Chapter 453 Ordering a Container Ship

Chapter 453 Ordering a Container Ship

Chapter 453 Ordering a Container Ship

After taking a sip of tea, Yang Wendong looked at Wei Zetao and said, "Old Wei, is your factory almost done?"

"Yes, the land is free, and now the only issue left is tax reduction," Wei Zetao replied.

Yang Wendong said: "Okay, let's reach an agreement with the authorities as soon as possible. Changxing Industry's global sales are getting better and better, and we also need a new production base."

Changxing Industrial's sales have been increasing in recent years, not only for new products but also for old products, such as post-it notes, trolley cases, sticky hooks, etc.

On the one hand, there was no publicity in the early days, but as the company invested money, it also began to advertise in Europe and the United States, and the channels became more and more numerous; second, the global economy as a whole is still rising, and the demand for many commodities is gradually increasing; third, due to the expansion of urbanization, many of Changxing Industrial's products are very friendly to ordinary people in the city.
Hong Kong has a population of only over 300 million, so it is not possible to expand the scale in Hong Kong indefinitely. As for Taiwan, although it also has a production base, some factors need to be considered, so it dare not expand too much and only produces according to tariff requirements.

Singapore is a new base comparable to Hong Kong. It is stable, has a good geographical location, has a large population of Chinese, is located in Southeast Asia, and is easy to develop the local market.

"Understood." After Wei Zetao agreed, he asked, "Mr. Yang, there is one more thing. Should we treat our employees in Singapore in accordance with the normal treatment of Singaporean companies, or should we imitate Hong Kong?"

"It should be in the middle, better than other companies, so as to attract the best employees." Yang Wendong paused and said, "But it doesn't have to be like Hong Kong, but the welfare can be better, such as the most basic food."

Some older people in the mainland in the past life knew that even in the mainland, before 2010, the food in many factories was not very good. It was not until later when the cost of food accounted for a very low proportion of the company's profits that the food improved slightly.

In this life, when he traveled through time in the early days, he was really hungry for a long time. Therefore, after the success of his business, other benefits could be adjusted according to the market, but in terms of food, the employees were basically taken care of.

Of course, it’s not very good. It can only be said that the food was basic in the previous life, but it is very good today.

After listening to this, Wei Zetao said, "Okay, I understand."

Yang Wendong added: "However, if we encounter very poor people, we can take appropriate care of them, whether it is salary or benefits. We need to form a company culture that, although we may not treat employees as family members, at least we are willing to help employees in need."

Companies that say they treat their employees as family are all garbage and stupid companies. They PUA their employees without even thinking about whether others have brains. A company is a company, and individuals are individuals. Under normal circumstances, they can just treat each other equally. Under special circumstances, it would be great if they could understand and help each other.

This is Yang Wendong’s concept. There is no need to think that those employees are my family members and those who work are my brothers. You work for the company, the company gives you enough income, and as long as the relationship is harmonious, that’s enough.

Wei Zetao said: "I understand. The human resources department within the company is responsible for welfare affairs. They will be responsible for this aspect."

"Okay." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Thank you for your hard work, both of you. Make sure we make our first big investment in Singapore. Once this is done, we can make the second and other investments in the future."

Singapore’s future is no worse than Hong Kong’s, and it is not as good as Hong Kong economically at present, so the return on my current investment must be higher.

Of course, although the gap between 1-10000 and 100-10000 is a hundred times larger, the actual impact on returns is not significant, so there is no need to rush to invest now, just do it step by step, starting from the 60s and 70s, before the mainland's reform and opening up, you could invest with your eyes closed.

Investments in Singapore involve funds in the tens of millions of US dollars. Even if both parties seek to reach a deal as quickly as possible, there are still many details that need to be negotiated, especially those involving laws and the interests of local people. These are not something that can be decided by both parties and can only be done step by step.

On the other hand, there were new developments in Europe. Yang Wendong immediately chartered a plane from Cathay Pacific and went directly to France.

At the Atlantic Shipyard, Yang Wendong met his old friend Pierre whom he met last time.

Pierre smiled and shook hands and said, "Eric, are you satisfied with our yacht?"

"Very satisfied. I also feel the luxury of European aristocrats." Yang Wendong replied with a smile.

In his previous life, although he was successful in starting a business, he was just a wealthy man with a small goal. He had rented a yacht on the Yangtze River before, but it was far inferior to this privately customized palace on the sea. Only the super-rich can enjoy this kind of private yacht. Although there are large ones that are specially used for rental, the comfort level is completely different. It is like a car and a truck, one is private and the other is commercial.

What is even more unimaginable is that in the 21st century, many Internet and oil tycoons would buy yachts over meters in length, the same size as warships. However, such things do not exist in this era and may not be available until another ten or twenty years.

It’s not that it can’t be built, but without sufficient satellite communications, it’s too dangerous for a yacht to go to the deep sea. If we only consider the near sea, a medium-sized one will be enough.

Pierre said: "Customer satisfaction is the greatest support for us. This time, our container ship will definitely satisfy you."

For a large shipyard, a luxury yacht is just a general order. Two or three million US dollars is not small, but it is not much either. Moreover, this is basically a one-time business. After a normal person buys one, he is unlikely to buy a second one.

Commercial cargo ships are big business. First, there are many of them. Second, they are highly sustainable. As long as large shipping companies operate normally, they will expand their scale, and old ships will be gradually phased out.

"I hope so too." Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Then let's go check out the ship first."

"No problem. There happens to be a container ship of the same model that is almost finished. We can go up and take a look." Pierre said with a smile.

