Lin Zhichao and Li Gaofu came to a shipbrokerage company in Hong Kong together, and a foreigner manager named Davis received the two.

Davis is a burly foreigner with a beard, he saw that Lin Zhichao and Li Gaofu were relatively young, and his expression suddenly changed, only to see him arrogantly said: "Do you want to buy a ship?" You know, the shipping industry is a dangerous industry, and if you don't get it right, you'll lose the last shirt. ”

Lin Zhichao and Li Gaofu were stunned, thinking that there is still such a business?

These foreigners are really arrogant, how much they look down on the Chinese!

In fact, Davis also commented on Lin Zhichao and Li Gaofu in his heart - young people, aren't they here to play?

Especially Lin Zhichao, looking like he is in his early 20s, Davis has a preconceived idea, and the two are afraid that they can't afford to buy a boat.

"It's really risky to ship, but doing business is not gambling, and we won't do anything we don't know if we're not sure. Mr. Davis, do you have a boat here? Lin Zhichao said calmly.

Angry and slamming the door, it is obviously useless, but it is humiliated in vain.

Daviston looked Lin Zhichao and Li Gaofu up and down from time to time, and after finding that the two were dressed a lot of money and had calm personalities, he suddenly improved his impression slightly.

But the next words suddenly made Lin Zhichao and Li Gaofu speechless.

"The shipping industry is quite invested, how much money do you have?"

Lin Zhichao could only say frankly: "Mr. Davis, is there a thousand-ton cargo ship here, and we need such second-hand ship information?" ”

Explain it directly and clearly, save yourself from continuing to talk nonsense, Lin Zhichao will not make a promise of his ambition in front of an unknown junior, because Davis is not worthy!

Davis's performance also made Lin Zhichao feel in his heart, foreigners in this era are really arrogant, a small ship brokerage firm, actually doing business like this.

So, did those Chinese customers in front of them succumb to Davis?

Davis was stunned, he didn't expect Lin Zhichao to be so ambitious, and it seemed different from those Chinese customers before; However, he doesn't think that Lin Zhichao is a talent, on the contrary, he now thinks that Lin Zhichao is a stunned young man, don't Huaxia people say 'harmony makes money'?

With his impatient attitude just now, Davis was sure that Lin Zhichao and Li Gaofu were rookies who had just entered shipping.

After thinking for a while, Davis said: "Look at your appearance, you are indeed sincere in buying ships, and you have the confidence to engage in shipping. I happen to have a second-hand cargo ship here, this ship is 1200 tons, built in World War II, very new second-hand ship, and there are many advantages, only 1.1 million Hong Kong dollars, very cheap. ”

As he spoke, he took out a pile of information from the cabinet and handed it to Lin Zhichao.

Lin Zhichao took the stack of printed materials and found that the three major advantages of this ship were listed above:

1. The hull is made of high-quality steel plate and advanced welding technology, which is stronger and lighter than the ship with rivets.

Second, the use of turbines, more energy-saving, faster ship speed.

3. The cabin is spacious, and the capacity is larger than that of other ships of the same type made in the United Kingdom.

Soon, Lin Zhichao found out that this Davis was simply hopeless, bullying Lin Zhichao and Li Gaofu as novices in shipping, and being an idiot when the two of them were idiots.

"Manager Davis, if it was really a high-quality ship built in World War II, it would never cost only 1.1 million Hong Kong dollars. At the same time, there were almost no high-quality ships built in World War II, most of them were built in a hurry, and the welding technology was very poor; Or, after the baptism of war, the hull has been damaged. It seems that you are not sincere in doing our business! Let's say our brother buys this ship, but he is directly sending you money! ”

Davis was stunned, he didn't expect Lin Zhichao to be so sophisticated, this ship was indeed entrusted to him by the shipowner, and he specially explained that if he could sell it, he could give him 250,000 Hong Kong dollars for the brokerage fee alone.

Why is the shipowner so generous, it turns out that the ship built by Britain during World War II is welded with steel plates, but the welding technology is extremely poor, often seepage, after the baptism of war, the hull is also dilapidated, not to mention the cargo, even if the empty ship goes out, it is not sure where it can go.

Seeing that Davis was speechless for a while, Lin Zhichao knew that he had guessed correctly, but fortunately he had done a lot of homework in the past six months.

"Since Manager Davis is not sincere in doing our business, then we will take our leave!" Lin Zhichao got up and prepared to leave.

