It's August.

On the 1st, the Hong Kong Polytechnic (Polytechnic) was officially established to take over the premises and staff of the Hong Kong Technical College, with the mission of providing professional programmes and nurturing talents to meet the demand for professionals in society. Prior to this, the number of full-time, part-time day and part-time evening students in the eight teaching divisions of the Hong Kong Technical College was 1,300, 540 and 7,340 respectively.

There are many 'craft courses' that are part of the evening, but these craft classes are not in line with the development of the Hong Kong Polytechnic, so in recent years they have all been transferred to a newly established technical college.

In the coming days, the Hong Kong Polytechnic will continue to improve the quality of teaching and learning to the level of the Faculty and develop in the direction of the University.

After the establishment of the Hong Kong Polytechnic, Lam Chi-chiu stepped down as the 'Chairman of the Preparatory Committee', and the next responsibilities will be the 'Council Committee' and the 'President';

On the day of its establishment, Governor Stanley Trench, President of the University of Hong Kong, Frank Lok Pin Chun, Chinese University Trustee Kwan Cho-yiu, and President Lee Cho-man, President of the University of Hong Kong, all attended the ceremony.

Don't look at the Hong Kong Polytechnic as just a 'college', but people from both universities have found its growth potential because of Lin Zhichao, the biggest financier.

In fact, it is very troublesome to set up a university or college in Hong Kong. For example, a fierce confrontation broke out over the curriculum and philosophy of the Chinese University, and the deans of the original three colleges were squeezed out of the core of power, because their ideas must have conflicted with the British government in Hong Kong. In the matter of schools, the British government in Hong Kong has grasped very only and will never allow anti-colonialism and other elements to appear.

As far as Lin Zhichao's donation to the Hong Kong Polytechnic is concerned, the British government in Hong Kong will be worried about Lin Zhichao's intentions; However, Lin Zhichao did not interfere with the course at this time, because the time was not ripe.

At present, the Hong Kong Polytechnic probably has architectural design, textile majors, mechanical majors, radio majors, etc., if Lin Zhichao wants to interfere, he must want to increase the electronics major, still hotel management major.

Don't worry, after the Hong Kong Polytechnic gets used to Lin Zhichao's financial aid, and after it stabilizes, Lin Zhichao will promote these things.

The ceremony was held in the new school building supported by Lam Chi-chiu, and everyone gathered around the Governor of Hong Kong, David Trench and Sir Lam Chi-chiu.

There are not many jazzes in Hong Kong, and even fewer are in the middle of the day, not to mention that the most important thing about Lin Zhichao's identity is not a jazz, but the extremely influential 'world ship king' in the world.

"Sir Lin, I heard that you plan to donate another 5 million to the Hong Kong Polytechnic, I wonder if this is true?" Dai Lintoe said with a smile.

The crowd was also very concerned.

At this time, Hong Kong's wealthy donations, millions of dollars is already a rare situation once a year, Lin Zhichao is good, for the establishment of the Hong Kong Polytechnic donated 10 million for the construction of teaching buildings; Now it has just been established, and it is ready to donate 5 million Hong Kong dollars.

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "It's true! I hope that the Polytechnic will meet the standards of the school as soon as possible, so I donated 5 million Hong Kong dollars in the hope of helping this college. ”

Principal Ou Huaide immediately expressed his gratitude, and Zhong Shiyuan, chairman of the school board of trustees, also made a speech of gratitude.

The trustees and presidents of the University of Hong Kong and the Chinese University of Chinese suddenly looked at Lin Zhichao with a sense of envy.

Lin Zhichao turned a blind eye, and he also donated 5 million Hong Kong dollars to the University of Hong Kong to build a 'Lin Zhichao Building'. As for Chinese University, it can also be considered in the future, but not today's scenario.

For example, with the donation of the Hong Kong Polytechnic, Lin Zhichao has obtained the naming rights of 'Hong Kong Polytechnic Lin Zhichao Plaza' and 'Hong Kong Polytechnic Lin Zhichao Teaching Building'.

It's interesting.

Dai Lintoe asked again: "Sir Lin is so concerned about the growth of the Polytechnic, so which major is he most concerned about?" Is it architectural design? ”

This is temptation!

