Chapter 381 Ordering a Private Luxury Yacht
Chapter 381 Ordering a Private Luxury Yacht
On January 1964, 1, Yang Wendong, Bai Yujie, several assistants, bodyguards, etc., went to their first stop in Europe: Venice.
Venice, known as the Water City, was something Yang Wendong had read about in classroom books when he was a child in his previous life. He was very envious of it at that time.
After arriving at the edge of Venice by car, several people walked inside. Cities in Europe and the United States are generally not very large, only a few kilometers in radius, so it is very good to walk and see while traveling.
"So beautiful." Bai Yujie took photos while holding the camera and said, "There are so many pigeons."
"Be careful, the pigeons will be damaged." Yang Wendong quickly arranged for someone to buy a few hats.
This is one of the reasons why Europeans like to wear hats.
In the following days, everyone spent one day each in Venice, Florence, and Rome, and then went to Paris, France.
In Europe at this time, public security and health management were much stronger than 50 years later. The few of them were also active in the most prosperous area, so there were no other problems.
It was not until January 1 that Pierre, the vice president of sales of France's Atlantique Shipyard, came to Paris in person to meet Yang Wendong.
"Hello, Mr. Yang." Pierre greeted in fluent English.
Knowing English is the most basic requirement for international trade, especially in European countries, where the language system is closer to English and the English grammar is relatively simple, so it is easy for them to learn.
Yang Wendong also said politely: "Hello, Mr. Pierre."
As early as half a year ago, Yang Wendong authorized a shipping engineer from Changxing Shipping to investigate suitable shipyards capable of building luxury cruise ships around the world; and the most suitable destination was Europe.
Although Japan's shipbuilding scale has long been ranked first in the world, it is only in cargo ships;
Luxury cruise ships and the like are still mainly built by European shipyards even decades later. It is no exaggeration to say that it is the pearl of industry. Even in the mainland, by the 20s, it was not doing very well in this field.
Pierre said, "Our president learned that you have arrived, so he arranged for me to pick you up and take you to our Atlantic Shipyard. You can also take a look at the luxury cruise ships we make on site."
"Okay, I'm also very interested in the Atlantic Shipyard." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
The Chantiers de l'Atlantique is the largest shipyard in France and one of the largest in Europe. It can manufacture everything from warships to oil tankers, cargo ships and even ordinary fishing boats.
After looking through the information of various companies, Yang Wendong chose this one as his key choice.
France is not big, otherwise there would be no Tour de France.
After driving for several hours, everyone arrived at a large factory on the seaside in Saint-Nazaire, Loire.
In the distance, you can see a steel forest appearing before your eyes. It is much more shocking than the light industrial factories in Hong Kong.
Yang Wendong said with a smile: "Mr. Pierre, your factory is much larger than the Japanese shipbuilding factory I have seen."
"Those Japanese are just producing low-end ships." Pierre said with disdain, "In terms of technology and quality, they are much worse than those of France or other European countries, and they also use many of our patented technologies.
Mr. Yang, I know you also have a fleet in Hong Kong. You might as well consider our ships, which are much better than the Japanese in every aspect. "
"You are indeed better in terms of technology." Yang Wendong said with a smile, "But the price is still too expensive, unless I can obtain the operating rights in Europe."
European ships of the same type are basically half or even twice as expensive as Japanese ones. In this case, only a fool would choose European ones.
European shipyards can still receive certain orders now, also because of the policy protection within Europe. For example, if you want to do shipping business in Europe, or register a shipping company, etc., you will be forced or receive other policy subsidies to allow investors to purchase European ships.
So these people in Europe and America talk about free trade every day, but in fact, they mean that if I am stronger than you, then we will have free trade, and if I am weaker than you, then you are competing unfairly, and we will not allow you to enter the market or impose high tariffs.
Pierre paused and said, “Mr. Yang, this operating right is difficult, but maybe I can help you find a leasing company.”
"Then let's discuss it further?" Yang Wendong replied with a smile.
Although he doesn't want to do this business in Europe for the time being, it's better to leave a loophole and not to say absolutely anything.
"Okay." Pierre also knew that this was difficult, so he said, "Soon we'll be able to see a private yacht that our shipyard has recently built. Please wait a moment."
Ten minutes later, the car arrived at the shipyard, and some senior executives of the shipyard were also there to receive us at the door.
With Pierre's introduction, Yang Wendong got to know everyone. The highest position here is the general manager of the sales department.
