110 : Dig the road to the end of the rocky mountain
“By the way, Mr. Wu. On what scale are you planning to build a shipyard?”
Longbottom talked about his school days for a long time, and only when he had half smoked a cigar did he ask a worthy question.
“We plan to secure two 450-ton goliath cranes in two 700,000-ton docks with a capacity to build five 250,000-ton class ships per year.”
“What… what? Two 700,000-ton docks?”
The ultra-large dock with a capacity of over 500,000 tons was a state-of-the-art facility that only seven advanced countries had at that time.
I was surprised to hear that I would do that.
“Is that such a surprise? Isn’t Mitsubishi Shipyard in Japan planning to build a 1 million-ton dock?”
“Kuhmm… uh, that’s Japan.”Read at noblemtl
Judging from the reaction, you didn’t even know the information that Japan would build a dock with a capacity of 1 million tons. Do some research. Because it’s true.Read at noblemtl
Japanese shipbuilders bet early on that the Suez Canal will be blocked.
“If Japan can do it, Korea can do it too. In particular, our Daesae has quite a bit of experience in all kinds of US military base construction and petrochemical and integrated steelworks plant projects in Vietnam. Considering shipbuilding as an expansion of the plant, there is a good chance of success.”
“Yes, let’s just say we help on the technical side. But if there is no one to buy a boat, it will cost a lot of money and ruin it.”
“Don’t you know that the Suez Canal is blocked? Demand for VLCCs (very large tankers) going around the Cape of Good Hope will surge.”
“Some people gamble like that.”
“There is nothing to lose as a ship owner, right? If you order a boat from me now, you can order a boat at an extremely low price. In the future, if the boat price rises, you can receive a premium and pre-order, and if the boat price goes down, you will delay the delivery date and cancel the contract.”
“Such a ship owner…”
“Most of them. Isn’t it?”
Chairman Longbottom smiled bitterly at my words.
The risk of price fluctuations is borne by shipbuilders, not by ship owners.
Originally, the shipbuilding and shipping industries are gambling.
It is good if there are no significant price fluctuations until the ship is received and delivered, but it is not uncommon in cases where it does not.
“Mr. Wu is betting that the Suez Canal won’t open any time soon.”
“Yes, we want to get investors and ship owners to join that bet.”
Right now, only the fast-moving people are moving, but even after three months, ship owners and the shipping industry around the world will be excited.
There is no reason to explain how Israel is and how Egypt is. Interpretation of information is up to each person.
“Still, if the shipyard runs aground during construction, what will happen to the investors? Are there any supplements?”
“The Korea Exchange Bank will sign a loan contract under the condition of an irrevocable and unlimited payment guarantee. This is the decision of the Korean President.”
“her!!! okay?”
The condition of unlimited payment guarantee was a great competitiveness of Korean companies. It was also the greatest strength of President Park.
“You can believe it. We will definitely succeed.”
I have infinite confidence that every business I do will succeed. Honestly, this is only possible because the entire nation is firmly united in the belief that ‘you can do it’.
“Hey, friend. I saw it myself in Korea. You can believe it. Koreans are not ordinary people.”
Captain Smith said seriously as he gulped down his whiskey.
“Then let’s try it sometime. For a shipyard of that size, the investment cost…”
“The total construction cost is 130 million dollars, of which the introduction of loans is thought to be 80 million dollars.”
“What is the basis for such a calculation?”
“Look at the business plan here.”
I handed out the business plan I had prepared.
It was a business plan that combined my future knowledge and Sambok’s sense of reality in this era as much as possible.
“There must be a reason for setting the amount of the loan at 80 million dollars.”
Chairman Longbottom’s tone became very polite.
The evaluation of me has changed after seeing the perfect business plan.
“Civil engineering work is basic to building a shipyard, but various facilities and equipment for ships are also required to build a ship. Where would you introduce it?”
“!!!!”
“Most of it is income. The cost of importing facilities and equipment will be only about 80 million dollars. What if you decide on a company that supplies it and move that company’s bank? If necessary, you can use the facilities as collateral.”
“Haha, it looks like the equipment supplier is getting a loan for the delivery.”
“Yes.”
If you do this, investors will come out in droves.
Providers of equipment and materials receive payment immediately, and banks do not have to worry about withdrawing money because the Korean government provides unlimited loan guarantees.
“What do you think? Didn’t I say our boss is special?”
Smith was delighted as he poked Chairman Longbottom in the stomach. Anyone can see that this is a deal.
“Haha, then you should look back at the equipment company. Would you like to go all over Europe?”
“Captain Smith is with you.”