Of course, Lin Zhichao is not afraid of such groundless speculation, and said: "Many majors in Polytechnic will be the talent demand of Hong Kong's future economy. I hope to see more majors offered by polytechnics in the future, such as electrical and electronic engineering, which has been in the embryonic stage of development of Hong Kong's electronics industry in recent years, but the potential has been very huge. There is also hotel management, Hong Kong's tourism industry is developing rapidly, I have dabbled in these industries, and I also want to develop, but Hong Kong's talents are still weak, and I hope to improve in the future. Therefore, I am very happy that I am donating money to help students, in fact, I hope to get more talents from Hong Kong to help me, which is a long-term investment. ”

For a while, everyone thought about Lin Zhichao's words. They found out that Lin Zhichao, a businessman, has a very powerful vision, and he is worthy of being the king of ships.

Dai Lintoe also had to admire and said: "Hong Kong has people like Mr. Lin, which is really a blessing for Hong Kong." ”

"Where, Hong Kong is also my blessed land!"

After chatting for a while, the inauguration ceremony finally came.

There were no students attending the ceremony, after all, the school had not yet started, but celebrities came to attend.

Lin Zhichao took the 'Pearl of the Orient' flight to Tokyo, and then went straight to Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard to sign the shipbuilding contract.

Global Shipping wants to build 10 226,000-ton oil tankers in Japan, and as soon as the news spread, many shipyards came to negotiate. Although there was no shortage of orders in the Japanese shipbuilding industry at this time, Lin Zhichao's orders were too tempting, the first was the large tonnage, and the second was the great influence of the world's ship kings.

In the end, Lin Zhichao chose three companies - Sasebo, Mitsubishi, and Hitachi, all of which have the best shipbuilding technology in Japan and are deeply trusted by Lin Zhichao.

The global shipping to build 10 ships of 226,000 tons, the financial pressure is also very large, fortunately, the strong support of HSBC, coupled with the share of the Bank of Japan, is not at all like other enterprises financing difficulties.

At this time, the global shipping, including the ships that are about to be launched, is a total of 7.3 million tons, and only 200,000 tons of second-hand ships remain; These second-hand ships are all from the 40s, mainly Victory ships, so they can be used until the early to mid-70s.

As a result, the global shipping has been completely renewed, and the new fleet is very competitive in the world, and the Greek shipowners have been knocked down.

In terms of the 'net debt' of Global Shipping, there are about 60 million US dollars. However, this time, the construction of 10 226,000-ton oil tankers required an increase in debt of about 200 million US dollars, so the debt increased suddenly.

Of course, the annual profit of global shipping has reached nearly 100 million US dollars, and it is a complete giant enterprise.

Overall, with a fleet worth $700 million (excluding the 10 VLCCs to be built), a net debt of $60 million, and an annual profit of $100 million, this is an extremely healthy company.

In his previous life, Bao Yugang's debt must have been much higher, after all, Lin Zhichao started six years earlier in this life, and his starting capital was more than three times larger.

Kenji Aikawa, president of the Mitsubishi Nagasaki Shipyard, did not expect that Lin Zhichao's inspection would be more than half a year old, and he would not make a move, and he would shock the entire Japanese shipbuilding industry with his action.

So, his face was full of enthusiasm.

In fact, these Japanese shipyards don't know that after the closure of the Suez Canal next year, their orders are simply too late to do, and they generally meet the needs of domestic shipping companies first, and for overseas shipbuilding companies, there is a sense of choice, and it doesn't matter if they really can't book a ship right away.

It is so sought-after that the Japanese shipbuilding industry has contributed very much to the Japanese economy.

Of course, with Lin Zhichao's relationship, it is not difficult to order ships.

What's more, he ordered 10 VLCCs in August this year, and will order 8~10 ships in April and May next year, before the closure of the Suez Canal.

In this way, although the debt is high in a short period of time, it can be paid off almost in full.

"Mr. Lin, do you have any significance about the date of delivery?" In the conference room, Kenji Aikawa asked seriously.

Lin Zhichao took the information and the contract, looked at it very carefully, and said: "The four VLCC oil tankers will be delivered in July, August and October next year, and you are sure that there is no problem?" He asked rhetorically.

Kenji Aikawa said, "No problem! Because you are the first overseas customer to order the VLCC tanker to us, we attach great importance to it and arrange the fastest time to complete the project. ”

Lin Zhichao nodded, the life of the VLCC ship is only 15~20 years, and the rate of return is 20~25%; However, Lin Zhichao implements long-term rental, so the return rate is only 20%.

