Four hundred and sixtieth eighth chapter speculators
Like Director Najib, who has been very troubled recently, there is also our shipping king, Mr. John...
"The price has increased again..."
He looked at the quotation in his hand and couldn't help but let out a helpless sigh.
Having predicted that the market was about to pick up, his first thought coincided with Meng Lang's, which was to lock in production capacity in advance!
So what if you have a bad reputation? Who doesn’t have a few spare white gloves?
Just purchase on behalf of others!
You must know that the current shipbuilding prices are basically at a low price level for many years.
The current production capacity means low-cost shipping capacity for John's international shipping fleet.
For Meng Lang, it means high-quality "value-added assets" that can earn huge returns by changing hands.
Naturally, the last thing buyers like John want to encounter are such unscrupulous "middlemen"...
No, as soon as he flew to the Magic City and was about to make a big purchase, John heard a piece of news that made him very angry - that Bai Yeji had taken action again!
30 large freighters of various types, including the targets he is eager to purchase, large oil tankers, LNG and container freighters...
Among the three giants of East Asian shipbuilding, Huaguo dominates due to its cost-effectiveness and is naturally the first choice of many shipowners.
Up to now, there are hundreds of shipyards in China, with annual shipbuilding orders exceeding 30 million deadweight tons, and the number of large ships used for ocean trade also exceeds 10 million deadweight tons.
The orders Gao Yuan placed this time in the name of Bai Yeji ranged in tonnage from 10,000 tons to 100,000 tons, and the total tonnage exceeded one million tons.
Almost one-third of China's production capacity in a quarter was directly occupied, and the entire Yangtze River Delta shipbuilding base was full!
It is important to know that the construction period of these orders can range from a few months to half a year or even a year.
For at least one quarter, the large shipyards of Yangtze River Delta shipbuilding companies will not be short of orders.
Of course, if there is no production capacity this quarter, he can also book for the next quarter.
But the problem is that Gao Yuan's large order is tantamount to giving the market a shot in the arm, allowing shipbuilding companies to see the dawn of a warming market.
Misfortunes never come singly, and even the Chinese military came to join in the fun.
Following the two aircraft carriers, Navy spokesman Haoshibushi announced a new round of dumpling plans at this juncture.
This time, another production capacity of hundreds of thousands of tons has been booked...
Things are rare and expensive, and shipyards are anxious when no one buys them.
But now that the market supply and demand have undergone subtle changes, it is natural to wait for the price.
Now other shipowners can't sit still.
John heard that the Kingdom of Sand, as well as the three Wangdao shipping giants, Chang Rong, Yang Ming, and Wan Hai, were ready to make a move and frequently contacted shipbuilding companies from major shipyards in Asia to discuss placing orders.
Affected by this, the international new ship price index finally caught up with international route rentals and began to rise in response!
The first person to eat the crab eats the meat, and the one who follows naturally can only eat the soup...
The increase in the price of new ships will undoubtedly greatly increase John's estimated purchase costs.
But he still has no choice. If he doesn't place the order now and waits for a while, let alone eating meat, he might not even be able to drink soup...
"Swish, swish, swish!"
While John reluctantly signed several purchasing plans in his hand, he secretly cursed the culprit for missing a large sum of profits...
Professional ship speculator!
Professional shit stirrer!
Opportunists without moral ethics!
A person who writes code is not a colleague at all but wants to disrupt the situation...
Everyone has their own duties, isn’t it good to do their jobs well?
"Let's go! Go to the Magic City Pier!"
"Boss, isn't our next stop going to the Southern Peninsula to discuss business?"
"Before I go, I have to know why I lost..."
Autopilot……
Even if it was just an excuse, he would personally confirm what kind of medicine the other party was selling.
Out of 8 ships, only 6 were sold, and one of them was a so-called rebuilt ship...
Regardless of whether the other party did this intentionally or not, John's curiosity has been aroused...
…
Magic City Pier.
The newly painted "Bilkeran" quietly docked at the pier.
The majestic and majestic body is a masterpiece of the industrial age, which will shock people at a glance.
Shipping King John quietly boarded the ocean-going tanker he had just taken over, and met the bearded captain who had just taken over the ship...
"Boss, I didn't know you were coming, so I'm missing you..."
"Stop talking nonsense! Take me to the control room!"
"Well……"
Seeing the big boss with a straight face and a very unhappy mood, the captain was confused, but he did not dare to neglect and hurriedly led the way...
…
"Boss, this is the 'Tianshu Management System' installed on the ship. It has five intelligent modules: cargo management, energy efficiency management, equipment operation and maintenance, integrated ship-to-shore communication, and automatic navigation.
The only feeling I have is that it has powerful functions but is very easy to use.
In terms of the advanced nature of the ship management system, it is definitely the only one I have seen in my many years of working in the industry!
By the way, I heard that you, the boss, personally decided to buy this boat?
You are really discerning!"
The bearded captain, who thought he was flattering, had no idea that his flattery was a slap on the horse's leg...
Sure enough, John's face turned even darker when he heard this.
Can I tell you, I would rather not have this broken system, but just have the original "Bill Crane" that has been restored to its original value?
"Advanced? How advanced?"
