Chapter 270: Hope for Navigation
Chapter 270: Hope for Navigation
Dayuling at Dayuling Canal Hub Station.
Located at the junction of Dayu County, Jiangxi Province and Xiongzhou in Lingnan, it is the watershed between the Zhangshui River of the Ganjiang River system and the Zhenshui River of the Pearl River system. The Dayuling Canal Hub Station is planned to be built here to connect the Ganjiang River and the Beijiang River system. The plan is to achieve navigation in 2030.
However, the canal between the upper reaches of the Zhangshui River in the Ganjiang River system and the upper reaches of the Zhenshui River in the Pearl River system has been upgraded and renovated, and can now accommodate 2000-ton inland transport ships. The current distance between the upper reaches of the two rivers is about 7.3 kilometers.
Therefore, even if the No. 3001 airship wanted to avoid the construction site of Dayuling hub station, its flight distance would only be about 11.6 kilometers.
If charged according to normal standards, the airship carrying a weight of 2750 tons and flying 11.6 kilometers would cost about 6380 yuan.
However, the airship tolled Experimental Ship No. 1 across Dayuling Mountain for only 1595 yuan. Obviously, this standard is lower than the 0.2 yuan per ton per kilometer for ordinary freight, and is only 0.05 yuan per ton per kilometer.
Why is this happening?
The reason is that this airship is a special version with a very large area of solar panels. In clear daytime weather, it can not only generate electricity for its own benefit, but also charge the battery packs it carries.
When the battery pack is fully charged, it can ensure that the airship can fly at full capacity for 60 hours, which is about two and a half days.
As long as it doesn't encounter cloudy weather for several consecutive days, there is generally no need to descend to a special airport for battery replacement.
In fact, even on a cloudy day with thick clouds, the photovoltaic panels can still generate at least 10% to 20% of their power. The upper silicon carbide photovoltaic panels of the Blue Whale 3001 can fully charge all the batteries carried by the airship within 5 hours at full power.
If it is a very cloudy day, the photovoltaic panels will only have 10% of their power generation capacity, but they can still replenish about 20% of the battery capacity every day.
In other words, the energy consumption cost of the Blue Whale 3001 airship is only about 30% of that of the full battery replacement type.
Its energy consumption cost is about 0.005 yuan per ton per kilometer. Adding labor costs, airship depreciation, supporting facilities depreciation and other expenses, the cost is about 0.037 yuan per ton per kilometer.
In fact, with the continuous improvement of technology and the increasing number of airships, the costs shared by all parties will become less and less.
Moreover, airships are very similar to ships in that the larger the airship, the lower the unit cargo transportation cost.
For example, the Blue Whale 1 model currently has an overall cost of 0.103 yuan per ton per kilometer.
The estimated cost of Blue Whale 2 is 0.076 yuan per ton per kilometer.
The Blue Whale 3 is 0.037 per ton per kilometer.
This is why the Blue Whale 3001 was used to test the gondola service, as the unit cost of this model during operation is relatively small, making it profitable.
After all, any transportation company hopes that the transportation cost can be as low as possible.
According to the current charging standard, the gross profit for one trip is about 26%, and one can earn more than yuan per trip, and one trip can take half an hour.
Taking into account the increased difficulty of operations at night and the need for staff to change shifts, we can fly about 20 times a day and earn more than yuan a day.
If it can run 350 days a year, it can earn about 300 million.
This is after deducting various costs.
However, since this is an internal test at this stage, there are not so many new transport ships that can lift it, and the operating cost is definitely not cost-effective.
For example, at this time, the airship carried the experimental ship to the upper reaches of the Beijiang River, and then it could only return to Dayu County empty.
If there are new transport ships in Beijiang that need to enter Ganjiang or Yangtze River at this time, the airship can pick up the ship and bring it back instead of returning empty-handed.
Of course, this gondola service is not as simple as imagined.
First of all, in order to ensure safety, no one can be left on the transport ship during the lifting operation. The driver must get off and take a car from Dayu County to Xiongzhou.
Taking into account the possibility of traffic jams or unexpected accidents on the road, there is the possibility of delays. After the airship hoists the transport ship over, it cannot simply lower the ship and leave. Instead, it needs to build a water service station nearby and hire a group of special pilots.
