Chapter 593 Baltkum Shipyard
The first civilian shipyard Ernst visited was called the Baltekum Shipyard. According to the person in charge, Baltekum is a small town in the East Frisian Islands off the northern coast of Germany, which is also the origin of the name of the shipyard.
In East Africa, especially in the east, there are many place names with suffixes such as "gen", "den" and "burg", which is similar to the southern German region. However, East Africa is rarely officially named like this.
But it does exist. For example, the original Ruvuma River was the border between East Africa and the Portuguese colony of Angola, and there were many military outposts, so there are many places with the suffix "Fort".
Many names in East Africa are copied and pasted directly from Germany, so it is not surprising that the Baltkum shipyard uses such a name.
"Your Highness, our Baltkum Shipyard specializes in small and medium-sized fishing boats. It ranks among the top shipyards in East Africa in this field. We can produce about 40 fishing boats every year, with a total tonnage of more than 2,000 tons, which are specially supplied to fishermen between the Pemba Strait and the Zanzibar Strait."
The hulls that Ernst saw in the shipyard were indeed not very large, so the output was considerable because the civilian shipbuilding industry in East Africa was not prosperous.
This can be seen from the eating habits of East Africans. Although East Africa has a vast sea area, the demand for seafood does not match the population of East Africa. If East Africa was a landlocked country, it would be understandable, but East Africa is indeed a country with two oceans.
In contrast, the shipbuilding industry in the inland lake regions of East Africa is very developed, especially in the Great Lakes region. The Great Lakes region is an important grain production base and cash crop production area in East Africa, such as rubber. The export volume is large, and all of them need to be transported by ships, and then transferred to rail transportation in Kisumu City, and delivered to cities along the northern railway or directly exported in Mombasa.
Or it can be transported from Mwanza to cities along the central railway via branch lines, mainly for the domestic market. As for exporting from Dar es Salaam, it is not cost-effective, unless it is destined for Australia or South America. Dar es Salaam has advantages, but Australia in this era is a big prison, and South American products are similar to those in East Africa, so there is more competition between the two sides.
"Last year, the total number of registered ships along the coast of East Africa exceeded 7,000. This is the result of more than a decade of accumulation, but we are still far from becoming a maritime power," said the head of the Baltkum Shipyard.
Of course, this data does not include the number of merchant ships of the Black Xingen Ocean Trading Company and Zanzibar Island. Together, the number of East African ships exceeds 10,000. Many of the ships on Zanzibar Island fly the flags of Oman and other countries, and the ships of the Black Xingen Ocean Trading Company have even more vests.
"Well, the exploration of the sea cannot be separated from ships as tools, and the shipbuilding industry is also part of the strength of East African countries. You must guard against arrogance and impatience, keep your feet on the ground, make steady progress in technology, overcome difficulties, and accumulate valuable experience for the East African shipbuilding industry." Ernst encouraged.
The Baltkum Shipyard ranks in a middle position among the shipbuilding companies in East Africa. The leader of the East African shipbuilding industry is the Bagamoyo Shipyard, while the leaders in the field of civilian ships are the two shipyards under the Hexingen Ocean Trading Company.
Therefore, much of the technology of the Baltkum Shipyard is the result of spillover from previous companies. The East African shipbuilding technology comes from Europe, and Baltkum's technology has been transferred once more, so it is not very advanced.
"Your Highness, we would like to make some progress in this area, but unfortunately we are not capable enough. We only have three technicians in our factory, all of whom were hired from Austria at a high price. The rest are experienced old shipwrights, but their experience is passed down from generation to generation. They are good at maintaining the status quo but not at innovation. Therefore, it is really difficult for us to develop technology. We can barely keep up by honestly imitating others."
Ernst: "You don't have to worry about this. Everything is difficult at the beginning. The shipbuilding industry in East Africa has only been developed for a few years, but now the framework has been built. This is progress. First, thoroughly understand the technology at hand. With more talents in the future, there will be no problem. Don't think that you can get rich overnight."
Speaking of the difficulties that the Baltkum Shipyard faced, it was really difficult when the factory was first built a few years ago. After all, it was very poor. Although it is not very wealthy now, it is much better than most shipyards.
Because it is a state-owned enterprise, enterprises such as the Baltkum Shipyard have been able to enjoy government financial subsidies in recent years, so their development is still very good, at least in terms of workers' welfare and treatment.
"The shipbuilding industry has undergone tremendous changes in the past few decades, mainly due to the huge development of power and materials, so you must also adapt to this change. As far as I know, 60% of the core equipment in your factory is imported from Europe. You can start with simpler ones. Even if you can't copy them, at least understand the principles. It would be best if you can develop advantages and disadvantages to make up for your own shortcomings."
It is indeed difficult to let the Baltkum Shipyard develop and design on its own, but the current technical barriers are not very high.
For example, Watt, the improver of the steam engine, was an engineer who was born a worker. Although East Africa is currently short of highly qualified talents, there are still some people with a high school education who have received relatively modern knowledge.
Like many employees of the Baltkum shipyard, in addition to skilled shipbuilding workers, many newly recruited employees and apprentices have only high school education, and at worst only primary school education. If they can combine knowledge with work, they can also discover and solve many problems, that is, issues of high or low probability.
Ernst then went to several shipyards. The shipyard in Bagamoyo not only includes seagoing ships, but also ships used in inland rivers. After all, the city of Bagamoyo is at the mouth of the Little Rhine.
Ernst was particularly interested in a military shipyard, which was affiliated with the Bagamoyo Shipyard and was considered a subordinate unit of the Bagamoyo Shipyard. It was researching submarines and had no finished products yet.
There is no need to say much about the role of submarines in the military field. Now it is the 1980s, which happens to be an important window period for submarine research and development, because other countries do not attach importance to the role of submarines.
East Africa started relatively late in this field. At present, the test aircraft can dive to a depth of about five or six meters. If we increase our research efforts now, can we achieve overtaking?
Ernst planned to separate submarine research and development as a key project of the East African Navy and recruit more talents from the German region. East Africa also has a natural experimental base.
Lake Solon (Tanganyika) is very suitable as a place for submarine research and development. Its average depth is over 500 meters and the deepest is over 1,470 meters, second only to Lake Baikal, which is an important nuclear submarine test base of the Soviet Union.
Except for its slightly lower depth than Lake Baikal, Lake Soron is superior to Lake Baikal in all other aspects. After all, Lake Baikal's external connections in Siberia depend entirely on the Trans-Siberian Railway, while the area where Lake Soron is located is in the hinterland of East Africa, so its infrastructure will not be bad in the future. Kigoma, Bujumbura and Mbeya nearby are all important cities in East Africa. Mbeya is currently the heavy industrial center of East Africa and can provide support for submarine research at any time.
(End of this chapter)
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