At this time, Davis paid attention to Lin Zhichao and Li Gaofu, and immediately blurted out: "Xingdao Neptune Shipping has a 1,300-ton ship to sell, and I will give you the information!" ”

Lin Zhichao was overjoyed in his heart and gave Li Gaofu a look.

Li Gaofu seemed to understand, and the two returned to their seats again.

When Davis took out the information, Lin Zhichao deliberately did not accept it, and Li Gaofu took the initiative to take it.

Davis didn't notice anything abnormal, and this time he handed over the information seriously, and his expression was very sincere!

After Li Gaofu glanced at the information a few times, he immediately said: "Mr. Davis, this ship is really too old, 31 years old, not suitable for us, after all, it can't even pass the inspection at the port." So sorry, let's go look elsewhere. ”

Immediately Li Gaofu got up, Lin Zhichao pretended to be angry, and naturally got up, and the two left at the same time.

"Damn it! Waste my time! Davis yelled at the two of them as soon as they left the door.

Walking on the road, Lin Zhichao and Li Gaofu said at the same time: "Xingdao Neptune Shipping"

Immediately, the two laughed!

Lin Zhichao asked, "What does the information say?" ”

Li Gaofu immediately said seriously: "The 1,300-ton cargo ship, the old ship that was undocked in 1918, is a very good second-hand ship. The quotation is only 880,000 Hong Kong dollars, but this price is the quotation of the brokerage company, and I believe that the shipping company only needs 800,000 Hong Kong dollars. ”

Lin Zhichao nodded, thirty years old is not very bad, even if it is a forty-year-old boat, it can be used to run. Hong Kong's shipping, Chinese shipping, is still in the infant stage, as long as you can run, it doesn't matter how old it is.

"In this way, we will separate the Flying Star Island, and then converge, and then come to the door to talk." Lin Zhichao said decisively.

"Okay," Li Gaofu said immediately.

Why fly separately, the answer is self-evident!

Although it is somewhat unethical to bypass the brokerage company this time, it is also Davis's fault first. What's more, shopping malls are like battlefields, and when it is time to save it, it is natural to save it.

Three days later, Li Gaofu and Lin Zhichao met at Xingdao and came to the headquarters of Neptune Shipping.

In the late 60s, it was reclaimed by Singapore, and in the 70s it became a large container shipping company, and then it was sold to CMA CGM (the third container company in the world).

The two were carrying a suitcase containing $200,000.

Because Lin Zhichao, Li Gaofu and others agreed that the purchase of ships would be paid in US dollars, and in the future, they would also pay for the repurchase of ships in US dollars, on the grounds that the US dollar would preserve its value. In itself, foreign currency will be used to buy ships overseas, so Lin Zhichao's request is not too much.

As for their redemption next year, Lin Zhichao believes that at that time, in the era of 'there is a ship and a money printing machine', Li Gaofu's partners will not have any opinions.

The two finally found the supervisor in charge of this matter, and he was still a foreigner, which made the two of them feel heavy.

Lin Zhichao still stubbornly made his intentions clear.

Sure enough, Fei Luo, the director of the foreigner, said directly: "I already understand the intention of the two, but our company only deals with shipbrokers, and all ships are handled by shipbrokers. ”

Although it was a refusal, the tone was very formal and there was no arrogance.

Lin Zhichao put the suitcase on Fei Luo's desk at this time, and said: "Mr. Fei Luo, please let me tell me the reason for the matter, will you rest assured that you will hand over the ship to such a ship broker?" ”

Then, he opened the suitcase directly and said: "Here is 200,000 US dollars, the dream of our two young people to start a business, we are eager for the sea, I know that Britain is relying on ships, becoming the world hegemon, so we are very eager to get this excellent ship." ”

first explains why the intermediary is skipped, then talks about the dreams of young people, and finally praises Britain as a world hegemon;

After some operation, Fei Luo's expression softened, then relaxed, and finally relaxed.

"No wonder, I said that the ship has been handed over to the shipbroker for a while, why hasn't it been sold yet, it turns out that this is the reason." Ferro said.

Then he said: "200,000 US dollars is our price, since you young people have dreams, I will not trample on dreams, and make a deal at this price." ”

In fact, Fei Luo also wanted to sell this old ship as soon as possible, and Lin Zhichao's remarks just now were only one of the reasons.

"Thank you so much Mr. Ferro!"

"Thank you, Mr. Ferro!"

