure on existing ports." Special-purpose ports mainly refer to military ports. In this regard, East Africa is quite considerate of the navy, and basically reserves the best port areas in various major sea areas for use as naval bases.

The goal of having more than 100 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 of their insufficient economic strength and inability to develop and utilize these bays or river estuaries.

Of course, the country's inactive foreign trade is also an important factor. Given the economic level of African countries in the past, the existing ports were fully sufficient, so the local government was not keen on building new ports, or they were powerless due to knowledge, war and other reasons.

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 forces, Africa would probably not even have a chance.

This situation will naturally not occur under the rule of East Africa. 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 the construction of local HNA, there should also be breakthroughs in the construction of colonial ports, with Pontianak, Zamboanga and Davao being the key points.”

As for other colonies, their main strategic value lies in their economic value. It is difficult for them to be competitive with the above three ports. Although the overseas province of Lan Fang has worse resources, its area is not small. Mindanao has basically no shortcomings except for its climate and population.

Others, such as the South Ryukyu Islands, the North Hawaiian Kingdom, etc., are too small in area. Some islands in the South Ryukyu Islands even have water problems. These colonies are barely sufficient as naval bases, and their economic prospects do not have much potential.

The Alaska colony was a surprise. Although its area, resources and population were not small, East Africa did not have the strength to develop Alaska at present. After all, it would be a great loss if it worked hard to develop Alaska but was reaped by surrounding forces.

Alaska is surrounded by wolves. Canada, the United States, Tsarist Russia, and Japan all have the strength to do so. Similarly, the South Ryukyu Islands and the Kingdom of North Hawaii also have such possibilities. Therefore, for these three regions, the main strategy of the East African government is still to focus on stability. As long as the stability of local rule can be guaranteed, there will be the possibility of long-term development in the future.

"Of course, port construction is equivalent to road construction. It won't work without vehicles. my country's shipbuilding industry is far behind that of other major countries in the world. Therefore, vigorously promoting the development of the shipbuilding industry is one of the important tasks of the government and enterprises in the next ten to twenty years."

"The shipbuilding industry is one of the major heavy industries in the world, involving metallurgy, machinery, electricity, chemistry and other fields, and can effectively drive the development of related industries. Therefore, investment in the shipbuilding industry is very important, especially the training of relevant personnel is a long-term process."

As for what Ernst said, many officials of the East African government are also well aware 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 emphasis is on the system.

The shipbuilding industry is a veritable industrial jewel since the Age of Discovery. If East Africa wants to compete with other countries in the ocean, it naturally cannot do without the rapid development of its local shipbuilding industry.

(End of this chapter)