It may also be because one ship is a large order, especially since Yang Wendong himself is a somewhat famous shipowner in Asia, and Atlantic Shipyard is definitely thinking about doing long-term business.
Next, I spent half an hour in the conference room, listening to Pierre bragging about his shipyard's various historical achievements and technologies.
After that, everyone came to a small dock. Next to the dock, there was a white private cruise ship. Pierre introduced: "Mr. Yang, this is our company's Robin private cruise ship. The one in front of you was customized by a big Dutch entrepreneur. It will be completed and delivered in two months."
"How long is this ship? Let me know the specific data." Yang Wendong asked again.
Pierre introduced: "Mr. Yang, the total length of this ship is 41.6 meters, the width is 11.3 meters, and the displacement is 3150 tons. It has a total of 6 master bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, a movie room, a fitness room, two kitchens, and a conference room."
Yang Wendong and Bai Yujie also listened carefully and then asked, "How is the radar function of this ship?"
Pierre replied: "Our radar was imported from a German company. I cannot reveal the name of the company, but it is definitely the most powerful civilian radar.
It can detect ships within dozens of miles, especially in the deep sea, and can definitely detect slightly larger ships, thus avoiding ship accidents caused by darkness or fog. "
"Well, can we detect the weather in the distance?" Yang Wendong asked again.
Safety is the most important thing. For a ship at sea, the first thing to pay attention to is other ships, and the second is to pay attention to bad weather.
Pierre said: “Large bad weather within a few hundred nautical miles can still be detected, but if the weather is not very bad, it is difficult to detect it by radar;
However, if we combine the data from various land-based weather monitoring stations and inform them through the radio, the probability of encountering bad weather is actually very low, and our ship is designed so that it can withstand the storm as long as it is not in the center of the storm. "
"Well, OK, I will investigate this further." Yang Wendong nodded and asked, "What is the price of this ship?"
Pierre smiled and said, “Mr. Yang, the bare structure of this ship is $85, while the interior decoration, room design, special requirements, etc., need to be recalculated separately.
For example, the one we are looking at now has a very luxurious interior decoration and a special wine cellar. The price of this ship is 206 million US dollars. "
"206?" Yang Wendong asked, "Your price is more expensive than some 2-ton cargo ships?"
Pierre smiled and said, “Yes, but we can’t just look at the displacement of this ship. We need to make a safer ship, more luxurious and comfortable in a small volume, and the cost of these is also very high;
For normal cargo ships, we only need to consider strength and safety, and the rest can be welded. Most of them are standard parts that are repeatedly produced, which can also spread out the design costs. "
"Yeah." Yang Wendong also knew that this was right, but he didn't bother about the price anymore. Instead, he asked, "Can we go on board and take a look?"
"Yes," Pierre agreed, "but many of the decorations on this ship are not yet complete, so you can only see about half of it."
"Half is enough." Yang Wendong nodded.
Afterwards, Yang Wendong, Bai Yujie and several assistants were brought on board.
Along the way, Pierre introduced several people one by one: "Mr. Yang, the wooden planks of this ship are made of a kind of teak from the Alps. This kind of wood is not afraid of corrosion from seawater and is not easy to grow insects. These sofas are also high-grade aviation seats, and their surfaces are made of African crocodile skins. Our various electrical appliances are also the most famous brands in the world. For example, this speaker is a German Sennheiser brand."
Yang Wendong was also listening carefully. The interior decoration of the ship was indeed luxurious. Compared with the super luxury cruise ships he had seen on the Internet in his previous life, it only lacked some high-tech equipment.
"What do you think?" Yang Wendong looked at Bai Yujie and asked.
Bai Yujie glanced at Yang Wendong and said, "I think it's pretty good, but isn't 200 million US dollars too expensive?"
"It doesn't matter. You don't have to worry about it." Yang Wendong smiled. He had made so much money, he should enjoy it. Although there would still be many investment opportunities in the future, these opportunities would still be there in the 21st century. He couldn't keep making money like this.
Besides, it can still be used to deduct some taxes in France. Several products under Changxing Industrial also have a good market in France.
Pierre just waited.
After a while, Yang Wendong said, "Mr. Pierre, what if I want to customize a larger private yacht?"
"Bigger? How big do you want, Mr. Yang?" Pierre asked with some experience. The length of 40 meters was already very long.
Yang Wendong thought for a moment and said, "It should be about 50 to 60 meters long, and the other directions will be expanded in the same proportion."
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)