Chapter 495: Opportunities of Containers
Chapter 495: Opportunities of Containers
As for real estate auctions, Yang Wendong is not interested unless there is any land of king-level quality. As the top capital in Hong Kong, he cannot take every small piece of land. Even if there is profit, he will not look down on it. The same is true for Swire Properties, which is also a giant.
At present, Changxing Real Estate still has a large amount of undeveloped land in its hands. The most important thing is to gradually develop and cash out these lands, because it has owed a lot of debts from previous borrowing and purchases. Although the mortgage is Changxing Shipping, the money is still repaid by whoever needs it.
Faced with this bull market that has just begun, Yang Wendong did not pay too much attention to it. He currently has two large-scale infrastructure projects, one is the container terminal and the other is the Hung Hom Tunnel.
It has been more than half a year since we got the project. Both projects have started as planned. Many foreign engineers have been invited, and Kinmen Construction has also participated. Everything is moving in a good direction.
On February 2, the first working day after the Spring Festival, Zheng Yuhua from Changxing Shipping and Qian Junyi, the head of the future container terminal, came to Yang Wendong's office.
"Sit down. What's going on? Is there something going on at the dock?" Yang Wendong greeted him. History did not change because of him, which made him very happy and his mood improved a lot.
Qian Junyi said: "Mr. Yang, everything is going according to plan at the port, but we have encountered another difficult problem, there are no containers."
"No container? You can't buy this?" Yang Wendong asked curiously.
Since it is going to be a container terminal, it naturally requires a large number of containers and even container trucks. This heavy investment can only be undertaken by Changxing Group. Although the investment is large, as long as the operation goes smoothly in the later stage and the containers, transportation, etc. are controlled, it will also be part of the large infrastructure and can guarantee long-term benefits.
Qian Junyi explained, "Mr. Yang, this is the case. Container terminals are being built all over the world. Not only are there not enough container ships, but there are also not enough containers. Currently in Asia, only Japan and Taiwan are able to produce containers on a large scale, but their orders have long been booked by European and American companies. We can't get them, and if we force the money, we will suffer huge losses."
"I didn't pay attention to this. There should be a severe shortage of containers right now." Yang Wendong also reacted.
In his previous life, there were occasional container shortages. This would happen when there were major changes in the shipping market. For example, for some reason, a large amount of goods would be shipped from Asia to Europe and the United States, but there would be no goods in the other direction. The empty containers would not necessarily be brought back, which would be a big loss, so it would be better to buy new ones.
Zheng Yuhua said, "Mr. Yang, we have discussed it internally and decided to invest in a container factory in Taiwan. I estimate that containers will be in short supply for a long time.
It’s not just that the demand for new goods is high. According to the standards in the United States and Europe, containers also have a scrap period, which is generally 10-15 years, and we have to take into account a lot of damage and deformation during transportation. "
"You guys want to engage in manufacturing." Yang Wendong said with a smile.
Zheng Yuhua explained: "It's not that we want to, but we have no choice. The container terminal is almost ready, and some of my old cargo ships can be converted to transport containers, but there are no boxes. How can we not be urgent?"
Yang Wendong asked again: "Is the production of this container complicated? Did they just buy the steel plates and weld them together?"
Zheng Yuhua said: “Yes, we can buy steel plates directly from Japan and then weld them ourselves, but the welding requirements are very high and there are also requirements for various strengths, otherwise the problem will be a big deal;
So if you want to invest, you have to invest a lot of money. If you don’t do it, you have to do it well.”
"Okay, wait a moment, I'll ask Lao Wei to come over." After Yang Wendong said this, he immediately took out his phone and dialed.
After a while, Wei Zetao came over. He happened to be at Changxing Building today.
"It's like this, Lao Wei." Yang Wendong briefly explained the situation and asked, "What do you think?"
Wei Zetao replied: "Containers will indeed be in high demand for a long time in the future, but Changxing Industrial has never handled steel business. Mr. Yang, do you want me to be in charge of this?"
Yang Wendong nodded and said, "Who else is there inside us besides Changxing Industrial? The business you were doing before was related to plastics and paper. Although these two businesses have not been developed to the extreme, the growth rate of many businesses is very slow. In the final analysis, it is competing with many other companies;
If you want to change this, you either need to come up with a creative product like a suitcase, or you can only make some new products that have just appeared. I am more optimistic about the container. "
Changxing Industry got its start in the early days relying on the creativity of a time traveler, but creativity is limited. If it were not for Yang Wendong's strong push to enter the front-end industries of plastics, papermaking, and glue in the early years, Changxing Industry would probably not even be half of its current size.
