Greece’s Roman Road

After returning to Athens from Albania, Constantine and Costebro went to visit the Athens shipyard.

With the development of the Congolese colony, the demand for ships in Greece remains high, while the Greek shipbuilding industry is very weak.

The Athens Shipyard is located near the port of Piraeus.

Under the leadership of the shipyard manager Ravenna, the two entered the No. 1 dock to visit a bulk carrier belonging to the Greek Congolese Corporation under construction.

I saw the steel frames on both sides of the dock. Workers stood on them, holding tools in their hands, and working around the hull of the prototype. The strong flames produced by welding made people's eyes sore.

Constantine, who was wearing a helmet, resisted the discomfort of his eyes and asked, "Ravenna, how much displacement does this ship have? Where do the boilers and steam engines you use to make ships, as well as the propellers come from? ?"

"The ship is about 3,500 tons. As for the coal-fired boiler and steam engine, as well as the propeller, they are all imported from England," Ravenna replied awkwardly.

These key components are all imported from the United Kingdom, and the Athens shipyard is responsible for building a hull and assembling it. There is no technical content at all.

"What are your shipyard's orders?" Constantine said with a frown.

"In addition to some bulk carriers, our bed factory will also build some 100-ton fishing boats for some Greek fishermen," the manager of Ravenna replied embarrassedly.

As the largest shipyard in Greece, Athens Shipyard does not live up to its name.

After walking out of the shipyard, after a moment of silence, Constantine asked curiously, "Greece is also a shipping power, why is our shipbuilding industry so weak?"

Costerbloom also sighed and said: "Greece is indeed a big country in the maritime industry, but the merchant ships in the hands of Greek shipowners are all purchased from abroad, especially the United Kingdom. The British shipbuilding industry is developed and the price of ships is low. Industry has only begun to develop in recent years, and in industries such as shipbuilding, Greece is naturally very backward.”

"In recent years, ocean-going ships have been developing towards large-scale development. I know that your Greek Congolese Corporation has a fleet of 100,000 tons of total tonnage, which is mainly responsible for the route from Congo to Europe." Constantine looked at Costebrough said.

"It's true that the bigger the ship, the lower the transportation cost. Everyone naturally likes to use the larger tonnage ship for transportation. The large-scale cargo ship is indeed the trend of the shipping industry now," Costerbrother said.

"Since this is the case, decommission your ships with serious aging and high operating costs, and hand over the orders for building new ships to the Athens Shipyard."

"Manager Ravenna, don't be too happy, the technical level of your Ravenna shipyard should also be improved."

"You should also try to produce those ship subsystems with high technical requirements," Constantine said to Ravenna.

In fact, the current shipyards do not require high technical level, but do some assembly work. The real winners in the shipbuilding industry are those ship subsystem providers, such as coal-fired boilers, propellers, and steam engine manufacturers, and shipyards are not only profitable Low, the shipyard itself is nothing but hard-earned money, and even in the pre-fearless era when everyone was scrambling to expand the navy, the profit of the shipyard was generally not more than 25%.

Moreover, the bed builder also needs to take a lot of risks. After all, the current ship construction is paid in installments according to the stage of construction. If there is an accident in the middle, the ship buyer cannot or is unwilling to pay any more, and those who are still on the slipway are still on the slipway. If there are ships under construction, the shipyard will be in a dilemma, either find a new buyer, and the shipyard will build it, or the semi-finished ship can only be dismantled.

The reason why Constantine paid attention to the shipbuilding industry in Greece was also determined by the actual situation of Greece.

Greece is a peninsula country with a long and narrow coastline and an export-oriented economy. Greece itself is also a big country in the shipping industry. Under these conditions, it is a pity that Greece does not develop the shipbuilding industry.

"His Royal Highness, the biggest problem in the Greek shipbuilding industry is actually the steel production in Greece," the manager of Ravenna said helplessly.

"You also know that the shipbuilding industry needs to consume a lot of steel, and Greece's annual steel production is not high, just like the cargo ship with a displacement of about 3,500 tons on the slipway. Such a large ship will consume three thousand tons of steel"

"And how much is Greece's annual steel production? 200,000 tons," Ravenna complained.

"Every time the purchasers of our shipyard go to the steel plant to place an order, the manager of the steel plant, Scalloy, is reluctant to accept the order. Therefore, our shipyard is also trying to survive, and will produce some hundred tons for the fishermen in Greece. Small fishing boats that are not available, mainly used for offshore fishing”

"As far as I know, the government is going to carry out large-scale railway construction in the near future. As the only steel company in Greece, the products will be in short supply in the near future. An important project such as railway construction will definitely consume a considerable part of the steel plant's production capacity. "

After a while, he went back to the issue of resource shortage.

"The problem of steel shortage always needs to be solved. Therefore, your shipyard should also prepare for upgrading and transformation. It is precisely because of the shortage of resources in Greece that a shipyard like you has no technical content at all, and the added value of product technology is low, so you have to to an adequate supply of resources”

"It is impossible for Greece to rely on imported ships to meet its shipping needs"

"Besides, with such backward technology as you, it's impossible to take orders for the Navy's warships," Constantine said.

It is well known that the Turkish Navy took a huge advantage of buying warships: in the history of the original time and space, the British confiscated the two super-dreadnought ships purchased by the Ottoman Empire and built in full before World War I, and entered the British Navy directly.

When a weak country buys warships from a strong country, not only does it cost a lot of money, but you are likely to be trapped.

For example, the two warships Zhenyuan and Dingyuan purchased by the Qing Dynasty from Germany are test products of others. The Germans have tested many new technologies on these two warships~www.novelmt.com~ The cost will be paid for by the Qing Dynasty.

Not only did I spend a lot of money, but I couldn't buy good things.

Greece, a country, is also unavoidable when purchasing warships.

In the original historical time and space, Greece purchased the battleship Salamis from Germany. In July 1913, the Salamis officially started construction. The original plan was to hand it over to Greece two years later.

At the end of 1914, the battleship Salamis was launched. However, the guns originally ordered in the United States, due to the outbreak of the war, the United States refused to send the weapons to Germany, on the grounds that they were worried that Germany would use these weapons in the war.

As a result, it was so delayed that until the end of the war, the Greek and German Völkern shipyards were still arguing.

A lot of money was spent, and Greece did not even see the shadow of the battleship.

Therefore, even if it is a shipyard in Greece, the technical level can only build one hull, and it is good to be able to assemble the various subsystems of the warship.

It is nothing more than a slower time and a lower quality, but the risk is low, and at worst, it will not be directly requisitioned by the British for its own warships like Turkey.

Hearing what Constantine said about the naval warships, Manager Ravenna's eyes lit up and said, "Your Highness, if our shipyard can get an order from the Navy, then the shipbuilding technology will definitely improve greatly."

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