Not hearing the harshness in the big boss's tone at all, the bearded captain looked excited and picked up a black device like a treasure.
"You see, this is the core of it!"
"Um……"
Looking at the VR glasses that looked exactly like those in the amusement park and cost twenty yuan to experience, John was a little confused.
"Boss, you will know after you put it on and experience it."
With a puzzled look on his face, he sat in the captain's seat and put on the VR headset with the help of the bearded captain.
Following the boot screen of the silver robot sitting cross-legged in the void for a few seconds, John's eyes suddenly lit up...
"this……"
For a moment, even with John's determination, he couldn't help but feel shocked.
What you see is a vast expanse of blue sea, with waves, waves, skyline...all the details are revealed.
Hmm...the resolution is definitely 8K!
Turning his head slightly, he saw another huge ship docking quietly next to him.
Lowering his head again, a speedboat passed quickly from below, bringing up waves and a white trail...
Looking around in shock, the screen also rotated.
The next moment he saw the cranes standing in the distance, as well as the mountains of cargo piled on the dock...
John looked at the scene in front of him and was really shocked.
It’s not that he has no concept of virtual VR, but with the current technology, even this kind of 360° perspective restoration is basically similar to the effect of wide-angle photography. It seems that the whole world is distorted into a sphere.
It is completely incomparable to the three-dimensional feeling in front of me, which is almost the same as the one seen at the scene...
It felt like I was suspended in mid-air, with an unobstructed view of everything up, down, left, and right.
“According to their technical staff, they have installed a 360° video surveillance system with no blind spots on the hull.
Then, through multi-angle video reorganization, such a three-dimensional picture is obtained, which can help the captain monitor the situation around the ship in real time."
At this time, the bearded voice sounded in my ears.
“There are also a series of low-light monitoring systems and radar ranging systems, which can provide a highly restored picture of the surrounding environment even in the dark night.
There is this three-dimensional ranging system, coupled with dual satellite positioning of GPS and Beidou, and a large amount of marine environment data.
At present, it can perform automatic cruise with meter-level accuracy on most mature routes in the world.
Although it has not yet undergone sea trials, the effect of autonomous driving is not yet certain, but just looking at the technical manual, it is almost fool-proof operation.
Only a small amount of intervention is required during the process, or even no intervention at all...
By the way, boss, this one also has a gesture sensor. Do you see the flashing menu on the screen?
Please reach out and slide it to try."
"Reach out... slide?"
John tried to reach out his right hand and flicked on the menu in front of him.
The next moment, the picture in front of me switched with the action, and what appeared in the field of vision was the 3D model of the "Bill Crane", with different modules marked in different colors.
Try to reach out and touch it, and the operation status of the equipment in each module will be opened immediately, including turbine status, generator power, cabin temperature, etc.
There is even real-time movement of people in various areas. Several people smoking and fishing in the corner are marked with little red people...
John: "..."
With a wave of his hand, he slid again, and this time the screen returned to a 360° panoramic screen, with a somewhat illusory "Bill Crane" appearing at his feet.
This time a large number of data notes appeared on the screen.
For example, the current waterline, load, anchoring depth, distance from surrounding ships, and even the speed of the speedboat that just passed are marked...
"Hiss~"
As you said about autonomous driving, you want to directly digitize the ship!
John couldn't help but want to take back his previous thoughts.
This speculator's "job" is obviously done extremely well...
It seems that this thing can not only assist the captain in daily management of the ship, but also greatly simplify the captain's daily work.
It can also independently judge the operation of ship equipment and changes in waterways...
If autonomous driving can also be achieved...
John is not a novice who doesn't know anything.
Although I started to get involved in the capital circle in recent years, I had rich sailing experience when I was young, and I could see the development potential of this technology at a glance.
That is a significant reduction in the crew required to operate the ship!
Crew employment costs for domestic shipping companies generally account for 5 to 8% of ship operating costs, while foreign human resources are more expensive and generally account for 10 to 15%.
Now, installing a system can save nearly 10% of operating costs...
John has already begun to calculate the accounts in his mind...
What? Crew unemployment?
Sorry, that is not within the scope of capitalists' considerations...
After a long time, he put down the VR equipment and let out a sigh of relief.
Then he suddenly turned to look at the bearded captain, "When do you plan to start sea trials?"
The bearded man was stunned for a moment.
"Uh... tomorrow, we plan to do a short-term trial voyage lasting five days."
"Okay! Prepare a room. I will board the ship tomorrow and accompany you throughout the entire journey."
"ah?!"
Ignoring the surprised looks of his subordinates around him.
John was even beginning to think about when to personally visit the controller of Bai Yeji.
He knew that the other party must be waiting for him...
For a qualified capitalist, there will be no permanent enemies in this world, only permanent interests...
"By the way, how much does this thing cost?" John suddenly asked.
"Oh! I heard that the hardware modification fee for the entire equipment is about 5 million RMB."
"Yeah!" John nodded, the price was about the same as he expected.
This system requires a lot of hardware support, plus labor...the modification fee of more than 5 million is very reasonable.
The other party was very conscientious this time and didn't make much of the difference...
"However, the software usage fee and online upgrade permissions are relatively expensive, costing 1 million yuan per year."
