Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> 1855 American Tycoon

Text Chapter 586, Prosperity (5)

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    The ordinary cargo ship Scrooge refers to does not refer to the so-called "Charlotte Standard Cargo Ship", the kind of cargo ship specially prepared to deal with Germany's future unrestricted submarine warfare. That kind of cargo ship is cheap to build, can be produced quickly, and has high speed.  With outstanding performance, it will undoubtedly be the best cargo ship in the world in future wars, but this may not be the case in peacetime.  First of all, the design life of this kind of cargo ship is only four to five years. In the war, a cargo ship in the Atlantic Ocean full of German submarines generally has no chance to complete such a service life. Generally speaking, they will  If it is sunk within one to two years and can survive for three years, you can be called a lucky person.  However, in peacetime, a cargo ship may be used for more than ten years, or even decades.  If the design life is only four to five years, it is simply useless.  Of course, this is just the design life.  It is not impossible to insist on using the old, tattered, and new for three years.  For example, in history, after the end of World War II, the "Freedom Wheels" in the hands of the Americans were sold to many poor third world countries at the price of scrap.  And in there?  ?  ?  ?  In some third world poor countries, such as the Philippines, Indonesia, etc., they even used these "freewheels" with a design life of only four or five years until the 1970s, almost ten times exceeding the design life.  Some of them have even been converted into passenger ships. Anyway, human lives in poor third world countries are cheap.  However, the "Freedom Ships" in the hands of poor countries in the third world will basically not run on ocean routes after the war. They generally only run on calm offshore routes. This is why these ships can be used three years after the new one, and three years after the old one.  One of the key factors that makes it last for thirty years.  If they are still used to run ocean routes, even the Pacific route with less wind and waves, it will not take that long anyway, not to mention that in Scrooge's current era, the most important route in the world is still to Europe.  A route on the Atlantic Ocean, which has always been famous for its strong winds and high waves.  Such a route is naturally not suitable for ships that have overdue service.  Of course, after the war is over, it would be good to sell these ships to Asia.  At least the Japanese are definitely willing to have it.  Isn't it just unsafe?  The Japanese are worthless anyway.  In fact, they did the same thing after the First World War.  So in Scrooge's time and space, many years later, when Japan and the United States fought in World War II, many American submarine officers and soldiers were surprised to find that the target they needed to attack was actually the same as more than 20 submarines.  The targets that the German submarine force needed to attack years ago were almost exactly the same except that they were a little older.  After Japan surrendered, these ships were divided again. Some were used by the Americans to test atomic bombs and other things, and some were assigned to the government of the Republic of China, which also became a victorious country, and then widely used.  They were used to transport troops to fight in the civil war, transport gold to Taiwan, and transport personnel to evacuate to Taiwan.  Of course, the reliability of these old ships that have been used for decades, especially after being operated intensively on ocean routes by the Japanese for several years, is really a problem.  For example, in the United States, several of these ships were sunk while being towed to the shooting range, while in China, a "Charlotte Standard" renamed "Taiping" was transporting a group of low-level  When the officials and their wives fled to Taiwan, they encountered only a small storm, and then a sea disaster occurred that killed thousands of people.  In addition to the reasons for lifespan, the effective tonnage and fuel economy also determine that this kind of ship is not a good ship in peacetime.  For the convenience of production, the displacement of this kind of ship is slightly less than 10,000 tons.  In this way, most slipways can be used to produce such ships with slight improvements.  However, due to speed requirements, the length-to-width ratio of this type of ship is still slightly larger than that of ordinary cargo ships.  This means that the ship can carry less cargo with the same tonnage.  At the same time, higher speeds require more powerful power.  In order to be cheap, the price of the power system must be lower. As a result, the power system takes up more space than ordinary cargo ships, which of course further reduces the actual carrying space.  Coupled with higher fuel consumption, such a ship will definitely not sell well in peacetime.  Scrooge¡¯s plan is this, first, he throws out the giant cruise ship, which leads to a worldwide race for giant tankers.  This kind of competition will greatly increase the number of large slipways.  And once the recession comes, these giants will be the first to be cut off among the transportation ships, because in the depression, the transportation tasks of transporting so much crude oil at one time will plummet.  By that time, these large slipways will immediately become worthless, and you can buy these large slipways that will be of great use in the new round of battleship competition after the war at a very low price.  