Chapter 200 The impact of the closure of the strait
In fact, the impact of the Ottoman sealing of the Black Sea Strait was far greater than Edel and others imagined. Among them, the effect has now been shown in Constanta, Romania's largest port city.
In Raiford Street, where Constanta trading companies are concentrated, people are now panicked by the news and have begun to talk about it.
"The Ottomans have closed the strait because of the war, and now my company's ship is filled with cargo and can't get out."
A well-dressed middle-aged man sat at the table and told his friends worriedly.
"My company is not the same. It has only been 3 days since I got the order. The factory is working overtime for production. Now that the strait is closed, I can only find a solution with the trading partner who placed the order."
Another friend shared the information he knew. “I heard that the government has approached Bulgaria to discuss transporting goods out through the tunnel?”
After hearing the news, the middle-aged man said disdainfully, "I won't use this road unless it is a last resort."
"Why?"
"Those Bulgarian barbarians demand a 20% transit fee, and the transportation fee is additional. In addition, the Bulgarian railway freight has also increased in price, and now it has increased by 50%."
It seems that this middle-aged man is also well-informed and knows exactly what the government is still talking about.
"What, it's so expensive. If that's the case, the more we sell, the greater our losses will be."
"Why don't these Bulgarian barbarians go and rob it?"
"They are just robbing."
Seeing his friends who were getting angrier as they talked, the middle-aged man could only lament. "Now I only dare to accept orders from Germany, Austria and Russia. I dare not accept orders from others because I am afraid that the freight will be too expensive and there will be no profit."
After hearing his words, his friend still said angrily, "A year ago, I was too kind to these Bulgarian barbarians, which is why they are so lawless now."
Of course, they are not the only ones who are dissatisfied with the closure of the strait. At the famous Hawke Trading Company on Rayford Street, Hawke Seld, as the helmsman, is also worried.
This Hawke Seld is also a legendary figure. He was born in a small fishing village in Tulcea. He has been interested in the sea since he was a child. When he was 18 years old, he went to work as a sailor on a cargo ship. With his hard work and intelligence, he
, and soon stood out among them and became a boatswain. At this time, he passed the navigation school with the money he saved from running boats for several years, and he also stood out in the class with his excellent results.
After graduating from school, he worked as a first mate and captain. With several years of hard work, he bought a ship owned by a bankrupt businessman. Then he returned to his hometown to recruit people and made a fortune on this ship. Maybe someone will
Q, this is just an outstanding and hard-working person, and he can be called a legend there. The key is that after recruiting these hometown people, he taught these hometown people the knowledge he learned without reservation.
You must know that it was not cheap to train captains and first mates at that time, and he himself suffered hardships. However, he still taught his knowledge to his fellow villagers. These fellow villagers were very grateful for his selfless help, worked hard, and had people
If he wanted to go it alone, he would also provide the tips he knew. As a result, more and more people began to believe in him, and the business grew with the help of others, intentionally or unintentionally. Now, the Tulcea Chamber of Commerce formed by him and his fellow villagers occupies 45% of Romania's shipping area.
% share, it is definitely the leader in the shipping industry.
Now that Ottoman has closed the strait, it will have the greatest impact on them. Of course, he will discuss this situation with his fellow countrymen.
There were more than ten people sitting in his living room, all of them had sad faces, including Hawke.
"Based on what I say, this war may end soon. Germany has reached the edge of Paris, right? If we wait patiently, it will probably end."
An optimistic person sees that everyone is at a loss, so he says some optimistic words to enlighten everyone.
"Your news is out of date. Now that Britain and France have withstood the German attack, the situation has become stalemate. I think the German army is so powerful, and Britain, France, and Russia have so many people, this war can be fought."
A person with better information than the optimistic guy continued. "If the strait had not been closed, now would be a good opportunity for us to make money. Freight rates have generally increased by 35%, and there is no need to worry about cargo transportation. I heard that now all over Europe
The freight bosses have all made a fortune, but we are the only ones trapped here. If this continues, all the sailors will run away. Mr. Hawke, what do you think we should do?"