In the future, he will also play an active role as the face madam of the popular shipping company, so it would be nice to tour Europe together at this time.
I already have some plans on where to buy things, so even if I go around Europe, the period won’t be unreasonably long.
Goliath cranes from Germany, steam turbines from GE or Siemens, boilers from England, etc…
“Hey, thanks to the boss, I look like I’m going to travel around Europe when I’m old. It is an honour.”
“Thank you for thinking so.”
“Then, we will prepare an office at Appledoor so that you can work comfortably.”
Chairman Longbottom also gives an office in London.
It was clear that he was fond of me.
“Chief Woo, our contract with Kingston is also finalized here. If you introduce 80 million dollars or a loan, isn’t 15 million dollars enough?”
‘It’s stupid.’
Who gets an 80 million dollar loan and spends 15 million dollars for technical services?
“First of all, I will pay Kingston $1.5 million and get blueprints and technical guidance. We will decide whether or not to extend the technical guidance while looking at the ship construction situation.”
“One and a half million dollars? Wasn’t there talk of fifteen million dollars at first?”
“If you don’t like it, wait a little longer. Let’s negotiate again after the European round.”
“No, no. $1.5 million, sign the contract.”
At $1.5 million, it’s a low price for VLCC blueprints, but Martin Siem, president, will appreciate it.
Even if you go to Norway or Sweden, there are many shipyards that use the latest welding method instead of the rivet method.
Before I get in touch with them, I’ll be in a hurry to sell Kingston’s riveted blueprints.
Even in the original history, it was finally traded at this price.
“good. The contract…”
“Appledoor will be your witness.”
Chairman Longbottom pushed out a standard contract, and I signed a contract with Kingston that way.
Even before the ink on the contract was dry, we discussed the European rounding route, and from the next day, a crazy forced march began.
It had been almost three weeks since I left Captain Smith in the London office as the head of the general public and headed for Jordan.
***
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Jordan Dead Sea, Royal Recreation Area.
“David!”
As soon as I arrived in Jordan, I entered the Dead Sea.
“CS, welcome. How did things go?”
“I did my best, so there will be good results. Rather, are things going well here?”
“sure. Didn’t you see the news? The King of Jordan made a public address and offered Israel peace talks.”
“Oh, you made it.”
If King Hussein offered peace talks, it meant that behind-the-scenes contact was over.
A national summit is a meeting that cannot fail.
After agreeing to 99% of all pending issues in advance, the leaders meet and only stamp the final draft.
“Everything is thanks to CS. When they pressured Israel on the condition that they give up the West Bank, they snapped. As if the U.S. vice minister was in a hurry as well, as of yesterday, a final agreement was reached on the construction of the aqueduct.”
“No, you already made a final agreement? We should have a party to celebrate this. Where is SB? We should pop some champagne.”
In the end, did you agree on the construction of the aqueduct?
I should have thought it would work, but I was thrilled to hear that the final agreement had actually been reached. It was a project that could not be agreed even in the 21st century. After all, this time was an opportunity.
It will be a difficult and long construction, but it is a precious construction that will provide us with a steady stream of money.
“It has been a while since SB left the southern coastal city of Aqaba. I heard that the general staff are coming in there.”
“Ah, it was.”
Hey, you went to Aqaba?
Come to think of it, I said to take care of the staff.
This guy, no matter how busy he is, he should have contacted me.
no Since I’ve been to different countries, changing hotels every time, I couldn’t have contacted you.
If you see me, you must be very annoyed that I haven’t contacted you in the past. I thought I was being treated as a state guest!
“Let’s go. Don’t worry, the 30 million USD will be deposited this week.”
“Haha, I will.”
what? Have you already paid the start-up fee?
Could it be that Sambok has started construction?
is this a big deal?
I smiled on the outside, but cold sweat broke out.
When I was leaving Jordan, Sambok asked me what to do, so I just told him to take care of the staff and break through the driveway… I didn’t know that things would progress so quickly, so I spoke too roughly.
“David, let’s meet in Korea sometime. I’ll buy you a big drink.”
“Yes, I will definitely go. See you then.”
This man would be crazy too.
You’ll have to go back to the States right away and pack your name. My mouth is already hanging in my ears.
***
Aqaba, a coastal city in southern Jordan.
It is the only coastal city in Jordan that Jordan has been assigned after handing over its inland desert to Saudi Arabia.
“Thu, tu, uh, why does this guy’s sandstorm blow every time he eats?”
“So, are you eating rice or sand?”
Craftsmen gathered in groups of threes and threes to eat.
Even though I ate indoors, sand crawled in from somewhere with every meal.
