African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 925 Shipbuilding Industry

East Africa's shipbuilding industry started in the 1970s, and its development scale is still good today. Of course, East Africa is relatively scientific, and the proportion of military shipbuilding in this field is obviously too large.

 Among the civilian ships in East Africa, the proportion of imports exceeds 60%, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, the Austro-Hungarian Empire and even the Netherlands and Italy.

 An important reason why imports accounted for such a huge proportion was the inherent lack of development of East Africa's shipbuilding industry at that time. At that time, the main ports in East Africa were concentrated on the coasts of Tanzania and Kenya, and Mozambique and Angola had not yet been included in the East African territory.

In this case, the number of ports in East Africa was quite scarce. In addition, the construction progress of East African roads and railways at that time was very backward, and inland resources were difficult to develop and utilize, so many raw materials relied on imports.

Therefore, the shipbuilding industry in East Africa at that time was really "building is worse than buying", and in the absence of excellent seaports, East Africa was naturally unable to build more shipbuilding companies. At that time, the most developed shipbuilding manufacturing center in East Africa was the city of Bagamoyo. The port area can only fulfill the needs of the navy first. Under this general trend, the military shipbuilding industry in East Africa has developed rapidly, while the development of the civilian shipbuilding industry has lagged behind.

At the same time, this also caused the civilian shipbuilding industry in East Africa to be forced to move to Zanzibar and Pemba Islands at that time. These two islands were very important to East Africa. In addition to serving as maritime barriers, they had a relatively large number of ports. In addition, East Africa's shipbuilding industry at that time Under the premise that the industry relies on imported raw materials, the shipbuilding industry in the two places has developed rapidly.

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

Secondly, the basic transportation conditions in East Africa 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 East Africa's shipbuilding industry. Among other things, the rise of inland shipbuilding industry in the Great Lakes and Lake Malawi industrial zones almost coincides with the rise of regional cities.

 The number of ports has increased, inland resources have been developed, the industrial base has been relatively complete, and coastal and inland transportation is no longer a problem. Under this situation, the basic conditions for the localization of the East African shipbuilding industry can be met.

Therefore, Ernst said: "Emerging cities such as Luanda, Benguela, Cabinda, Beira, and Maputo are all equipped to develop the shipbuilding industry. Their regional conditions are superior, and national resources are allocated through highway and railway systems. Developing my country’s shipbuilding industry and increasing the domestic share of my country’s civilian shipbuilding industry to at least 50% are the initial goals for the development of my country’s shipbuilding industry.”

“The total tonnage of my country’s civilian ships should have exceeded at least one million tons before 1900, so that it could barely compete with the world’s maritime powers.”

 At present, the total tonnage of civilian ships in East Africa is around seven to one hundred thousand tons, while that of Germany is close to two million tons. Besides Germany, there are the United States, France, and the United Kingdom.

 The current tonnage of civilian ships in East Africa has just exceeded the level at the beginning of German unification. In 1871, the total tonnage of German merchant ships was about 640,000 tons.

In terms of quantity alone, East Africa lags behind Germany for nearly 20 years, not to mention other countries with more developed maritime transportation industries.

Of course, the development of the U.S. shipbuilding industry is relatively unique. During the last prosperous period of the Age of Sail, that is, in the 1840s and 1950s, the U.S. shipbuilding industry ranked first in the world, far surpassing its original host country, the United Kingdom. However, although the U.S. shipbuilding industry also Progress is being made, but the pace lags significantly behind that of European countries.

 This is the impact of new technologies on the U.S. shipbuilding industry. Previously, the United States, as a New World, had massive forestry resources, which was undoubtedly a very significant advantage in the age of sailing.

 However, with the application of steel in shipbuilding, the American shipbuilding industry was quickly overwhelmed by the European shipbuilding industry and fell into a state of malaise. 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 an obvious situation.

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

The founding of East Africa basically coincided with the emergence of steel ships, which did not even catch up with the final glory of the sailing era. 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. use.

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

Therefore, even if East Africa fights for its life, it is impossible to reach the same level as European countries in a short time. What's more, at that time, investment in East Africa was mainly in the development of the inland. Except for the military shipbuilding industry, the civilian shipbuilding industry did not receive much attention at all. , of course, for an emerging country in East Africa, the development of East Africa's civilian shipbuilding industry has achieved outstanding results when viewed from a global perspective.

But this achievement is based on the huge volume that East Africa has gradually accumulated. This is true for all walks of life in East Africa. As East Africa’s land exceeds 10 million square kilometers and the population exceeds 70 million, a large number of cities and rural areas have emerged. Government tax revenue With the support of these factors, even industries that East Africa did not pay attention to at the beginning have developed by leaps and bounds.

The most typical one is the textile industry. The textile industry in East Africa is completely supported by the vast population market. The textile industry has not been the focus of industrial investment in East Africa before. The same is true for the civilian shipbuilding industry. With East African immigrants, the trade scale is positive. Related.

 Hence, the East African shipbuilding industry started late and developed rapidly. However, there is still a long way to go to surpass the European average, but overall it has been showing an upward trend.

The U.S. shipbuilding industry is undoubtedly in decline compared to the past 40 to 50 years. This is understandable given how glorious the U.S. was in the age of sail. This also means that it is more difficult to transform in the new era of the shipbuilding industry.

Moreover, the shipbuilding industry is a high-input industry with slow results. This is not cost-effective for American businessmen. It is better to invest in industries with quick results and low investment. After all, the U.S. government’s intervention in the market is weak. Of course, the U.S. government does not play any role. Can't get up either.

In fact, with the rise of domestic free trade in the United States, the United States has further increased its emphasis on the navy. In the future, the U.S. military shipbuilding industry will enter a stage of rapid development, which is almost consistent with the current expansion of the U.S. Navy.

After all, in 1890, the United States had already surpassed the United Kingdom in terms of total industrial output. Therefore, changes in the situation prompted the United States to exert its efforts in the navy. After all, at this time, the United States had formed a product advantage over other countries, and it needed naval power to Ensure the country’s interests in the commodity market.

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

Of course, these are not important to Ernst. For Ernst, the shipbuilding industry in East Africa 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. There is no support for the civilian shipbuilding industry. , the military shipbuilding industry cannot go far either. After all, it is difficult for the military shipbuilding industry to directly generate economic value.

To support the long-term investment in East Africa's shipbuilding industry, naturally we cannot count on private capital. Only the continuous support of the East African government can continue to flow.

 (End of this chapter)