As for the cargo ship, Scrooge plans to introduce a new technology that will quickly improve the loading and unloading efficiency of cargo ships, thus making the advantages of sea transportation compared to other forms of transportation suddenly apparent, makingMore goods originally transported by land are transferred to sea transport.  As a result, the construction of new cargo ships has become more popular, and it has also led to the construction of more slipways.  Whether it is more slipways or more cargo ships, more steel and more machinery are indispensable, which can bring more income to Scrooge, not to mention the cheap slipways after the depression.  .  The boom can bring real income to Scrooge, but the depression can help him lay the foundation of the empire and complete its expansion.  "I love prosperity, but I love depression even more." Scrooge couldn't help but say this to himself in his heart.  ¡­ ¡­ The shipbuilding craze caused by supertankers has gradually increased with the further recovery of the economy. At this time, a piece of news has further boosted people¡¯s enthusiasm for it.  In February 1910, McDonald's Venture Capital Bank and the Cleveland Geological Exploration Company, the most famous geological exploration company in the United States, jointly held a press conference and announced news that McDonald's executives had known for a long time: in Mike  Entrusted by Downer Venture Bank, Cleveland Geological Exploration Company discovered a super large oil field during mineral exploration on private land owned by McDonald Venture Bank in Alaska.  This news did not cause much sensation at the time, because from an economic point of view, it did not seem to be very cost-effective to exploit this oil field.  Because for now, the oil fields in the United States are already sufficient.  In contrast, developing an oil field requires a lot of investment, including the oil field itself and the port roads to transport it.  According to the calculations made by the Wall Street Journal, at least in the short term, this oil field has no development value at all.  "For now, the greater economic significance of the existence of this oil field is that it gives McDonald Ventures more mortgage options." The Wall Street Journal said this.  However, the Wall Street Journal was wrong. They never expected that just two months later, on April 2, 1910, they would get another piece of news: Macdonald Venture Bank and the German government reached an agreement.  McDonald Ventures leased the largest oil field in the United States, along with part of the port in their hands, to the German government for 50 years for a mere US$50 million.  At the same time, we will gain priority in the procurement of oil facilities and port facilities.  When they first received this news, the editors of the Wall Street Journal thought that they had made a mistake in the date. The news looked like it was a day late.  But soon, the authenticity of the news was verified.  "Oh God, big news! Big news!" the editor shouted, "Is the new westward movement going to begin? Is the northward movement about to begin?" The lack of oil has dragged down Germany's economy to a great extent. Very early on  At that time, the Germans began to search for oil all over the world.  However, it is very regrettable that there is no such thing in the poor German colonies.  Even if other countries or their colonies have this thing, they either refuse to let the Germans develop it or they have already been exploited by other countries.  For example, there is oil in Romania, which is not far from Germany. However, the damn Yankees moved terribly quickly. Before the Germans had time to fully understand the value of oil, they took the lead and gave away several oil fields there.  Bought it.  Later, although the Germans wanted to pay a price to buy the Romanian oil fields from the Americans, the British and French kept playing tricks behind them, so this matter never happened.  To this end, the Germans have launched a so-called oil reserve plan. They have established a series of oil depots near the Port of Hamburg and plan to establish a so-called "national strategic oil reserve."  However, because they do not control the oil fields in their hands, almost every time they want to purchase a little more oil, it will inevitably cause an increase in oil prices in the international market.  As a result, the "National Strategic Petroleum Reserve Plan" has been proposed for several years, but the oil reserves are still not enough.  This time, when the Americans came to sell the oil fields in their hands to the Germans, the Germans were really overjoyed.  Of course, the Germans are not fools. They also know that the cost of oil extraction in Alaska is very high.  However, after careful consideration, the Germans discovered that some recently emerging technologies made it possible to develop Alaskan oil.  First, a Chinese company has developed oil pipeline transportation technology, which can transport low-viscosity oil through pipelines, thus greatly reducing the cost of land transportation of oil.  And according to the samples they obtained, Alaskan oil also met this standard.  This has caused the transportation cost from Alaska oil fields to the port to drop a lot. Coupled with the emergence of super tankers, the cost of oil shipping has also dropped a lot.  So the Germans calculated and found that although the final cost was still a little higher than the international market, according to the Germans' calculationOil, the price of oil will rise immediately. The more you buy, the more it will rise. Judging from the habit of increasing prices, if this price is spread evenly over a longer period of time, compared to the international market, it will definitely be much more affordable.  Thus, the basic intention was achieved.
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report