Chapter 269 Crossing the Mountains
Chapter 269 Crossing the Mountains
2028 1 Month 3 Day.
New Year’s Day had just passed and the cold wave had just subsided. In the clear sky of southern Jiangxi, an airship was flying south along the Ganjiang River.
The Airport New District near Xihua Township.
While we were busy with construction, the sky suddenly darkened.
"Huh?" Lao Zhou, a construction worker who was tying steel bars, subconsciously raised his head, and then he was stunned: "...What is it?"
"A flying ship!" Lao Huang, a worker who was also tying steel bars next door, stood up and stretched his stiff waist and legs: "Wow... this thing is fucking huge."
Under the watchful eyes of a group of construction workers.
Airship No. 3001 slowly docked nearby and unloaded 2700 tons of steel bars into an open space.
The manager of the engineering company that contracted the construction site, looking at so many steel bars, finally realized that half a month ago, the Hailufeng Company asked them to report the amount of steel bars used, and then asked them to transport the ordered goods to Hukou County.
"Manager Zhang, how much will Hailufeng Company charge us for pulling 2700 tons of steel bars at one time?" Another manager of the project department asked curiously:
Zhang Hongchang glanced at the transportation fee invoice on his phone: "25."
"25? This cost..." The manager estimated in his mind: "About the same. If it is shipped by river, it will cost more than 7580. But this speed is much faster than river transportation."
"Of course. The boat has to be in the river and go upstream through several locks. The airship flies directly in the sky. Airship has another advantage. It can go directly to the construction site without having to be pulled from the dock." Zhang Hongchang looked at so many steel bars. It was enough for them to use for several months.
Actually, he was wrong in one respect.
Although the airship can fly directly to the construction site, that is because the area of the construction site is very large and the cargo is simply steel bars with no other miscellaneous goods.
If it is an ordinary grocery container, it must be unloaded at a special airport and then transported to the user by car.
In fact, the Blue Whale Airship Company is currently producing four Blue Whale 1 airships, three of which are engaged in ordinary container transportation, while the fourth is used for special transportation, specializing in the transportation of large items.
Similar to the blades of giant wind turbines, the blades are now hundreds of meters long. If it is an offshore wind power project, it is not too bad because they can be transported by transport ships. However, if it is a land wind power project or the factory is in an inland area, the transportation process will be very troublesome.
Not only are the transportation costs very high, but escort vehicles, tanker trucks, and safety officers are also required. Transportation applications must be made one month in advance, and the route needs to be surveyed and planned in advance.
If you contact the special transportation division of Blue Whale Airship Company, the cost can be saved by about half.
Of course, if you transport a large item alone, it is actually not cost-effective. Generally, 200 tons of goods are collected at one time and transported by air in batches, which can save about 65% of the overall cost.
Therefore, after Blue Whale Airship Company launched its special transportation service, it was immediately contracted by Power Construction Corporation of China.
The Power Construction Group, which is building the Medog Hydropower Station, needs to transport large equipment to MT County, but the carrying capacity of the Medog Highway is limited, especially the existence of tunnels, which restricts the passage of many equipment and parts.
They didn't expect that the Blue Whale Airship Company's airship payload was so large. They cooperated with the Blue Whale Airship Company and tried to use an airship directly from western Yunnan to cross the Hengduan Mountains. After successfully transporting a set of large equipment to the construction site, they couldn't stop.
These days, the Blue Whale 1004 airship is stationed in western Yunnan, constantly transporting large equipment and materials to the Medog Hydropower Station.
Compared with road transportation over mountains and hills, the transportation cost is reduced by nearly 80% after using airship transportation, and the transportation efficiency is also very high.
Airship No. 1004 can fly once a day. If there is no cargo to carry on the return trip, Power Construction Corporation of China can save the return trip idle fee.
The Power Construction Corporation of China has built several storage centers in the southwest region that specialize in concentrating steel bars, cement, and equipment, and then uses airships to transport these raw materials there.
Not only the Medog Hydropower Station requires this special transportation, but other hydropower stations and infrastructure projects in the mountainous areas on the edge of the snowy plateau can also use airships.
Therefore, the several airships that Blue Whale Airship Company is currently building are all intended to be used for special transportation. Conventional transportation can actually be slower because the supporting facilities at the airport are not yet complete.
Special transport does not require an airport, because this type of transport often needs to arrive directly at the destination and there is no way to load and unload at the airport.
Although the airship could not be fully loaded when crossing the Hengduan Mountains and could only transport about 150 tons at most, transporting 150 tons at a time was already very impressive given the Hengduan Mountains and the snowy plateau where transportation is already difficult.
What's more, the Blue Whale Airship Company is already building the Blue Whale 500 with a payload of 2 tons and has already tested the Blue Whale 2700 with a payload of 3 tons.
Therefore, Power Construction Corporation of China no longer has to worry about the transportation of equipment and raw materials.
Other companies that were a step behind are also urging Blue Whale Airship Company to build airships as soon as possible. Many domestic companies need this mode of transportation that is not restricted by road size.
This type of transport airship is needed not only by large hydropower station construction companies, but also by mining companies that mine minerals in remote areas, large equipment in special factories, wind power projects, large bridge construction, etc.
Therefore, even though not many airships have been built, Blue Whale Airship Company has already received more than 300 special transportation orders.
These special transport orders alone are worth more than 1 billion yuan.
...
After unloading the steel bars, Blue Whale 3001 flew towards the watershed between the Ganjiang River and the Beijiang River, namely Dayuling Mountain.
Dayu County.
There is also a lot of construction going on near the county town because there is a special hub airport here.
In fact, the nearby Dayuling hub station is under planning and construction. It is also the last water transport hub station on the Guangdong-Jiangxi Canal.
Because this hub station has not been completed, inland river transport vessels can only stop near Dayu County and have no way to go directly to the upper reaches of the Beijiang River in the Pearl River system.
But this situation will be broken today.
Experimental Ship No. 1 arrived at the Dayu County Airport construction site two days ago, pulling 2390 tons of steel bars. After unloading the steel bars, Experimental Ship No. 1 loaded them into a specially fixed container and quietly waited for the airship to arrive.
After the airship arrived.
Experimental Ship No. 1 went upstream again and sailed to a location very close to the watershed, from where it could already see the construction site of Dayuling Hub Station which was working overtime not far away.
In the shocked eyes of the construction workers at Dayuling Hub Station
Blue Whale 3001 tied up with Experimental Ship No. 1 and slowly lifted off into the air, pulling a weight of 2750 tons.
When the altitude was high enough to safely cross Dayuling Mountain, the airship flew over effortlessly. Half an hour later, the airship lowered Experimental Ship No. 1 into a calm and open water in the upper reaches of Beijiang River.
"A ship is flying over here?" The driver and owner of a transport ship that was transporting building materials nearby was staring at the scene in amazement.
"Brother, what's flying over here?" Another young man came over from behind, and he was also stunned. He exclaimed with an uncontrollable expression: "Damn! An airship is coming from the north of Dayuling Mountain?"
Under the shocked gaze of the two brothers.
Experimental Ship No. 1, pulling 73 containers, slowly passed by their ship.
After taking a look at the draft depth of Experimental Ship No. 1, the brothers knew that the ship was fully loaded for transportation.
(End of this chapter)