They soon arrived at the dock, and many white workers looked at Yang Wendong and his group with curiosity. It was probably rare for Asians to come to Europe to buy ships. After boarding the ship, another Frenchman next to Pierre kept "grunting" and introducing the ship, while Pierre acted as an interpreter. Even though the languages ​​in Europe were very similar and everyone might know some basic English, there were still relatively few people who could speak English at the level of an interpreter.

People from Changxing Shipping were also around and would occasionally explain. After all, the translation of professional terms might not be accurate. They had been here before and today was the first time that boss Yang Wendong came.

More than an hour later, after walking around the boat, everyone got off and came to a meeting room in a building next to the dock.

"Eric, how do you feel?" Pierre asked with a smile.

"Not bad." Yang Wendong replied and then asked, "Pierre, when can you deliver the six cargo ships I ordered?"

When we came to Europe to order ships this time, the relevant personnel of Changxing Shipping had already consulted in advance. The final decision was to customize 6 container ships, and then use them for transportation within Europe or between Europe and the United States. Of course, leasing is still the main method. Although European shipping companies do not operate all ships by leasing like Japan, sometimes they will still rent due to financial pressure. It's just like renting a house. Many large companies also rent offices.

The reason why it is 6 ships is not because they do not want to buy more, but because of the assessment of several European banks, they are only willing to lend this much money.

Banks also have their own rules, and in this era a lot of information is not interoperable. Although my company is not small, it is based in Asia, and European banks will not investigate. Even if there is cooperation, it will be done by the Asian branch, and it has nothing to do with Europe. If it weren't for the good market performance of many of Changxing Industrial's products in Europe, it is estimated that the loan amount for three cargo ships would not be likely.

Pierre replied: "We will build it in three shipyards. It will take less than two years to build one ship, so the first three will be delivered in early 67, and the next three will be delivered at the end of 68."

"Less than two years?" Yang Wendong's expression remained unchanged, and he asked, "Can't it be faster?"

Pierre shook his head and said, "No, this is already the fastest speed. Has Ms. Ava confirmed this?"

Ava is Zheng Yuhua's English name. Many people in Hong Kong have it, especially those doing foreign trade business. It can be said to be a must, otherwise business transactions will be very inconvenient.

Zheng Yuhua nodded, and then whispered to Yang Wendong: "Mr. Yang, the shipbuilding speed in Europe cannot compare with that in Japan or Taiwan. This is not only true for shipbuilding, but also for other manufacturing industries and even the service industry.
The workers here have more time to rest, many are unwilling to work night shifts, and the work intensity is not high, so this is it.”

"Well, that's the only way." Yang Wendong replied.

In this era, jobs for Westerners are obviously not competitive, after all, their economies are more developed.

It is said that the three East Asian countries are very competitive. If you want to live a good life in the future or even for your next generation, you must compete with them. In an era when Western technology is fully ahead, only by competing with them can you compete for industrial production, obtain funds, and then enter the next R&D cycle.

Seeing that the two were negotiating in their own language, Pierre did not ask any more questions. After a while, Yang Wendong said, "Okay, that's it for the delivery time. We'll discuss the price."

In fact, Yang Wendong did not participate much in the price negotiations. In the early stages, Changxing Shipping also visited shipyards in Germany, Italy and even the United Kingdom to inquire about prices. In addition, the transaction prices of other shipping companies could also be used for reference.

Before Yang Wendong came, Zheng Yuhua and others had already conducted many price negotiations with Pierre and others, and this time, the price was almost settled.

After several days of negotiations, representatives from both sides, totaling more than 20 people, finally set the transaction price: 6 1000TEU container ships, with a total price of US$1332 million.

1000TEU means that 1000 containers can be loaded and unloaded at one time. Generally, a container has a maximum load of 28 tons, but the load of the entire container ship is only 2 tons. This requires the coordination of the weight of the boxes during operation in the future. After all, not every container will be filled with the maximum of 28 tons. In this case, neither the shipbuilding company nor the shipping company can increase the ship's load to the maximum, which would be too much of a loss.

The reason why it is 1000TEU is that in this era, this is already the largest number of container ships. Technology is developing, and the current ship technology, port facilities, etc. are not suitable for larger container ships.

On November 11, the two parties formally signed the agreement, and this was the first time that Changxing Shipping purchased a ship in Europe.

Many reporters also came to interview. In this era, orders received by large shipyards were big national news, because large-scale ship orders, from top to bottom, could provide tens of thousands of jobs for France, and even for the government, it was a big deal.

Longchi, a leader of the French Ministry of Commerce, also came to the Atlantic Shipyard to meet with Yang Wendong.

"Mr. Eric." Long Qi smiled and shook hands with Yang Wendong after seeing him. "I learned about your past some time ago. I have to say that I admire your abilities very much."

Everyone will admire those who have started from scratch, even if the other person is from a wealthy class, because they also know that even for the wealthy class, it is very difficult to move up to the next level, let alone starting from scratch.

Yang Wendong smiled and said, "Thank you for the compliment, Mr. Longqi."

Long Qi added: “I have also used the hooks and suitcases produced by your company. I have to say that these little things really make life much more convenient. There is a great demand for them in Europe.
I know your company has a factory in the UK, I wonder if Mr. Eric can also invest in building a factory in France?"

"I'll think about it." Yang Wendong did not refuse directly, and said: "In this case, I will arrange for a business team to come to France for inspection. Whether we can cooperate or not will be determined after the inspection."

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(End of this chapter)