Now that there is a new big industry and the opportunity to expand it, it is natural to take care of the eldest son of the group. Otherwise, it will sooner or later be surpassed by Watsons and Honor Electronics with larger market shares.
"Okay, then I will start planning the production of containers." Wei Zetao nodded.
Yang Wendong added: "Okay, but there is one thing. Zheng Yuhua suggested that the production should be done in Taiwan, but I disagree. You want to put the factory in Hong Kong."
The mainland is about to resume its seat in the United Nations, which is not good for Taiwan. In addition, Singapore and even Malaysia can become its own industrial production base, so his investment in Taiwan will be moderate and he will not invest too much.
Wei Zetao said: "Mr. Yang, making containers requires a large number of high-quality welders. It is difficult to find so many people in Hong Kong. If we build a factory in Hong Kong, we can only recruit people from Taiwan."
Yang Wendong said nonchalantly: "It's okay, just poach people and arrange their accommodation and so on. This cost is nothing. If we need to recruit technical personnel, we can recruit them from Japan, Europe and the United States." As long as it is not the lowest-end industry, having more high-paid overseas technicians or workers will not have much impact. After all, competitors all have similar salaries.
"Okay," Wei Zetao agreed.
Yang Wendong asked again: "What about the imported steel plates? Is there any problem?"
Wei Zetao replied: "It should be no problem. Hong Kong also has a lot of steel to import, especially construction steel, from the mainland and Japan. Plates may be less available, but they can definitely be imported from the port."
"Okay, do some preliminary investigation first, and then give me a summary." Yang Wendong said again.
Wei Zetao agreed: "Okay."
Three days later, Wei Zetao came to Yang Wendong's office again with a document.
"Mr. Yang, this is the information I recently investigated." After handing over the information, Wei Zetao introduced: "The container industry has existed in Europe and the United States for a long time. In the early years, it was used on trains. Later, an engineer thought of putting it on a ship. After years of testing and operation, the current container industry was established.
Due to the surge in demand, containers are in short supply in Europe and the United States, and even more so in Asia. The first container factory in Japan was established five years ago, and the first in Taiwan was established two years ago.
"Then we are not too late now, we still have a chance to catch up, or at least have a chance to make our own achievements." Yang Wendong also looked at the data in his hand and asked, "Is there a unified standard in the world?"
Like container ships, containers themselves are in serious short supply, especially now that they have only been available for a short time. The market is flooded with many poor quality containers. Once container ships are used and problems arise on the sea, it immediately becomes a mess.
This has led to a severe shortage of containers of "qualified" quality.
Wei Zetao said: "Yes, the United States has customized the global version of container size, quality requirements and other rules. When we make containers, we must strictly follow this standard so that they can be used around the world."
"So, on your side, what annual production capacity do you plan to build in the first phase of the factory?" Yang Wendong asked again.
Wei Zetao said: "I want the first phase of the factory to have a production capacity of 5, which means we can make about 150 containers a day. However, this is just a plan. This is also considered semi-heavy industry. We don't have anything here now. It will take some time to increase production capacity."
"Where is the location?" Yang Wendong asked.
Wei Zetao replied: "Kwai Chung can only be built near the port. The cost of long-distance land transportation of this kind of container is very high. It is very convenient to build it near the port and use it directly at the port after it is made.
I have also communicated with the relevant departments of the Hong Kong government, and they also support our production of containers. The land and location still need to be negotiated, but they will definitely give us land and prices that meet the conditions. "
"Okay, then let's go to Kwai Chung." Yang Wendong nodded: "Does this kind of welding factory cause a lot of pollution?"
Wei Zetao said: "There is a certain amount of pollution. There is a lot of welding on containers, which will produce a lot of sewage and polluted air. In addition, some chemical surface treatment is required after welding."
“In that case, don’t place it near residential areas, but place it farther away from towns. However, the transportation must be well-prepared,” Yang Wendong added.
No matter how important it is to hoard land, there are plenty of opportunities. There is no need to build polluting industries in residential areas. This is basic quality and principle.
Wei Zetao said: "Okay."
Yang Wendong asked again: "What about the personnel?"
Wei Zetao replied: "Ordinary employee-level management can be recruited in Hong Kong. As for the welding technicians involved, I plan to recruit them in Japan and Taiwan. Hong Kong will also gradually train local personnel in the future. According to estimates, the total number of employees in the first phase will be about 1000-1500."
"Okay, then the next step is to make a budget. If there is no problem, I will sign it." Yang Wendong nodded and said.
PS: Please give me a monthly ticket
(End of this chapter)