"Woo......" Another whistle sounded, and a 72-ton small inland river steamer slowly sailed into the Zhenhai Port wharf.

"I waited for more than half an hour before it was my turn, which was too inefficient." Captain Ventura chattered out of the cabin, and now his small 35-ton steamer has been officially decommissioned, being resold by the river transport company to a crosser. Now the new ship has been launched for just over a year and is numbered "River Yun-007". Captain Ventura was very fond of it, and before each voyage he would work with the sailors to wipe the deck clean, and even the boiler room would be properly cleaned.

"There are not enough berths at the dock, and there are too many boats, so we have to queue up." A dock officer expertly scribbled a few times on the shipping list handed over by Captain Ventura, and then began beckoning his dock workers to begin unloading and counting.

"The town port should have been expanded a long time ago, it's been almost ten years, it's still the same as before. Even the last section of the wooden trestle has not been demolished, and it is still being repaired every year, and I don't know what is going on on the road. Deputy Section Chief Lin, if you want me to say that your Zhenhai Port Authority should collectively write a report to Lu Shang, requesting the expansion of new berths. Captain Ventura said exaggeratedly, waving his arms as if inheriting the Italian nature of complaining and loud-mouthed.

"Hehe, you big mouth." Deputy Section Chief Lin, the dock officer, glanced at him and said with a smile: "How do you know that we didn't make this request to Lu Dao?" If you look over there, yes, it's the west side, isn't there a new berth being built there? ”

The area that Deputy Section Chief Lin was referring to was on the west side of the old wharf of Zhenhai Harbor, where a large transport ship was parked at this time, and the sailors on board were using pulley booms to throw bags of gravel into the seabed. And on the shore. There are more than a dozen heavy freight wagons driving back and forth. Bags of broken bricks, broken tiles, gravel and other construction waste pulled from afar are dumped into the sea. It seems that they are preparing to fill out a pier trestle and breakwater (and prevent silting).

There is no doubt that such a marine project is extremely large, especially when there is a lack of necessary manpower and tools. Ventura took a cursory look and saw that in addition to the more than 1,000 South African laborers carrying sandbags, there were only about four or five hundred Guarani and Italians with temporary identification cards who were toiling to dig for soil, and it seemed that there was no shortage of manpower.

Perhaps seeing Ventura's question, Deputy Section Chief Lin immediately explained: "This is just a pre-emptive person. The mayor of Bo has convened a meeting, and about 1,000 South African laborers will be transferred from elsewhere over the next three months. And at the end of the year and the beginning of next year, a large number of immigrants from the East will arrive, and a considerable number of them will be added to the construction site. By early next year, Bo expects more than 5,000 people to work here at the same time. At that time, the construction of the second phase of the expansion project of Zhenhai Port will be on track. ”

The second phase of the Zhenhai Port Expansion Project is a large-scale, manpower-intensive marine project, which includes a new wharf area to the west of the Zhenhai Port City, and then the construction of the port department administration building, wharf warehouse, port road (railway), steam crane, permanent trestle (and breakwater, sand embankment), lighting tower and other facilities. In addition, the new dock of Zhenhai Shipyard (1.5 square kilometers) was also added to the project by the Zhenhai Shipyard and approved by the Executive Committee. square) to replace the old dockyard, which was becoming increasingly inadequate and heavily clogged.

Zhenhai Shipyard is so ambitious. So much so that they want to continue to more than double the current shipbuilding capacity. The completion period of the new dock is unknown, but it is expected that part of it will be ready for use within two years. The deadline for the completion of the entire large dock (including large locks, drainage channels, dams, slipways, construction facilities, etc.) is expected to be difficult to see in ten years, given the current shortage of labor in China. There is no doubt that this is a plan with an eye on the future.

"How was the lighthouse arranged? I hate sailing in the dark of night, but sometimes you have to do it when you're on a medium or long-haul mission. Every time I was cautious for fear of going off course and running aground or running aground, it was a really bad feeling. ”

"There's a lot of new lighthouses." Deputy Section Chief Lin recorded the amount of cotton canvas that his subordinates had unloaded from the cabin, and said without raising his head: "There will be two new lighthouses on the land side of the town harbor on the opposite side of Baser Island and its waterway, and the one on Baser Island has been completed and lit. A lighthouse will also be built on the island in the lake to the west of Zhenhai Harbor and on the northwest corner of Xiangshan Township on the opposite bank. Let's put it this way, from the mouth of Yazi Lake to the southwest corner of Yahu Lake and Hekou Township at the mouth of the Two Lakes Canal, there will be as many as 15 new lighthouses along the way. With so many lighthouses that the waterway and the four towns along the coast can be lit up at night, the returning naval ships no longer have to be too nervous at night. They were able to see our lighthouse even from far afar, which both illuminated the voyage and warmed the tired hearts of the sailors. ”