Next, Lin Zhichao took the opportunity to put forward a new request: "Mr. Fei Luo, we are still new to shipping, so I would like to implore your company to overhaul and refresh the hull before delivering it to us." ”

The port of the port has a requirement that ships must enter the dock once a year for inspection, and if the maintenance staff has already repaired the ship before entering the dock, the original 14 days of stay in the dock can be shortened to 7 days.

At the same time, Lin Zhichao's request can be regarded as 'sending a maintenance', and he has peace of mind.

Fei Luo was already impressed by Lin Zhichao's dream, so he immediately agreed happily: "No problem! ”

Then, things went smoothly and the deal was soon officially closed.

The ship will return to Hong Kong (Sing Tao) in about seven days, plus seven days of overhaul and refresh, and it will be able to sail towards Hong Kong in half a month.

As for the captain and crew, the Hong Kong side can organize it quickly, because it has been prepared in advance.

Therefore, when the ship arrives in Hong Kong, it can immediately collect the cargo.

Meanwhile.

Davis, a shipbroker, received a call from Neptune Shipping and was told that all of his second-hand ships for sale had been sold out.

"SHIT, which shipbroker is so powerful!"

Davis muttered to himself angrily.

On the phone, Ferro's tone was calm, so Davis didn't notice anything unusual.

However, when Davis asked if there were any old ships, Ferro refused.

"It's all those two bastards, why didn't you buy them sooner! I still want to enter the shipping industry, which is really a pipe dream. ”

"It is also said that I can't look down on the old ship of the age of 30, haha, it is the old ship of the 40 year, and these Chinese also regard it as a treasure."

"Poor ghost!"

After a while of swearing, Davis finally calmed down, having lost an important client, and it was time for him to find another way to make a living.

"That ship built in World War II, I want to hurry up and find a big boss to sell. In this way, I can make a profit of 250,000 Hong Kong dollars, which is more cost-effective than selling a few boats. ”

Now Davis has almost all the information about this ship in his hands, and if he can't sell it, he is afraid that he will lose his job.

Saturday, June 11.

Tsuen Wan, Castle Peak Road.

Cheung Kong's second factory was officially completed. The factory is three floors high, with an area of 30,000 square meters each, which is quite spacious.

"Each department first moved to the third floor office, divided into 10,000 square feet as an office room, R & D room." Lin Zhichao said to several managers behind him.

As for the production workshop, it cannot be relocated at the moment, because it will affect production.

Only after the factory in Sing Tao is put into operation (expected by the end of the year) will the relocation be the most suitable.

"Okay, we'll get ready right away." Wang Liang took the lead and said.

At this time, he has a strong sense of the great development prospects of Cheung Kong Industrial, and it is a great leap to become the deputy general manager of such an excellent enterprise.

"Manager Sun, your R&D department is very important, the company will do its best to provide you with R&D funds, and all aspects of conditions, I hope you can come up with better technology and conduct in-depth research and development of the entire zipper industry."

"Well, we'll try!"

Sun Tao of the R&D department, a high-achieving student from the mainland who came to Hong Kong, was originally an engineer at the Shanghai Machinery Factory, and now he can be regarded as making the best use of his resources. Even Sun Tao himself was very surprised that there was such a modern and mechanized factory in Hong Kong, and the boss was even more admirable.

There are many technologies for zippers, and there are different types of zippers that are suitable for them, such as tents, large bags, bedding, diving and other multi-functional uses.

At present, the R&D department of Cheung Kong has not yet had the strength to conduct 'non-metallic' tests on the material of the zipper. However, Lin Zhichao will slowly expand this department, and in the later stage, he can really develop zipper-related machinery, zipper materials, special zippers, etc.

Lin Zhichao visited his industrial empire and couldn't help but be proud.

At present, Cheung Kong covers an area of more than 240,000 square feet, temporarily owning two factories with a total floor area of 120,000 square feet. At the same time, the staff dormitory (wooden house) has been demolished and more than a dozen tin rooms have been built for the management and their families.

In this way, the management can work wholeheartedly for the company without affecting the factory environment.

"Manager Hu, how is the situation on the RB side?" Lin Zhichao asked Hu Chengdong of the marketing department.

At this time, the marketing team of Changjiang Business has also been greatly strengthened, and the global zipper market is divided into four large markets: Europe, America, RB and Southeast Asia, with one office in each.

