"Mr. Sa, the next guest booked yesterday is already waiting..."
While Sa Wuyang was discussing the national shipping industry plan with Gu Kun in the office, his secretary finally couldn't bear the bullying from the guests behind him, so he quietly came in to inform and remind the boss that the time had come.
"Go away, let them wait... Just tell him that you can take him with you when you have lunch later!"
Sa Wuyang was in high spirits, so of course he dismissed the secretary directly.
He knew that the person who made the appointment at the back was just a mediocre person who came to treat guests and give gifts. Compared with Gu Kun, who was talented and insightful and familiar with the Chinese market, he could clearly distinguish the importance.
He is indeed greedy and extravagant, but at least he is a person who knows how to get things done. He is not just greedy but not constructive.
After driving away the secretary, Sa Wuyang readjusted his expression and made a gesture of invitation: "Xiao Gu, please continue."
Gu Kun continued his analysis: "I think if we have a good relationship with China's COSCO, the first step should be to focus on grabbing some bulk carrier refueling and supply stopping business from Lijiapo, and temporarily give up the container business."
(Note: bsp; Sa Wuyang touched his mustache and motioned for Gu Kun to continue.
This point of view is not new, and it has no power. The key depends on subsequent interpretation.
Gu Kun: "The characteristics of container ships are that they are very suitable for mid-way ship changes and cargo distribution on ocean-going international routes. They require high investment in port loading and unloading equipment and sophisticated logistics redundant capacity scheduling management. This is not what we can afford now.
——It’s not just about money, there’s also a lack of talent.
Bulk carriers generally transport large quantities of a single commodity, refueling, purchasing supplies, and taking a short break during the journey. Given our environment in Lanzhou, the business of these passing ships is acceptable.
Specifically, I think we should get at least one berth each for a 35,000-ton bulk carrier and a 50,000-ton bulk carrier in the first batch. In the future, we can also dock cruise ships below 50,000 tons for the tourism industry. In a few years, if
If the operation is smooth, we can also consider berthing for 80,000-ton bulk carriers, and no matter how big it is, we don’t have to consider it.”
When Sa Wuyang heard the specific tonnage plan, he felt a little strange: "Why are there such weird tonnage plans of 35,000 tons and 80,000 tons? This does not meet international standards. Will there be redundancy and waste?"
For those who are outside the shipping industry, they may not understand why they should ask this question, but for those in the industry, they know that it must be asked.
Gu Kun also knew what the other party’s doubts were: “You think these two tonnages are strange, they must be in accordance with the internationally accepted standards, the 27,000-ton Great Lakes class and the 75,000-ton Panama class, right? Indeed, the international shipbuilding industry
, in terms of tonnage setting, they are all based on this scale.
However, China's shipbuilding industry, and even part of South Korea's shipbuilding industry, all reverse-optimized themselves after taking the same-level design from Oceania. Because the shipping routes of emerging countries in Northeast Asia do not need to consider entering the Great Lakes region through the St. Lawrence River.
No need to go through the Panama Canal.
So now, when they have the same structural strength as 27,000-ton and 75,000-ton bulk carriers, they can increase the transport capacity by 10% to 20% without increasing the length of the ship or significantly increasing the construction cost, to 35,000 tons and 80,000 tons respectively.
tons, this is more economical. If we want to focus on doing business with East Asian countries, we should design the berth capacity according to their most economical and efficient ship types in recent years."
It turns out that the most classic and common 35,000-ton and 80,000-ton bulk carrier types in China in later generations had just appeared in the early 1990s——
Anyone who knows history can find out that until 1995, just after COSCO was restructured, it was still placing orders for 27,000-ton bulk carriers with the Hudong Shipyard in Hujiang. That was the first example of "international financing" in the history of COSCO
, Domestic Construction” cooperation case is famous enough to be included in COSCO Group’s Baidu Encyclopedia history entry.
However, the 27,000 tons and 75,000 tons that were popular internationally at that time were actually not very efficient. They gave up some transportation capacity at the same shipbuilding cost in order to pass through special terrain.
Later, when China became the largest player in international import and export trade, China felt that it was not cost-effective to waste thousands of tons of shipping capacity per ship according to Oceanic standards, so they generally upgraded their ships. Anyway, their ships would not have to enter the Holy Land in their lifetime.
Lawrence River, no matter how deep the St. Lawrence River is, how long is the Panama Lock?
However, the port equipment built by international peers in the past were all implemented in accordance with old standards, which caused a problem.
For example, if a Chinese 35,000-ton bulk carrier docks at Lijiapo, it will not be able to dock at the current 27,000-ton standard berth, or it will have to park at a 50,000-ton berth.
But the daily berth fee for a 50,000-ton berth is much more expensive than that for a 27,000-ton berth. When a 35,000-ton ship docks at a large berth, part of the berth utilization is wasted. Therefore, in the first few days after the popularity of 35,000-ton ships,
In 2017, it was not cost-effective for Huaxia bulk carriers to stop at Lijiapo for refueling. Anyway, the bulk carriers did not need to be transferred for re-distribution of cargo, as all single cargo types were transported directly to the final destination.
Of course, Lijiapo was also a country with very efficient reforms. Later, it quickly expanded its port facilities to meet Chinese standards, but this took time and is a story for another day.
Here lies Lanfang’s competitive advantage.
Lanfang's current port facilities are a blank piece of paper. If Sawuyang can make up his mind to directly configure the facilities according to the 35,000-ton berth, even if the efficiency is not as high as Lijiapo's, no matter how inefficient it is, it will still be better than Lijiapo's 50,000-ton berth.
Are tonnage berths cheaper?