It seems that the minimum standard of international practice has been reached, but in fact, the seafarers of the Hong Kong shipping line have low salaries and low operating costs, so we can see that the minimum standards are met; Of course, if Lin Zhichao engages in one-way short-term rental, the rate of return may reach 25% per year.

However, although this operation was carried out, there was no shortage of orders in 1967~1973, but it was difficult to survive the shipping trough in 1973~1974. If Lin Zhichao had implemented a long-term charter, he would have been able to sign a five-year contract for his fleet in 1972, which was reasonable shipping prices and more business, and it was impossible for the partners not to renew the contract.

"That's no problem! It was a pleasure to work together and will continue to consider cooperation next year, and I am optimistic about the prospects of VLCC. ”

Kenji Aikawa knew that Lin Zhichao was not giving empty checks anymore, because he would come to Japan every year to build ships. It's just that he is a little puzzled, can 10 226,000-ton oil tankers really be leased out?

After all, it is a very large business with a load capacity of 2.26 million tons all at once.

As everyone knows, if Lin Zhichao didn't know that Suez would be closed next year, he would really not dare to build so much. In recent years, the development has been somewhat fast, and customers in Europe, the United States and Japan have pressed Lin Zhichao's price because of the large supply.

He has a fleet of $700 million, an annual profit of only $100 million, and a rate of return of only 15%; Of course, factors such as interest, freighters, and small oil tankers are the reasons for the decline in profit margins, and 100,000-ton large oil tankers still have a return rate of 15~20%. The rate of return on the Japanese side is also slightly lower than that of Europe and the United States, because it is a 'three-way tacit agreement', and the price cannot be high.

After half a year of investigation, Lin Zhichao finally signed the contract of 10,000 shipbuilding.

A 226,000-ton oil tanker costs $20.5 million.

The cost of a 50,000-ton oil tanker has been as high as 650~7 million US dollars (Japan).

Because a 226,000-ton oil tanker needs only three 56,000-ton oil tankers to build three 56,000-ton oil tankers, which is still slightly insufficient.

If steel is saved, the cost will be saved a lot.

Overall, the cost is okay!

In the future, a 200,000-ton cargo ship will cost 6000~80 million US dollars; Oil tankers are more expensive to build, and steamship LNG is more expensive because the technology is more expensive.

However, in terms of freight, the freight in the 21st century is only at the level of the seventies and eighties, and it is not even as high, so the natural rate of return on shipping is also very low, and even the situation that there is not enough operating expenses.

Not surprisingly, the average rate of return on shipping in 1967~1973 will be as high as more than 30%; In previous years, it could have been as high as 35 per cent, and even in the first half of 1973 it was about 25 per cent.

After signing the contract, the two sides continued to talk.

During the period, Lin Zhichao asked: "I have a batch of Victory ships produced in the United States, and I plan to convert them into container carriers, I wonder if your shipyard can be retrofitted?" ”

Container shipping has entered Europe, and it is time for Lin Zhichao to plan ahead. What's more, he can also take the European route, because he can be registered in the UK.

After thinking about it for a while, Kenji Aikawa said, "The deck and cargo compartment of the Victory Ship itself are very large, which is very suitable for modification. However, the bottom center of gravity of the container ship is the key, and the victory wheel is just insufficient. If Mr. Lin wants to refit, we can arrange for an engineer to conduct an investigation and study, and I believe that it is not a big problem. ”

Lin Zhichao naturally understands technology very well, so he expressed his opinion, mainly in the bottom warehouse to maintain balance.

Finally, he said: "This matter is not urgent, but we can communicate the plan first." ”

Although the business is small, Lin Zhichao has the opportunity to enter container transportation, so he attaches great importance to it.

"No problem, we'll arrange it!"

The two sides had a good conversation, and Kenji Aikawa also asked Lin Zhichao about the prospects of shipping, oil tankers, and even related technical issues. Lin Zhichao is also very talkative, although he did not reveal any core secrets, but he has always been optimistic about shipping, and his views have not changed.

In late August, Lin Zhichao sent his two sons to London and Vancouver to study in high school, the second son Lin Ruijiang went to study in Vancouver, and the third son (Xu Caiying) Lin Ruihai went to London again.

Homestay families were arranged, and Lin Zhichao personally arranged them, which is Lin Zhichao's idea of taking care of the family as much as possible after work.

It's been September when I returned to Hong Kong.