These pilots can drive the ship to the water service station and then wait for the ship owner to come and take it over.
If it is a larger inland waterway transport company, it can learn from the practice of the Hailufeng Logistics Division and reserve some drivers on both sides. Once the ship comes down, the drivers on this side will take over directly, so there is no need for the drivers to run back and forth.
However, this model is only applicable to large-scale advantageous enterprises. It is not possible to do this for individually operated transport ships.
...
This is Dayu County, on the southeast bank of Youluokou Reservoir.
The mountain area to the southeast of Youxian Village is a small branch of Dayuling Mountain: Youluoling Mountain.
Surveyors from dozens of engineering survey teams began to conduct comprehensive surveys based on the mountainous terrain.
"Captain, huff, huff... let's take a break!" A young man who had just graduated was holding onto a horsetail pine tree, breathing heavily.
"Haha, Xiao Wang, your health is not good!" The captain of the survey team smiled and shook his head.
"Gulp gurgle..." After taking a big sip of salty soda, Xiao Wang's eyes were full of embarrassment. Although he insisted on fitness in college, his muscles not only failed to withstand more than ten days of climbing mountains and wading through water, but instead greatly reduced his endurance.
The middle-aged captain with a small belly, on the other hand, was jumping around as if nothing had happened.
The team leader smiled and patted Xiao Wang on the shoulder: "Xiao Wang, we are doing field surveys, and climbing mountains and wading through water is inevitable in the future. You need to practice your endurance more. It's okay here in Nanling, but if you are sent to the Hengduan Mountains, the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, or the Snowy Plateau in the future, your body won't be able to withstand it."
"Huhu...I know." Xiao Wang was also severely taught a lesson by reality at this time.
The team leader arranged other people to start setting up positioning equipment, rangefinders, etc.
"Captain Gao, look at the airship."
The Blue Whale 3001, which was so large that it blocked out the sun, flew quickly over their heads.
“This thing is huge.”
"I heard that it can pull more than 2,000 tons at a time."
"Wouldn't it take half an hour to fly a boat over to Xiongzhou?"
"I wonder if I can have someone sit on it?"
"Probably not."
"Why not?"
"This is a hydrogen airship. Once millions of cubic meters of hydrogen explode, the power will be terrifying."
"Can't we use helium?"
“Helium is expensive!”
Captain Li clapped his hands: "Okay, let's get started!"
Everyone stopped chatting and started to work in an orderly manner.
Their job is to explore a more reasonable cable car route for Hailufeng Company.
That’s right, it’s the cable car route.
Because from Youxian Village at Youluokou Reservoir to Shuinanba Village in the upper reaches of Beijiang River, it is a large mountainous area. The canal hub station is not the closest point to the two rivers. The mountains between the two villages are the closest section.
This mountainous area is also the exclusive route for airship gondolas.
If the driver of the transport ship wants to go from Youxian Village to Shuinanba Village, he needs to take a big detour by road. The distance is about 57 kilometers. In addition, the mountain road is rugged, so the fastest time is about one hour and ten minutes.
Obviously this is not timely.
After all, the entire process of hoisting, flying and unloading the airship only took more than 20 minutes.
If ships cannot leave the canal's service stations in time, congestion may occur.
The straight-line distance between Youxian Village and Shuinanba Village is only about 11 kilometers. Therefore, the logistics department of Hailufeng Company plans to build a cable car route in this mountainous area to transport drivers and tourists.
As for why no roads or tunnels are built, the answer is naturally cost considerations.
An 11-kilometer-long tunnel or a winding mountain road of more than ten kilometers is too expensive and easily affected by local geology.
Using Hailufeng's own technology and materials, a mountain cable car route will not only be less costly but also not too slow.
High-strength lightweight materials allow the cable car to maintain a running speed of about 36 kilometers per hour. According to the estimate of the engineering survey team, the total length of this cable car line is about 13 kilometers, and it only takes about 21 minutes to cross the mountains from Youxian Village to Shuinanba Village.
Although a smaller ordinary winding mountain road of more than ten kilometers costs about 200 to 300 million yuan to build, there are several problems with winding mountain roads.
On the one hand, it is easily affected by geological disasters, such as landslides and mudslides in the mountainous areas of northern Guangdong, which is a rather troublesome problem.