In this way, are you afraid that you won’t be able to use your cost advantage to attract refueling and repairing bulk carriers from the East China, Japan and South Korea routes that pass by?
Of course, there is a cost for such repairs, that is, when Lanfang Port receives 27,000 tons of standard Great Lakes class and 75,000 tons of Panama class in the future, the cost will be very disadvantageous——
Not only are your unit tonnage efficiency lower than others, you also have to use 35,000 tons of berths for 27,000 tons, wasting 8,000 tons of redundancy.
Therefore, it is estimated that Lanfang Port will never be able to attract cargo ships that interact with the ocean's foreign trade system.
But, it doesn’t matter. Lanfang is so far away from Europe and the United States, and it had no hope of receiving transit supply business from European and American shipping companies.
The more Sa Wuyang listened, the more he felt that Gu Kun had done very professional research, and he couldn't help but become more frightened. He said without certainty:
"How do you know that China COSCO has been pushing the 35,000-ton bulk cargo standard in recent years? I don't seem to have heard any rumors about this. I only know that the design and construction of this kind of ship has been completed, but COSCO's mainstream orders are still for 27,000 tons.
"
Gu Kun smiled: "That's because I have brothers and buddies in the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economics of China! I heard some of the internal planning documents they relayed when I was drinking. Besides, if you don't believe this, you can send me
Go to China to build relationships and find ways to make friends with the middle and senior management of Costco, as well as the relevant planning cadres of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Affairs. When the time comes, I will bring you back a memorandum of cooperation and negotiation with an official background. Is there anything wrong?"
Savu Yang was completely shocked.
The first time he made friends with Gu Kun, he had seen photos of Gu Kun with Ma Fengma, Section Chief of the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economics of China, as well as some video recordings of people talking and laughing. After Gu Kun's embellished explanation, at that time
He believed that Gu Kun had a close friend in China's foreign trade business.
Now with such a series of connections, Sa Wuyang was immediately full of smiles and laughed out loud: "Xiao Gu, I just said that you are a person who can make friends with important people. This matter... let's look for investment or something, let's not start with it.
If you are busy, you don’t need to apply to the Grand Duke or register with Zhu Jingye.
Let’s find a way to sneak away first, go to China to find the right person, and come back with a memorandum of friendly cooperation. Anyway, the memorandum is just a record of the negotiation process, not a formal agreement, so it shouldn’t be difficult to get it, right? When we have the memorandum, we will
Go and pretend to be powerful, ask the Grand Duke for authorization, and ask foreign banks for government bonds."
In international exchanges, memorandums only indicate "what the two parties have talked about" and do not mean that both parties agree or commit to anything, so the threshold is very low.
Sa Wuyang wanted to get a memorandum first, which was easy to understand.
Of course, Gu Kun was happy to see Sa Wuyang get involved, but since the other party was asking for something from him now, he had to show his difficulty: "But... the memorandum is not something that I, a private businessman, can negotiate, right? How about you handle it personally?
Or choose another professional?”
Sa Wuyang was stunned for a moment, then laughed loudly: "What's the difficulty? The Department of Commerce is downstairs, and the Foreign Affairs Department is on the ground floor. I will get you some status right away today. Come on, let's go eat now."
Sa Wuyang smiled and made two phone calls, and then took Gu Kun to have lunch together.
When they were halfway through the meal, some cadres from the two departments on the Lan side delivered all kinds of lingering approval documents to Sa Wuyang and Gu Kun's dining table.
"Hey, Xiao Gu, you are now a member of the 'Lanzhou Foreign Exchange Association' and a director. You can fully represent the non-governmental commercial cooperation and exchanges with China. If you find it inconvenient, I can give you a
commercial counselor."
"No, no, no, just private business exchanges and cooperation. We are talking about business. I am a businessman. How can I have an official position at the same time?" When Gu Kun heard the word counselor, he was startled. He always felt that there was something wrong.
A mysterious power was calling him, but he quickly refused.
He will not be a politician, but will only engage in "civilian" business and cultural exchanges.
In other words, if he goes to China, no one from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will look for him or receive him. At best, only relevant departments such as the "Institute of Foreign Affairs" that manage non-governmental international exchanges will take care of him.
Sa Wuyang saw that Gu Kun was so repulsive, so he stopped insisting, and then picked up another document: "Whatever you want, in addition to the identity just now, you will also become a Lanfang councilor soon, and the Grand Duke will officially
Approved - you are the only representative of the Benma Island parliamentary district."
Gu Kun almost spit out a mouthful of red wine.
He was really moved to the waist by Savu Yang's sexy moves.
Lanfang also has a parliament in name, with a total of only 30 seats. They are not full-time, but part-time for social elites.
In fact, basically every residential area with 3,000 people can have one seat.
Or for other outlying islands ranked among the top ten in area, even if the population is less than 1,000 people, you can still have a seat.
But the problem is that although the Benma Atoll that Gu Kun just bought is made up of the three islands ranked 32nd to 34th in the country, its total area is only 8.5 square kilometers. The key is that it is an uninhabited desert.
Well, the island is good! So far, the only nominal permanent residents are Gu Kun and Gu Pan, brother and sister (the actual permanent population is still none)
But since Savu Yang helped mediate the application, and the Grand Duke also agreed, there seems to be no problem in setting up a parliamentary seat for the newly opened outlying island...
"So, you are now a member of the Benma Island Assembly District and the director of the 'Benma Island Tourism Development Zone Management Committee'. In addition to your status of foreign economic and trade exchange and cooperation just now, you can go to foreign countries to bluff and deceive, but you can't make friends with important people."
?If it’s not enough, I can add it to you. Anyway, there’s no charge for the title. It’s just a matter of printing a few certificates.”