In the reception room of Swire & Co., a Chinese maid introduced Nie Yuntai into it, and after respectfully letting him sit down, he went to report, in the room on the second floor, after listening to the maid's report, a blonde and blue-eyed foreign woman opened her eyes curiously, Nie Yuntai's sudden visit made Catherine, the current head office of Swire a little strange, is it for those two ships.

Britain is a major maritime country in the world, both the number of capital ships and the tonnage of ocean-going cargo ships are second to none in the world, such a huge fleet is built by British shipyards, little by little, and the development of shipbuilding industry in Britain can be seen.

Generally speaking, British ships are rarely purchased, most of them are digested internally, but these two in the Far East are exceptions, most of Britain's current shipbuilding capacity is placed on the arms race, more than 10,000 tons of docks, most of them are battleships, cruisers and destroyers, from the challenge of Germany, so that the whole country is jumping tightly, Germany is a land power, after stepping into the ocean, it is also so strong, and under the promotion of industrialization after the complete transformation, it will have greater sharpness than Britain.

Warships and other ships occupy most of the docks, and the few remaining docks also have 10,000-ton fast cargo ships, which is one of the reasons why Swire chose Jiangnan Shipyard, in a sense, this is China's largest shipyard, once had the capacity to produce 3,800-ton cargo ships.

These two 4,500-ton cargo ships are mainly connecting the route from Shanghai to Hong Kong, which is close to China's inland sea, 3,000 tons is a bit low, 10,000 tons is a little high, and about 5,000 tons is the most suitable. Such an ocean-going cargo ship that is neither high nor low can be produced by shipyards in China at all. Catherine's first choice was Japan, but unfortunately the shipyard orders in Japan were also full. It will take 4 months to build at the earliest, so the second best choice is Jiangnan Shipyard.

The first batch of 2 percent of the funds has been allocated, and the contract has been signed, which is less than a month, what are they doing, it is difficult to delay the construction period, within 3 days, it may be acceptable. Once it is more than 3 days, he will definitely have to use the security deposit and the compensation clause.

With all kinds of doubts, Catherine saw Nie Yuntai in the Swire reception room, looking calm, not like she came to talk about postponement, and Catherine couldn't figure it out, in addition to postponement, what else would make Nie Yuntai come to find her, and said a few words of greeting slightly. Catherine said straight to the point: "Manager Nie, I don't know if there is anything to find me in such a hurry, as long as we can do it." It's all good to discuss! ”

Nie Yuntai took out a copy of the text, and Catherine smiled bitterly, it seems that it is still. This article is nothing more than saying something difficult or something, so that they can postpone it. Let's see, but I opened it from the back. Catherine saw a different result, her eyes widened in disbelief, she looked at Nie Yuntai, and asked in a lost voice, "What does this mean?" ”

Nie Yuntai enjoyed Catherine's surprise and said flatly: "Miss Catherine, because Jiangnan Shipyard has received capital injection and technical support, the design and completion date of these two ships have changed slightly, Chief Engineer Pierre and I feel that it is necessary to renegotiate the contract, I don't know if you are willing?" ”

"This!" Catherine was shocked, the things on the information are very simple, mainly some of the technical parameters of the ship, she is not a professional, she can't understand it, but during this time, part of Swire's energy is also on the body of these two ships, and the approximate parameters know that the one in front of her, The economic speed has been increased by 1.5 knots, the maximum speed has even been increased by 3 knots, the cruising range and coal loading capacity have been greatly improved, and even the serial load weight has been increased from about 3,000 tons to 3,300 tons, that is to say, the load capacity has increased by one percent, which seems to be more suitable for the Hong Kong route.

Speed and deadweight are the two most important indicators of cargo ships, if these two aspects have made a breakthrough, it is also reasonable to ask for a change in the contract, Catherine simply calculated, nodded and said: "If this is the case, we are willing to increase the total price by 2%!" ”

A ship of more than 300,000 US dollars, 2% of the total price, that is, more than 7,000 US dollars, this is a lot, it stands to reason that Nie Yuntai should be satisfied, but after hearing Catherine's words, Nie Yuntai not only did not say anything, but shook his head slightly, and after taking a sip of tea calmly, he said: "It seems that Miss Catherine did not read my report seriously, please find a professional to read it later!" ”

"What the hell do you want to do?"