On the other hand, the winding mountain road has a negative impact on the local ecology, requiring large-scale mountain clearing and logging, and the road will block the interaction of wild animals.
Finally, the winding mountain road is obviously a very risky section for vehicles.
The overall risk of the cable car is relatively low, especially after adopting the new technology of Hailufeng Company, the overall construction cost is also around 200 to 300 million yuan.
Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons, the Logistics Division chose the cable car route.
In fact, the cable car route has a hidden benefit, which is that the construction time is relatively short. As the airship production capacity of the Blue Whale Airship Company increases, once the preliminary exploration of this project is completed, a Blue Whale 1 airship can be dispatched from the Blue Whale Airship Company to help lift building materials and equipment to the construction site of the cable car tower, eliminating the trouble of opening temporary roads in the mountains.
The tower can even be assembled completely, hoisted to the construction site as a whole, and then installed directly.
It can be seen that large-capacity transport airships have great uses in all walks of life.
For example, the new mining areas that have been explored in the Snowy Plateau have to change their previous development plans due to the innovation of airship technology.
Snowland, Duolong Copper Mine in GZ County.
Xueyu Hongda Group, which has obtained the mining rights for the copper mine, is currently holding a meeting to discuss the matter.
Zhang Baijie, manager of the Hongda Duolong Copper Mine Branch, held a document and looked at the projection screen: "What do you think?"
On the projection screen was the Blue Whale 1004 airship, which was currently leased by the Blue Whale Airship Company to the Power Construction Corporation of China.
Xiao Lan, the deputy manager in charge of mineral transportation, licked his cracked lips and said, "I have consulted the Blue Whale Airship Company these days. They said that if it is leased for the whole year, the Blue Whale 1 model will cost 1000 million per year."
"1000 million?" Li Xinsi, the mine supervisor, shook his head. "It's not worth it. I just checked the information and their single quote is 0.2 yuan per ton per kilometer. We don't need -hour transportation. It's more cost-effective to sign a separate contract for transportation by weight."
Another deputy manager also thought that it was more cost-effective to ship by weight at a time: "Indeed, the Blue Whale 1 can carry 200 tons at a time. We can also order some daily necessities, engineering equipment, fuel, etc. from the Duolong Copper Mine and have the airship bring them along the way, and then transport the copper ore back."
Xiao Lan nodded slightly: "That's fine, but it would be best if we could get 150 tons."
"Didn't they say that 200 tons can be transported at a time?" Li Xinsi looked confused.
Xiao Lan then explained: "Old Li, you don't know that our Duolong Copper Mine is at a very high altitude. The thin air will cause the buoyancy of the airship to decrease. Therefore, the Blue Whale 1 airship can only pull about 150 tons when it reaches the snowy plateau."
"So that's it." Li Xinsi suddenly realized.
General Manager Zhang Baijie asked, "Vice President Xiao, doesn't Blue Whale have a bigger airship?"
Xiao Lan turned around and replied, "Yes, the Blue Whale 2 can pull 500 tons, and the Blue Whale 3 can pull 2750 tons. Currently, an experimental model of the Blue Whale 3 has been built and is being tested in southern Jiangxi."
"So powerful?" Li Xinsi was very surprised. He had been in the mining area for the past few years and was not very familiar with many news from the mainland.
Zhang Baijie explained: "Blue Whale is a subsidiary of Hailufeng Company, which is a hot emerging high-tech enterprise in China."
"Hailufeng Company? Aren't they engaged in agriculture?" Li Xinsi asked uncertainly.
After taking a few breaths of oxygen from the oxygen tank, Zhang Baijie smiled and said, "Well, their main business is indeed agriculture."
Li Xinsi exclaimed: "Great! This company seems to be taking off! With this kind of large transport airship, there are many uses for it in the western part of the country."
Zhang Baijie shook his head: "Haha, don't feel it, their company's revenue in 27 years was more than 2017 billion, and its net profit was billion. It's already flying in the sky."
"Damn, it's really frustrating to compare yourself with others." Li Xinsi felt that he hadn't been back to the mainland for a few years, and how come everything had changed so dramatically all of a sudden.