With this question, everyone's eyes were focused on Hawke Seld. Seeing everyone looking at him, Hawke, who was already in his 40s, stood up and said. "I understand what you mean.
, it’s just that shipping is completely blocked now. But we all still need to live, and we have to support a large group of sailors to help us work. Now I have an idea, and I don’t know if you are willing to listen to it."
"Speak."
"We listen to you."
"Hoke, you are famous for your fairness, we believe you."
Seeing that everyone believed in him, Hawke did not hide anything and said directly. "Thank you everyone for trusting me so much. Now I have two ways. The first is to gather all our ships outside the strait and temporarily open a new one."
Freight companies come to take orders for these cargo ships."
After hearing what Hawke said, someone asked, "How will this profit be distributed?"
Hawke continued. "The profit goes to those who ship out the ship and gets 85% of it, and the rest is evenly distributed to those who don't have a ship outside the strait. Let me talk about myself first. There are four ships outside the strait, two 4,000-ton bulk carriers.
A 9,000-ton car carrier and a 6,000-ton oil tanker.”
Everyone knew that Hawke had seven ships, the most among them all. Now he was willing to share the profits equally with those who could not live in the strait, which was very generous. So other people whose ships were outside the strait also told about their ships.
.
"I have two ships outside the strait, a 5,000-ton bulk carrier and a 4,000-ton bulk carrier."
"I also have two ships outside, a 6,000-ton bulk cargo ship and a 4,000-ton oil tanker."
"I have a 6,000-ton car carrier out there."
"And I……"
Soon everyone reported their ships, and Hawke calculated that we had 17 ships outside the strait. It seemed that we could form a fairly small shipping company.
After everyone chose the leader of this new shipping company, who would be responsible for operations, who would be responsible for managing money and other issues. Originally, they wanted Hawke to be responsible for running the shipping company, but he gave up because he was unwilling to give up. They started again.
Picked one.
After solving the problem of ships outside the strait, the problem of ships stuck in the strait will now be dealt with.
Seeing everyone waiting for him to come up with a solution, Hawke said what he had thought of. "As for the ship trapped in the strait, this is my plan. You see, the Ottoman, Austro-Hungarian and Russian economies are now completely cut off.
, maybe we can act as a middleman, buy their goods in our own name, and then transport them to other countries?”
Everyone is in the shipping business, and they know everything about what is produced in various places. This is what the anxious people said first. "This is a way. Ottoman wool, cotton and other items are also very popular in other countries, including Russia.
The same goes for grain and oil, German machinery and equipment are also very popular, and now our profits are definitely not low."
While some people are in favor, others are against it. "But we have to take a lot of risks, and we might be arrested and shot."
Everyone knows very well about this. Isn't this smuggling? It is smuggling during war. It really involves taking great risks.
There are still people who are greedy for the huge profits. "If we don't do this, we will all starve to death. Being shot is death, but starving to death is not. At least in this way, you can leave enough wealth for your family to live."
Everyone was attracted by these words. They were all wealthy people. No one wanted to live as they did before they were not rich. Now this road was also their last resort. They wanted to make a fortune no matter what.
At this time, Hawke explained the safety measures he had prepared. "It is indeed dangerous for us to resell like this, but we don't want to take all the profits. We share a part of the profits with the port officials of various countries, so that we can be stable."
After hearing his words, everyone felt relieved. They had to deal with these officials a lot when running ships, and they also knew the faces of port officials in several surrounding countries. There was nothing they dared not take. Even though this reduced the
A lot of their own profits are also insured. At least these officials are afraid of being dragged into the water when danger comes.
So after discussion, everyone agreed that everyone was involved in shipping, and no one would be timid. Otherwise, if a ship sank with its cargo, the compensation would not drive people crazy.
So everyone agreed with Hawke's method, and then everyone began to discuss what they should do to protect their profits. Hawke himself did not expect how powerful the temporary method he came up with because of the cutoff of the strait would be in the future.
PS After finishing writing, Mantou took a nap to prepare for writing today's two chapters. I would like to thank all the book friends who have always been loyal to Mantou. It is you who have tolerated the willfulness of Mantou who often stopped updating before. Thank you all. Mantou would like to bow and thank you.