"This canvas is a blend of twine and cotton? Again the cheap canvas bought by the poor fishermen. Deputy Section Chief Lin touched the corner of the unloaded canvas, and then noted on his cargo entry record. After he finished writing, he looked up and smiled at Ventura again, and continued the topic just now: "Not only the new lighthouse, I heard that the Hyundai factory is unlucky again, and the upper authorities gave them the order to develop a lighthouse ship. Ask them to get the design done as soon as possible, and then make a prototype boat. This kind of lighthouse boat is needed in many places in our country, such as some shallow areas off the mouth of Duck Lake, some reef areas off the coast of Oriental Port, and some shallow areas in Duck Lake that are easy to run aground, etc. It is too difficult and expensive to build lighthouses in these places, so there is an urgent need for some large lighthouse ships that can withstand wind and waves to guide the course and mark the course to improve navigation safety. ”

"That's great news." Captain Ventura smiled and said, "If all this can be realized, Zhenhai Port will surely become the most beautiful, safest, and most modern port in the country, nay, in the whole world." ”

"I don't dare to say what about the ports in other places, but Zhenhai Port is already one of the best among the three large seaports in China." Deputy Section Chief Lin said in a slightly boastful tone. As one of the early settlers of Zhenhaigang, they all grew up with Zhenhaigang, and their children grew up watching the tall hulls of naval battleships in the harbor every day, so they have a very affectionate affection for this prosperous new port, and their tone is always with a faint sense of pride.

"According to the data as of June this year, the total tonnage of various large merchant vessels in China (excluding fishing boats, military ships, special ships for immigrants and some special ships) has reached 36,900 tons. Among them, the total tonnage of merchant ships registered in Zhenhai Port is 25,100 tons, accounting for 68%, far exceeding the 25% of the second place Dongfang Port. This number is not a nonsense from me, but a document issued by the Ministry of Communications that is written in black and white. Deputy Section Chief Lin said proudly.

Speaking of shipping in the East Coast Republic of China today, we might as well count the number of ships of various sizes in the country today. As of June of this year (1645), the country (including overseas colonies) had a total of 152 ships of various sizes, including 24 small and medium-sized fishing boats, 55 small inland steamboats (including 35-ton and 72-ton specifications), 9 special ships (dredgers, whaling ships, special ships for immigrants), 34 merchant ships (flute-type ships), 10 steam engine sailing ships, and the remaining 20 were all warships.

The number of registered full-fledged seafarers also exceeds 1,800 (not including the navy), which is considered to be the number one in the New World, and it can even be said to be second to none. It's just that compared to the scale of the 16,000 ships in the Netherlands, it is a little inadequate, but fortunately, the East Coasters currently have 4 powerful battleships that have been transformed by steam technology, and there are also a bunch of fast cruisers, frigate gunboats or something, plus the key geographical location they are in, the general enemy really does not dare to provoke them easily, otherwise their sea routes are likely to be blown up by the East Coasters in the middle of the way.

As the government also attaches more and more importance to shipping and invests more and more, domestic shipbuilding, port and shipping, canals, wharves, seafarer training and other industries will usher in a period of rapid development. This is indeed a very rare opportunity for many people.

After handing over the canvas for the transfer, Captain Ventura instructed his crew not to leave the dock too far, and then he himself walked through the dock industrial area towards the city. The vicinity of the wharf is basically a number of supporting factories, including the anchor chain factory with tall chimneys, the coop factory with the sound of sawing, the labor-intensive rope factory, the canvas factory with special textile machines to weave high-density cotton cloth, and even some glass can factories that supply the navy with all kinds of food for the voyage.

These supporting manufacturers that rely on the Zhenhai Shipyard to survive have been rectified with an iron fist by the current Yazihu District Commissioner and the former Prime Minister of the Government Council, and have been regulated a lot. Some small workshop owners who lack funds, lack of technical ability, or have evaded taxes have been dismissed or even sentenced, thus greatly avoiding disorderly competition. The rest of the private workshop owners, who were well-managed, of good quality, and had no record of violating the law, received high-quality, low-interest loans from the United Industrial and Industrial Credit Bank to upgrade their machinery, train workers, and recruit skilled workers.

Supporting manufacturers do not form a climate, and Zhenhai Shipyard will not do much after all. This is a whole industrial chain, all of which are indispensable. More than a dozen factories and thousands of industrial workers in the upstream and downstream must ensure that they can complete their jobs qualifiedly, so that this shipbuilding industry agglomeration can usher in real high-speed development. At present, Zhenhai Shipyard and its series of supporting manufacturers are undoubtedly on the right path. (To be continued......)