"It's okay, to speak with the facts, our ship deserves a higher price, or we still follow the original standard, as for the construction period, it needs to be delayed a little bit!"

Nie Yuntai's casual answer made Catherine's anger rise up all of a sudden, and she was almost about to have a seizure, trying to calm herself down, and then said in a voice squeezed out between her teeth: "Very good, very good, then wait, I'll go to a professional and see how good your ship is!" ”

"Please!" Nie Yuntai waved his hand casually and said calmly.

The sound of snapping high heels stepping on the floor slab, and quickly left, Nie Yuntai's face showed a knowing smile, there is always a temptation in the talks, in fact, from Catherine's table, it can already be seen that their desire for this ship Cheng dù, sometimes, better and more, can not be the conditions to impress the owner, the key is suitable, it seems that this ship is more suitable, then some conditions, must be opened well.

Before coming, Nie Yuntai has done his homework, according to the usual estimates, the increase in ship speed, load capacity and coal consumption, the reduction of construction time, for the sake of fairness, will make the total price increase between 8%-12%, specifically depends on the needs of the shipowners, in the absence of a reduction in coal consumption, not to see the reduction of the total construction period, just a few basic numbers, let Catherine directly make a 2% increase in the total price, it seems that the total price can be raised to a higher level, perhaps the standard is slightly improved.

1 hour later, Catherine looked at an engineer with a little distraction, the engineer in front of her was not an engineer from Shanghai, but the chief engineer of the Singapore shipyard, a friend of the Catherine family, who came to Shanghai on a business trip by chance, and just needed to identify the drawings, Catherine's first thought was him, and he happened to have time, and after contacting by phone, he came here with the drawings.

It took more than 20 minutes, the old engineer Nari, carefully read the drawings, the first thought is not to believe, in his opinion, this is almost the performance of the 4500-ton cargo ship to the extreme, coal consumption should be more than 30% higher than now, if in this case, can also achieve such coal consumption, then there is only one result, Jiangnan shipyard has made a huge breakthrough in the steam engine, better energy-saving performance, and stronger explosiveness.

But I have never heard of such a powerful steam engine in the world, even if it is a 4500-ton cargo ship, this steam engine is enough to drive some small warships, and some of its performance can even catch up with the steam turbine.

As a senior engineer, as a chief engineer, even if Nari doesn't believe it, he still introduces the whole process of these numbers little by little based on the insistence of an engineer, and honestly tells Catherine, how much input and base level is needed for each number, and the meaning behind each parameter.

Even in the end, all the numbers are put together, if this tonnage and speed are really needed, combined with the comparison of manufacturing time and coal consumption, the total price of this ship can rise by 9-12%, depending on her grasp, and strive to be able to talk about 9%.

Nari's words made Catherine have a deeper understanding of this ship, and Catherine also understood why when she said 2%, Nie Yuntai had such an expression, 9%, it seems that she can work hard here, if she can really achieve this performance, pay a little more, it is acceptable, the route from Shanghai to Hong Kong, some need these two ships too much.

Seeing the expectation on Catherine's face, Nari sighed, changed his words, and directly told Catherine, as a senior engineer, as the chief engineer of the Singapore shipyard, he only told the truth according to the number jù before, and now based on the importance of an elder to the junior, she must also tell the truth, he does not believe that this is the number of the ship, and it is unlikely to be completed in 2 and a half months, not to mention the number jù, the steam engine is impossible, just say that this construction period, even if it is a British shipyardThere is not much that can be done, at least not in their Singapore shipyards.

On the way back from Nari, Catherine kept thinking that Nari's intimacy with him could not lie to him, and the Singapore shipyard, which is a large shipyard second only to India, is famous in Asia, and under Nari's leadership, it can even take over cruisers, which are two completely different concepts from civilian shipyards.

Ten minutes by car, Catherine was seriously considered, and finally made a decision, but she was still more or less affected by Nari, that is, Jiangnan Shipyard may not be able to complete the order, take a better number, and even deceive Swire to replace the contract, so it can make certain concessions on the total price, but the amount of compensation must be high enough, not only to make up for the loss of the completed work, but also to take into account the price paid by the other shipyard, in short, no matter what the Jiangnan Shipyard is doing, The interests of Swire & Co. should be guaranteed. (To be continued......)