On this day, Lin Zhichao's father-in-law's family came to No. 79 Deep Water Bay as a guest, because Lin Zhichao's two wives are his daughters, so he did not shy away from Tang Zhongyuan's family coming to the house, and even invited his father-in-law and mother-in-law to live in the house, until they also settled in Deep Water Bay, they did not live at home.

Lin Zhichao has been thinking that even if only Tang Caiyun is Lin Zhichao's wife, he will not help his father-in-law too much; It is precisely because of Xu Caiying that he is grateful, not because Xu Caiying's status is higher than Tang Caiyun, but it is not easy to marry the two sisters.

"Zhichao, I recently acquired two properties and plan to diversify." Tang Zhongyuan said with a smile.

There was some confidence in his words, and he didn't mean to ask for advice, which showed that he had sufficient funds and had already achieved a career. In fact, since his eldest son Tang Xianqian graduated from university, Tang Zhongyuan has rarely asked Lin Zhichao about business; And Lin Zhichao will not participate in his career, and occasional conversations are just normal exchanges.

After all, Tang Zhongyuan no longer needs his help, he is already a Hong Kong industrial tycoon, a garment king, and an African textile king, and his achievements are not less than Tang Bingyuan, and even surpass Tang Bingyuan a lot. Because the added value of the garment industry is higher than that of the textile industry, and Tang Zhongyuan's achievements in Nigeria have made him even more influential.

Lin Zhichao asked curiously: "What kind of property did my father-in-law buy?" ”

Tang Zhongyuan then said: "A commercial building under construction in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, and a plot of land in North Point, cost almost 15 million Hong Kong dollars. After finishing speaking, he couldn't help but look at Lin Zhichao.

The meaning seems to say, how about this copy?

I still can't help but want to hear my son-in-law's opinion, after all, he is the real long-term vision.

Lin Zhichao said: "If you buy a property this year, although it is 40~50% cheaper than at the end of 1964, the situation is not very good. Father-in-law, don't forget, will the situation in the mainland implicate Hong Kong? Of course, the father-in-law will not lose money at this time, so make a long-term plan! ”

Tang Zhongyuan was stunned, he didn't expect his son-in-law to think about it so long-term, and immediately asked: "The situation in the mainland will really implicate Hong Kong?" ”

Lin Zhichao shook his head and said, "I don't know, but I think Britain is relatively strong and will inevitably keep Hong Kong." ”

Tang Zhongyuan immediately put his mind at ease, after all, when he returned at this time, there was only one end for these capitalists, that is, to abandon everything in Hong Kong and flee.

"It's okay, 15 million is not too expensive, I'm happy to buy it!"

Lin Zhichao nodded and said, "Father-in-law has sufficient funds, so naturally there is no problem!" ”

Tang Zhongyuan earns so much every year, and there is no problem with tens of millions of cash flows.

Subsequently, Tang Zhongyuan asked: "How is Vancouver, Canada?" ”

As a wealthy man, how can he not prepare for both, Tang Zhongyuan also invested in factories in Southeast Asia and purchased properties in the United Kingdom, although the proportion is very small, but they are all backwards. Especially in Nigeria, the estimated value of more than a dozen factories is already in the tens of millions.

"Very nice! Canada has always been open to the rich and skilled talents, and Vancouver is the first choice for us Chinese immigrants, who only need to invest 250,000 Canadian dollars (1 Canadian dollar is about 1 US dollar) for three years to immigrate. Does the father-in-law have any ideas? ”

Weng and his son-in-law talk about everything!

After pondering for a while, Tang Zhongyuan said: "I am still optimistic about the development of Hong Kong!" However, I still plan to make two preparations, and I will go to Vancouver later to inspect and buy some properties. What, you're going to let my grandson emigrate? ”

Lin Zhichao smiled: "Ruijiang! However, I asked him to immigrate, not because I was not optimistic about Hong Kong, but because I planned to invest in Canada in the future, and it would be more convenient to have a Canadian son. ”

In fact, Lin Zhichao is not necessarily for investment, but he hopes that his seven sons can have American, British, Canadian, Australian, Hong Kong, and Singaporean. It is enough to keep two Hong Kong nationals, in fact, everyone holds dual citizenship, and the sons of two Hong Kong nationals just do not join the foreigners.

But no matter which nationality he joins, Lin Zhichao admonishes his children to always regard themselves as Chinese!

He didn't say that to them except for the two half-breed sons.

(End of chapter)