Rebirth: Outstanding

"Without a storm, the sail is just a piece of rag."

Ban was standing on the pier of the Glasgow Godot Shipyard and read a verse from Hugo.

In front of him and Song Tianyao, several rusty freighters were parked. Compared with the new 10,000-ton freighters waiting to be launched and tested in the distance, these freighters were much smaller, with a tonnage of only a few thousand. They were parked in the corner at this time. , Let the marine life slowly corrode.

"Anji said to me, you seem to be doing..." Ban gestured on his slightly bald head with his hands: "That kind of fancy fake intentions, do I need to ship the goods by myself when I sell wigs?"

Song Tianyao is very interested in these ships, but has no interest in the 10,000-ton freighters. He walked along the plank road or even near the workers' passage on the side of the ship trough, carefully observing the scrap iron.

"Why are these boats left here? Ban?" Song Tianyao turned around and asked his future father-in-law.

Ban shrugged and stepped over: "These ships have been parked here for six or seven years. After the outbreak of the European War, the shipping industry ushered in a golden age. Speculators who wanted to make a fortune rushed into the shipyard with banknotes in their hands, regardless of model. I went to order ships. At that time, in addition to producing civilian ships, most shipyards had military orders. For example, the Austin Shipyard where I worked, although it couldn't produce big guys such as aircraft carriers, there were still orders for small ships such as landing craft and rescue boats. Therefore, many civilian orders were even queued to 19 years. What I did not expect was that Hitler was quickly defeated. Without war as a background, shipping prices began to fall again, and shipyards began to produce larger cargo ships. Some people couldn’t wait. In 19, the contract was broken and there were these ships. These ships are relatively old models. They began to receive orders for production in 1940, and the intermediate shipyard had to produce military orders. Therefore, they were not produced until 1946. Just stop here."

A thick anchor chain lay across the passage, and Song Tianyao gently stepped on it twice with his foot: "Are they going to sell these scrap iron?"

"Of course, but no one wants to buy it. After all, Japan and Germany ship cheaper. Can you imagine that there are more than 70 shipyards in Japan, a small country, and they can build any ship, and the price is much lower than that of the United Kingdom. Many, in the past two years, many of our orders have been snatched by Japan.” Ban touched the cold anchor chain with his hand and said, “I don’t understand, isn’t Japan defeated? Didn’t our allies win? Why those Can the defeated country take away business from us victors?"

Song Tianyao didn’t want to discuss such complicated international political issues with Ban. He actually didn’t have much interest in the shipping industry. He just learned that Lei Yingdong’s freighter was sunk and thought that there might be conflicts between Hong Kong and Shanghai people. At this moment of conflict, he always wanted to express his attitude and position.

Ban is telling the truth. For the same tonnage, the price of a shipyard in Japan is half lower than that in the United Kingdom. This half is almost the labor gap. A low-level worker in a British shipyard has a weekly salary of 12 pounds, while some shipyards in Japan The income of low-level workers is converted into pounds, which is about four to five pounds a week.

Song Tianyao has deep-sea phobia, and swimming can only be done in the swimming pool, not to mention let him be a shipowner, go to sea, learn semaphore, light language, speed, route, fuel consumption, freight rate. With such professional knowledge, his greatest tolerance for boats is to take Shi Zhiyi’s yacht to go fishing for a fish. If it were not for Shi Zhiyi, he would not want to ride in offshore boats such as yachts.

But since thinking about the conflict between Shanghainese and Hongkongers, since he wanted to make a profit, he naturally had to work hard. He didn't know anything about air routes and other professional knowledge, but he had his own judgment on the world situation.

The gunfire of war is the best boon for shipowners in the shipping industry.

Regional wars like the Korean War actually did not have a great impact on the shipping industry. It may make some people rich, but for those truly world-class shipowners, they are not even interested in letting their fleets come to Asia. Take a walk.

During this period of time, Song Tianyao tried to think about the memory of his previous life, and finally thought of a war event that was not a war but absolutely affected the entire world, Egypt took back the Suez Canal incident.

After Egypt recovered the Suez Canal, it included almost all capitalist countries as non-friendly countries, and prohibited merchant ships from these countries from passing through the Suez Canal. 80% or more of the world’s merchant ships are owned by capitalist countries and cannot pass through Suez. The canal means that merchant ships can only take the Cape of Good Hope route and circumvent the entire Africa.

Detour, representing a surge in freight.

Even if the Suez Canal is not banned now, a large oil tanker of more than 100,000 tons sails from the Middle East to Europe with a single income of more than one million US dollars. If the Suez Canal is banned, the freight will soar to a terrible figure. .

Thinking of the Suez Canal, Song Tianyao felt that even if he had a deep-sea phobia, he could spend some thoughts on shipping.

It's not because of the seemingly high freight charges in the short-term. Doing business must look at the long-term.

"I want to buy this ship." Song Tianyao pointed to the parked freighter in front of him and said to Ban.

Ban looked at the ship and Song Tianyao: "Son, although I am from Glasgow, I still want to say, you might as well go to Japan to buy it."

Song Tianyao blinked: "I will go to Japan to buy it, but not now. After all, now I go to Japan to buy it. The Japanese will not give me some preferential terms, but the British are different."

"I can help you understand." Ban accompanied Song Tianyao to the car at the dock.

In the distance, several people of the yellow race were guarding their old Dishes car. Seeing two people walking, one of the yellow races also helped to open the door of the car.

"You are a legitimate businessman, right, Song." Seeing these people from the Civil Armed Forces Association, Ban couldn't help but confirm to Song Tianyao.

Song Tianyao nodded: "I promise, I am a legitimate businessman."

Seeing his future father-in-law got into the car with a little nervous expression, Song Tianyao looked at the yellow man who helped open the door:

"Is there a problem?"

"Mr. Song, the Huajie Gang contacted the local Cato Gang, Clover Gang, Iron Claw Gang, Black Hill Gang and other gangs, ready to find trouble with the Civil Armed Forces Association." The yellow race said blankly.

Song Tianyao nodded slightly: "What does it matter to me? They are not going to trouble me. By the way, remember to help destroy the Whistle Restaurant so that I can redecorate it."

"Whistle Restaurant?"

"How do crimes in British gangs become popular now? Pistols? Knives? Claw hammers?"

"Sir, in fact, nitroglycerin is now popular in Glasgow, and various gangs use explosives to rob banks."

"Very good, please help blow up the whistle restaurant by the way."