“What are you doing to this extent? Have you ever eaten while cleaning the runway in the jungle? All sorts of venomous insects and even snakes come running and ask for food. One bite and you’ll die. haha.”
A golden bell made fun of the new technician.
“That is medicine. Have you been to the Mekong River? He ate there while bullets were flying around. Bullets came out from the bureau too. Even that later, I didn’t have enough time, so I ate raw rice while welding.”
“Oh, fuck. I remember. Now that I think about it, those muddy water rapids were spectacular, spectacular! Better there than here in the waterless desert.”
The 1st Golden Bell, who drank coke instead of soup, lit a cigarette and told tales of heroism.
“I don’t know how much to believe in what the seniors say.”
The new craftsmen grumbled.
I thought it was a bluff, but is it true because I hear it so often? It was because I thought.
“mind! Can you believe that Dae-se, the head of the construction department, loses as soon as he eats?”
“Oh, there’s also Managing Director Lee Sam-bok at the end. Let us go too.”
The 1st Golden Bells smoked their cigarettes until the end and stood up.
After eating and smoking a cigarette, the break was over.
In general, time was money.
The wages varied according to the amount of work done, but it was impossible to play idle because the performance of each team was evaluated.
“But, it is strange. At times like this, the boss always came up with something strange, whether it was the caisson method or the bamboo method. Don’t you have a sharp move this time?”
“Don’t you think of the Mekong River? Everyone was dubious when the boss told us to use a steel plate to block the water. The results were good though. If you want to drill a mountain road this time, don’t talk nonsense. You have to do what you have to do first, then a miracle or a legend will follow, right?”
“Gashui, ignorance has come to the fore and I have learned a lot.”
“You should learn something too, you asshole.”
The 1st generation of the Golden Bell filled each other up while exchanging swear words.
It was President Woo Chan-soo’s order to dig a road to the top of the rocky mountain, so the employees worked hard without complaining no matter how hard it was.
“What are you all doing! When you’re done eating, run to the place where Mr. Lee is!”
“Yeah!”
On-site supervisors, including General Manager Kim Chun-seok, encouraged the employees. As they said, Sambok was struggling at the forefront.
“Chansu, just come and see me. Let’s go and see Are you going to leave me here like this?”
Sambok, who was the most advanced, scattered the sand and pebbles he had brought down the cliff, wiping away what he knew whether it was tears or sweat.
At first, I never dreamed that I would be working in such an inefficient way.
When the ship arrived a few weeks ago, the first thing to do was unload the heavy equipment and put it right into the construction site.
However, the problem was that the geology of the rocky mountain was strange.
It is obviously a solid rocky mountain from the outside, but if you try to pave the road with heavy equipment, there are many cases where the surrounding area collapses like a sand castle at some point.
Rather than clearing the road, it was a situation where a safety accident would occur.
That said, Jordanian officials were watching, and the work couldn’t be stopped.
Didn’t Daesae Construction say that they could build a reservoir in the valley beyond that rocky mountain within a year?
If it fails, he said he would pay twice the construction cost.
That bastard, Chansu, made such a crazy promise.
Fortunately, after several trials and errors, it was found out that this is because it is a geological mixture of soft sandstone and hard granite.
In the end, they had no choice but to blow away the soft sandstone layer by detonating explosives at the forefront, pull out rocks that were at risk of falling rocks with a crowbar in advance, and push heavy equipment to the exposed hard granite to pave the way.
In other words, as manpower drills through a safe area little by little, heavy equipment widens the road there and climbs the mountain. There was a reason why Chan-soo went all the way to Gangwon-do and brought a demolition expert.
“crazy! Are you going to make me look at these words?”
Sambok trembled in front of the banner.
No matter how hard it was, the reason why I couldn’t let go of the weight was all because of this banner.
“Cut the road to the end of the rocky mountain.”
“There is a better life out there.”
I just thought it was a normal thing to do when I was writing on a banner with a brush. Chansu told me to hang a banner at the site, so I just followed the instructions.
However, it wasn’t like that when I shouted slogans together with the staff. I couldn’t contain my overflowing emotions.
Then, in the end, I was doing this several times every day with a forklift.
“Did everyone have a good lunch?”
“Yeah!”
“Everyone shout! A better life is out there!!!”
“There is a better life out there!!!”
Sambok clearly understood the reason why everyone shouted together when Chansu was tired.
No matter how hard it is, if you point to the top of the mountain and shout together, your strength will come out.
The word better life made my blood boil.
It was Sambok who had seen a better life firsthand in West Germany and Austria.
As much as the general staff, I will definitely drag it there.
“Cheer up, let’s go!!!”
“Waaa!”
