African Entrepreneurship Records 2

Chapter 925 Shipbuilding

East Africa's shipbuilding industry started in the 1970s and has developed to a good scale today. Of course, East Africa is relatively biased, and the proportion of military shipbuilding in this field is obviously too large.

Among the civilian ships in East Africa, more than 60% are imported, including from the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Austria-Hungary and even the Netherlands and Italy.

An important reason why imports accounted for such a huge proportion was the inherent deficiencies in the development of the shipbuilding industry in East Africa at that time. The main ports in East Africa were concentrated along the coast of Tanzania and Kenya, and Mozambique and Angola had not yet been incorporated into the territory of East Africa.

Under such circumstances, the number of ports in East Africa was quite scarce. In addition, the construction of roads and railways in East Africa was very backward at that time, and inland resources were difficult to develop and utilize, so many raw materials had to rely on imports.

Therefore, the shipbuilding industry in East Africa at that time was truly "it is better to buy than to build", and in the absence of good seaports, East Africa naturally could not afford to build more shipbuilding companies. The most developed shipbuilding center in East Africa at that time, namely the port areas such as Bagamoyo City, could only meet the needs of the navy first. Under this general trend, the military shipbuilding industry in East Africa developed by leaps and bounds, while the civilian shipbuilding industry lagged behind.

At the same time, this also resulted in the civilian shipbuilding industry in East Africa being forced to move to Zanzibar and Pemba. These two islands are quite important to East Africa. In addition to serving as a maritime barrier, they have a large number of ports. In addition, the shipbuilding industry in East Africa at that time relied on imported raw materials, so the shipbuilding industry in the two places developed rapidly.

Of course, the situation changed in the 1990s. First, Angola and Mozambique were incorporated, and East Africa gained a large number of excellent seaports or undeveloped bays.

Secondly, East Africa’s basic transportation conditions have developed to a certain extent, especially railway construction, which has basically achieved coverage of the East African coast.

The development of inland industry has further provided conditions for the East African shipbuilding industry. Apart from other things, the rise of inland shipbuilding industry in the Great Lakes region and Lake Malawi Industrial Zone occurred almost simultaneously with the rise of regional cities.

The number of ports has increased, inland resources have been developed, the industrial base has become relatively complete, and transportation between the coast and the inland is no longer a problem. Under this circumstance, the basic conditions for the localization of East Africa's shipbuilding industry have been met.

Ernst said: "Emerging cities such as Luanda, Benguela, Cabinda, Beira, Maputo and others have the conditions to develop the shipbuilding industry. They have superior regional conditions and can realize the allocation of national resources through road and railway systems. Vigorously developing my country's shipbuilding industry and increasing the domestic share of my country's civilian shipbuilding industry to at least 50% is the initial goal of my country's shipbuilding industry development."

"The total tonnage of our civilian ships should have exceeded one million tons before 1900, so that we can compete with the world's maritime powers."

At present, the total tonnage of East African civilian ships is close to 700,000 tons, while Germany's is close to 2 million tons. Above Germany are the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

The current tonnage of civilian ships in East Africa has just surpassed the level at the beginning of German unification, while in 1871, the total tonnage of German merchant ships was around tons.

In terms of quantity alone, East Africa lags behind Germany by nearly twenty years, not to mention other countries with more developed maritime transport industries.

Of course, the development of the American shipbuilding industry is quite peculiar. During the last prosperous period of the sailing age, that is, in the 19s and s, the American shipbuilding industry was ranked first in the world, far surpassing its former colonial master, Britain. However, although the American shipbuilding industry has been improving since then, its speed has lagged significantly behind that of European countries.

This is the impact of new technologies on the American shipbuilding industry. Before this, as the New World, the United States had vast forestry resources, which was undoubtedly a very significant advantage in the age of sail.

However, with the application of steel in the shipbuilding industry, the US shipbuilding industry was quickly defeated by the European shipbuilding industry and fell into a state of depression. In fact, the current situation of the US shipbuilding industry is similar to that of East Africa, mainly relying on imports from Europe. Of course, this is the situation on the surface.

In fact, the reasons why East Africa relies on imports are very different from those of the United States. One important reason is that the shipbuilding industry in East Africa started too recently.

The founding time of East Africa was basically the time when steel ships were emerging, and it did not even catch up with the last glory of the sailing age. This led to the fact that when the East African Navy was first established, it had to patch up the antique warships of the Zanzibar Sultanate and continue to use them.

Then, in the 1970s, East Africa introduced a large number of personnel, technology and equipment from Europe, and East Africa's modern shipbuilding industry began to take off.

Therefore, even if East Africa tried its best, it would not be possible to reach the same level as European countries in a short period of time. What's more, at that time, East Africa's investment was mainly on inland development. Apart from the military shipbuilding industry, the civilian shipbuilding industry did not receive much attention. Of course, for an emerging country in East Africa, the development of the civilian shipbuilding industry in East Africa is also outstanding in the world.

But this achievement is based on the huge scale that has gradually accumulated in East Africa. This is true for all walks of life in East Africa. As East Africa's territory has exceeded 10 million square kilometers and its population has exceeded 70 million, a large number of cities and rural areas have emerged, and government tax revenue has skyrocketed. With the support of these factors, even industries that East Africa did not pay attention to at the beginning have achieved leapfrog development.

The most typical example is the textile industry. East Africa's textile industry is completely supported by the vast population market, but the textile industry has not been the focus of industrial investment in East Africa before. The same is true for the civilian shipbuilding industry, which is positively correlated with East African immigrants and trade scale.

Therefore, the shipbuilding industry in East Africa started late and developed rapidly, but it still has a long way to go to surpass the European average, but overall it has been on an upward trend.

Compared with the past four or five decades, the U.S. shipbuilding industry is undoubtedly in decline. This is easy to understand, considering how glorious the United States was in the Age of Sail. This also means that it will be more difficult for the country to transform in the new era of shipbuilding.

Moreover, the shipbuilding industry is a high-investment industry with slow returns, which is not cost-effective for American businessmen. It is better to invest in industries that have quick returns and low investments. After all, the U.S. government's intervention in the market is weak. Of course, the U.S. government is not completely ineffective.

In fact, with the rise of free trade in the United States, the United States has further increased its attention to the navy. In the future, the US military shipbuilding industry will enter a stage of rapid development, which is almost in line with the current expansion of the US Navy.

After all, in 1890, the United States had surpassed Britain in total industrial output value, so the change in the situation prompted the United States to focus on its navy. After all, at this time the United States had formed a product advantage over other countries, and it needed naval power to ensure its own interests in the commodity market.

At the same time, the monopoly of traditional colonial powers such as Britain and France can only be broken through military competition. Although the United States does not have the courage to do so, it is always preparing.

Of course, these are not important to Ernst. For Ernst, East Africa's shipbuilding industry must not follow the path of the United States. It is understandable to attach importance to the military shipbuilding industry, but the civilian shipbuilding industry is equally important. Without the support of the civilian shipbuilding industry, the military shipbuilding industry will not go far. After all, it is difficult for the military shipbuilding industry to directly generate economic value.

Of course, we cannot rely on private capital to support long-term investment in East Africa's shipbuilding industry. Only the continuous support of East African governments can ensure long-term success.

(End of this chapter)