This office not only has to manage local sales, but also to understand local after-sales, competitors, etc. In this era, daring to set up offices abroad is undoubtedly the preserve of large enterprises.

With an annual output value of more than 15 million, an annual gross profit of more than 3 million, and 500 employees (high added value and high mechanization), Changjiang Industrial can naturally be regarded as a large enterprise.

Hu Chengdong immediately said: "The market price of Japan's YR (English abbreviation of Yangtze River) zipper is generally about 0.8~0.9 Hong Kong dollars, and the quality is high, so it is well received by the Japanese market. Our local rival, YKK Zipper, can only cope with it for the same price; At the same time, the zippers produced by our machines are of better quality. Therefore, we occupy 40% of the Japanese market, while YKK zippers are estimated to have a share of more than 20%."

He often goes to foreign markets, so he knows it very well and is easy to believe.

Lin Zhichao said with satisfaction: "Not bad! I regard the RB zipper industry as the biggest competitor, because their industrial level is very high, it is easy to imitate better zipper machines, and the labor is much cheaper than in Europe and the United States. However, the low price strategy we adopted will slow down the development of their zipper industry, which is the pressure we should always maintain. Therefore, you have to urge the major agents to make small profits but quick turnover. ”

One meter of aluminum alloy zipper, the cost is less than 2 Hong Kong dollars, Cheung Kong to the major agents in Japan 2.5 ~ 2.6 Hong Kong dollars per meter wholesale price (0.5 ~ 0.52 Hong Kong dollars per piece); Japanese agents only need to pay tariffs, freight, etc., and the retail price of 0.8~0.9 Hong Kong dollars is still a good profit.

The cost of YKK zippers is 50% higher, mainly due to machine efficiency, material procurement and other reasons;

Therefore, Cheung Kong's low-price strategy has given YKK zippers a lot of trouble.

To put it simply, let Cheung Kong make a lot of money for two or three years, and then everyone will compete! Of course, with the advancement of the times, the zipper market is growing significantly every year.

Meanwhile.

Tadao Yoshida finally invited Matsushima of Hitachi Machinery again, and this time he stabilized his strength and felt more about zipper machines.

Although the development of YKK zippers has not progressed by leaps and bounds in the past six months, at least it has made a lot of money with the automatic rice arranger, and the business has stabilized.

"President Matsushima, these are some of my opinions on the improvement of the zipper rice dispenser and the slider automatic stamping machine. As long as Hitachi Machinery Factory is willing to cooperate, we will order at least 80 sets of rice rowing machines and 30 sets of slider automatic stamping machines in your factory in the future. ”

Matsushima took the information, looked at it casually, and said: "Cooperation is not a problem, but I have learned that there is a Cheung Kong company in Hong Kong, and they have taken the lead in using an improved rice dispenser with a speed of 4,000 revolutions per hour, which is a cooperation from a German machinery factory." I am confident that I will develop a machine that is the same, if not better; However, I am still not optimistic about the strength of YKK zippers. ”

Tadao Yoshida was shocked and hurriedly said, "President Matsushima, we at YKK are the largest zipper factories in Japan, and I have been involved in this business since the thirties. ”

Matsushima smiled in his heart, and then said: "What I said is that Cheung Kong has various advantages, and I am worried that they will defeat YKK in the future, and you will not be able to bring us a large number of machinery orders." At the same time, we also had to face competition from German machine builders. So it's very risky, unless"

"Unless what?" Tadao Yoshida asked immediately.

Matsushima immediately said, "Unless YKK Zipper can accept our shares, we will fully support your plan and start research and development immediately with only 40% of the shares." ”

At this time and then, when Tadao Yoshida approached Hitachi Machinery Factory, he already owned several automatic zipper machines, and monopolized the Japanese market, and there were no competitors in Asia at all.

Now, Matsushima thinks it's a risk, and if Hong Kong's Cheung Kong Industries has a huge impact on YKK zippers by virtue of its leading strength, then Hitachi Machinery may not get as many orders as it wants.

Risk, so that Songdo decided to pursue the greater good.

Tadao Yoshida was already ready to shoot at this time, and without much hesitation, he agreed to Matsushima's request.

In his mind, it is possible to realize his ambitions more than to lose forty percent of his shares.

"Okay, we will immediately arrange to strengthen cooperation, and I promise that within a year, we will come up with the latest machinery, which is better than the German one."

"Yes, we want to be the most powerful industrial empire in the world."

(End of chapter)