"Huff, huff..." Zhang Baijie took a few more breaths of oxygen before continuing, "Everyone has seen the information. I think the Phase III development plan needs to be comprehensively revised based on the emergence of the Blue Whale airship. What do you think?"
"Mr. Zhang's idea makes a lot of sense."
“Changes should definitely be made.”
"Even the previous Phase I and Phase II development projects need to be adjusted accordingly. Even if Blue Whale charges a little more for going to the snowy plateau, we can accept it."
"Well, Lao Li is right."
"According to the price that Blue Whale paid to Power Construction, it is 0.3 yuan per ton per kilometer, plus 0.1 yuan per ton per kilometer for the return trip without load, which is about 0.4 yuan per ton per kilometer. This price is acceptable."
"I have no opinion."
After half an hour of discussion, everyone finally confirmed the preliminary idea of cooperation.
General Manager Zhang Baijie, who could not bear the altitude sickness, also went to the southern Western Regions for recuperation under the escort of the company's convoy.
On the other hand, in order to better adapt to the needs of development.
The Blue Whale Airship Company also officially moved its headquarters from Shanmei to the vicinity of the capital of Qin Province, which is also next to the Weicheng Airport.
After all, Shanmei is not suitable as a base for airship manufacturing. If the headquarters of Blue Whale Airship Company must be kept there, it will obviously increase the management difficulty for Wan Gaofeng and other management teams.
In addition, the helium production capacity in the heart of the Guanzhong Plain is relatively large. If the Blue Whale Airship Company wants to develop passenger airships in the future, it must use helium airbags. The construction base of the passenger airship must be set up in Qin Province, close to the raw material supply, in order to maximize cost savings.
Therefore, it was natural that Jiang Miao was not the kind of person who was stubborn, so he agreed to Wan Gaofeng's proposal and moved the headquarters of the Blue Whale Airship Company to Weicheng.
Wan Gaofeng had just finished moving to his new home and hadn’t even started to relax when he received an invitation to a symposium.
Looking at the invitation letter for the symposium in his hand, Wan Gaofeng's eyes flashed, and he said to Deputy Manager Du He with a smile: "It seems that our chance has come."
"Oh?" Du He took a look at the invitation letter for the symposium: "Yellow River Channel Reconstruction Symposium? I see."
Obviously Du He also thought of the key point of this symposium.
Wan Gaofeng smiled slightly and said, "The airship gondola project that our company is testing in southern Jiangxi has begun to attract the attention of the areas along the Yellow River."
Another deputy manager, Huang Qinxin, also felt that this was a great opportunity: "Indeed, although the navigation conditions of the Yellow River are not very good, it is still a big river. If it can be transformed into a navigable channel for ships with a capacity of 1000 to 3000 tons, it will be a huge opportunity for the areas along the Yellow River."
After Du He checked the navigation conditions of various sections of the Yellow River, he couldn't help but smile: "Haha, the navigation conditions of various sections of the Yellow River are very poor now. It is blocked by many hydropower stations, bridges, and Hukou Waterfall. If we use our airship, we don't need to build ship locks or destroy Hukou Waterfall, and we can achieve navigation over long distances."
Huang Qinxin was also reading relevant information: "Indeed, the water depth of the Shanxi-Shaanxi Grand Canyon is deep enough for 2000-ton ships to pass through. As long as part of the river channel is modified, the navigation conditions can be greatly improved."
After thinking for a moment, Wan Gaofeng looked at Huang Qinxin and said, "Vice President Huang, please prepare a special PPT based on the model of combining the Yellow River navigation and the Blue Whale airship. I will bring it to the symposium in a few days."
"No problem." Huang Qinxin nodded.
Wan Gaofeng pointed out: "By the way, if the information is not comprehensive enough, you can ask for support from the research and development department at the headquarters."
"it is good."
Although Wan Gaofeng attached great importance to this symposium, he knew that it was a matter for the future, so he should quickly complete the second phase planning of the airship factory in Minqin.
Therefore, he did not stay in the new headquarters for too long. The next morning, he took the high-speed rail to Minqin in a low-key manner.
The symposium will be held in half a month, so there is still time. Moreover, the symposium will be held in Qin Province. As long as he completes the planning work for the second phase expansion in Minqin and rushes back for the meeting, he will still have time.
(End of this chapter)