Chapter 155 The extremely unlucky rescue team
"Why?" Xiao Peng's eyes widened when he heard Fabian's words: "Why won't you let me go back?"
Fabian explained, "There's one more very important thing. You know the Raven, right?"
Xiao Peng thought for a moment: "Is it the Russian coal ship that ran aground in Hokkaido?"
Fabian nodded and said, "Yes, that's it!"
Xiao Peng imitated him and made the sign of the cross on his chest: "Poor Raven, poor Titan Company, poor rescue team. God bless them! But what do they have to do with me?"
Fabian's face was filled with anguish. "Brother, if you're not a believer, don't make the sign of the cross! You made it the wrong way around! It's left first, then right, not right first, then left! You'll get beaten up if you go out like this!"
"Ah? Is it wrong?" Xiao Peng was stunned: "Can I draw it again?"
Fabian shook his head. "Stop your charade! Let me tell you, that unfortunate rescue team you mentioned was disbanded on the spot. Are you interested in them? If so, now's a good time. Having them on board would solve our crew's problem! The Pescara has been waiting for us!"
After hearing this, Xiao Peng stood up and asked, "Where is the person?"
Fabian's face was filled with black lines: "Dude, aren't you too impatient?"
"Of course I'm anxious!" Xiao Peng said angrily, "Finally found someone who can actually do the work. How easy is that for me?"
"Sit down, sit down. This can't be rushed." Fabian gestured for Xiao Peng to sit down. "Have a cup of coffee and I'll talk slowly."
Michelle, who had overheard this, asked curiously, "What do you mean by 'Raven', 'Titan Company', and 'rescue team'?"
After Xiao Peng sat down, he pointed at Fabian and said, "Let him tell you."
Fabian pointed at Xiao Peng and said, "Michelle, you know what we do, right?"
Michelle curled her lips and said, "Of course I know!"
Fabian explained, "Titan is also a salvage company, but unlike us, they are the undisputed leader in their field. They have rescue teams in five oceans and four continents responsible for ship salvage work."
"A different salvage company from yours? This ocean salvage company is of a different type?" Michelle asked puzzledly.
"That's right," Fabian said. "We are a salvage company that conducts deep-sea salvage, and Titan is a salvage company that salvages stranded ships."
Michelle was puzzled and asked, "What's the difference?"
Fabian explained, "Ships at sea aren't just random decisions. Large vessels like cargo ships and cruise ships, in particular, must stay within their designated shipping lanes. If they stray from these routes, they risk running aground and sinking. Accidents are inevitable at sea, and for environmental protection and capital recovery considerations, these stranded and sunken ships need to be addressed. Titan is a salvage company specifically designed to handle these situations. They specialize in large-scale salvage operations. Hiring them to salvage a single ship costs at least seven figures, and some even run into the hundreds of millions!"
"Hundreds of millions for salvaging a ship?" Michelle's eyes widened!
Fabian nodded. "That's right! As for the 'rescue team' I mentioned earlier, it refers to their operating model. Because they're so well-known within the industry, Titan is always considered first whenever a need arises. Their operating model is to have separate 'rescue teams'. The captains of each 'rescue team' will develop a salvage plan based on the circumstances of the shipwreck and then find the right personnel to carry out the work."
Xiao Peng looked at Michelle's bewildered expression and explained, "Have you seen 'Acts of the Universe,' starring Bruce Willis? The people on 'Titan' are just like the oil workers he led in that movie. They gather when there's work to do, and separate when there's no work. They also have many salvage captains leading their own teams, and those teams compete with each other. If a salvage team doesn't generate enough revenue, they might not be needed next time."
"So cruel?" Michelle exclaimed.
Xiao Peng nodded. "The key is that they have too many people, you know? They have at least a hundred or eighty capable rescue team leaders. It's called too many monks and too little porridge. Because they have fierce competition, their rescue teams are full of capable people! There is really no shortage of capable people in this world!"
Michelle nodded: "Then what about the 'Raven' you mentioned?"
Fabian explained, "It's a Canadian cargo ship that ran aground 200 meters from the coast in Yono Town, Iwate Prefecture, Japan. It was carrying a large amount of scrap steel and other garbage that Canada was shipping to Southeast Asia."
"It's really unlucky, but it should be the 'Raven' that's unlucky, right? Why do you say the 'rescue team' is unlucky?" Michelle asked puzzledly.
Fabian explained, "Iwate Prefecture places great importance on its fishing industry, and a garbage ship like this would be a deadly contributor to the local ocean pollution. So the Iwate Prefecture government and the insurance company contacted Titan, hoping to salvage the ship. Titan, in turn, dispatched a rescue team. It's the unfortunate rescue team Xiao mentioned."
"What exactly is their misfortune?" Fabian took a sip of coffee. "Actually, the ship isn't that difficult to salvage. We're planning to clear out the garbage in the cabin and then install fifteen hydraulic pullers on shore to tow it ashore bit by bit. It should be completed in two months at most."
"They were incredibly unlucky. First, the barge they'd rented to transfer the ship's garbage broke down. Then, the ballast tanks on the Raven burst. Just as they'd finally resolved these issues, an earthquake struck the area, triggering a tsunami. All fifteen hydraulic levers vanished. After the tsunami passed, the situation worsened, forcing them to devise a new salvage plan. This time, they'd repair the ballast tanks and the breach on the reef to refloat the ship. Four steel piles were driven into the seabed at a depth of 300 meters. A semi-floating platform was set up between the ship and the piles, with hydraulic levers on the platform pulling the ship in the opposite direction. However, just as the work was done, another earthquake struck, and the five hydraulic levers on the semi-floating platform were once again rendered useless."
"They then encountered a typhoon, a tugboat collision, food poisoning, a crane engine short circuit, a crew member falling overboard, and so on and so forth," Fabian concluded. "The projected two months ended up taking them fifteen. I heard Titan lost around four million. The entire rescue team was fired on the spot, and no one will be employed by Titan again."
Xiao Peng frowned and said, "Isn't this a natural or man-made disaster?"
"'Titan' is short of everything except people. They said that they failed to take natural factors into consideration and that is the captain's responsibility!" Fabian said.
"Then what are we waiting for?" Xiao Peng said, "This is talent! Pescara has been waiting for us for too long! I'll go back after I finish this job!"
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