African Entrepreneurship Records

Chapter 593 Baltekum Shipyard

The name of the first civilian shipyard that Ernst visited was the Bartekum Shipyard. According to the person in charge, Bartekum is a small town in the East Frisian Islands on 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 the suffix "root", "den" and "fort", which are similar to those in South Germany. On the contrary, East African officials rarely name them this way.

 But it is not impossible. For example, the original Rufuma River was the national border between East Africa and the Portuguese colony of Angola. There were many military strongholds, so there were many places with the suffix "fort".

Many names in East Africa are copied and pasted directly from German, so it is not surprising that Bartekum Shipyard uses such a name.

"Your Highness, our Baltekum Shipyard specializes in small and medium-sized fishing boats. It is regarded as a relatively high-ranking shipyard in East Africa in this field. It can produce about forty fishing boats every year, with a total tonnage of more than 2,000 tons. It specializes in supplying Bento Used by fishermen between the Strait of Pakistan and the Strait of Zanzibar.”

The hulls Ernst saw in the shipyard were indeed not large, so the output was considerable, because the civilian ship field in East Africa was not prosperous to begin with.

 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. It would be okay if East Africa was a landlocked country, but East Africa is indeed a country with two oceans.

On the contrary, the shipbuilding industry in the inland lake areas of East Africa is very developed, especially the shipbuilding industry in the Great Lakes area. Near the Great Lakes area are important grain production bases and rubber and other cash crop production areas in East Africa. The export volume is large, and ships are needed. to be transported, then transferred to railway transportation in Kisumu City, transported to cities along the Northern Railway or exported directly in Mombasa.

Or it can be transported to cities along the central railway through branch railways in Mwanza City, mainly for the domestic market. As for exporting in Dar es Salaam, it is not cost-effective unless it is going to Australia or South America, Dar es Salaam The city of Salaam has an advantage, but Australia in this era is a big prison, and South American products are similar to those in East Africa, and there is more competition between the two sides.

“Last year, the total number of registered ships along our coast in East Africa exceeded 7,000. This is the result of more than ten years of accumulation, but we are still far from being a major maritime country.” said the person in charge of Bartekum Shipyard.

Of course, this data does not include the Hechingen Ocean Trading Company and the number of merchant ships on Zanzibar Island. In addition, there are still more than 10,000 ships in East Africa. Many ships on Zanzibar Island are sailing to Oman. Waiting for the flag of the country, and the vests of the ships of the Hechingen Ocean Trading Company are even more.

"Well, exploration of the sea is inseparable from ships as tools, and the shipbuilding industry is also part of the strength of East African countries. You must guard against arrogance and impetuosity, be down-to-earth, work step by step technically, overcome difficulties, and accumulate valuable experience for the East African shipbuilding industry. ." Ernst encouraged.

Baltekum Shipyard ranks not far behind among East African shipbuilding companies. As for the leader of East Africa's shipbuilding industry, Bagamoyo Shipyard is the leader, while the leader in the field of civilian ships is Hechingen Ocean Trading Company. Two shipyards.

Hence, many of the technologies of Baltekum Shipyard are the result of spillovers from previous companies. East African shipbuilding technology comes from Europe, and Bartekum's technology has changed hands again, so it is not very advanced.

"Your Highness the Crown Prince, we would like to make some progress in this area, but unfortunately we are unable to do so. There are only three technicians in our factory, and they are all hired from Austria at high prices. The rest are experienced old shipwrights. But their experience has been passed down from generation to generation, and they are more conservative than innovative, so it is really difficult for us to develop technology. We can barely keep up with imitation."

Ernst: "You don't have to worry about this. Everything is difficult at the beginning. The shipbuilding industry in East Africa has only been developing for a few years. Now the framework has been set up. This is progress. You must first understand the technology at hand. There will be more talents in the future. , there will be no problem, don’t think about getting fat in one bite.” To talk about the difficulties of the Baltcombe Shipyard, it was really difficult when the plant was first built a few years ago. After all, it was very poor. Not to mention how rich it is now, It is also much better than most shipyards.

 Because they are state-owned enterprises, enterprises such as Bartekum Shipyard have also been able to enjoy government financial allocations in recent years, so their development is still very good, at least in terms of worker welfare and treatment.

"The shipbuilding industry has undergone earth-shaking changes, that is, in the past few decades, mainly due to the huge development in power and materials, so you must also adapt to this change. As far as I know, 60% of the people in our factory The core equipment is imported from Europe, so you can start with something simpler. Even if you can't copy it, at least understand the principles, and preferably develop the advantages and disadvantages to make up for your own shortcomings."

 It is indeed difficult for Baltekum Shipyard to develop and design its own, but the current technical barriers are not very high.

For example, Watt, the reformer of the steam engine, was an engineer who was born as a worker. Although East Africa currently lacks high-level talents, there are still some talents with middle school education and have received relatively modern knowledge.

Like many employees at Baltekum Shipyard, in addition to skilled shipbuilders, many newly recruited employees and apprentices have a secondary school degree, or at worst a primary school degree. If they can combine knowledge and work, they can also discover and It solves many problems, that is, the problem of high and low probability.

Ernst then went to several shipyards. The shipyard in Bagamoyo not only included sea-going ships, but also ships used in inland rivers. After all, the city of Bagamoyo is at the outlet of the Little Rhine River.

Ernst is particularly interested in a military shipyard, which is affiliated with the Bagamoyo Shipyard and is considered a subordinate unit of the Bagamoyo Shipyard. It studies submarines and currently has no finished product.

It goes without saying much about the role of submarines in the military field. It is already the 1880s, which happens to be an important window period for submarine research and development, because other countries do not pay attention to the role of submarines.

East Africa is not too late to start in this field. At present, the test machine can dive about five or six meters. If we increase research efforts now, can we achieve overtaking in corners?

Ernst plans to make submarine research and development independent and make it a key project of the East African Navy. He will tap more talents from the German region, and 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 exceeds 500 meters and the deepest exceeds 1,470 meters, second only to Lake Baikal, which is an important lake in the Soviet Union. Nuclear submarine experimental base.

Except for the depth of Lake Solon, which is slightly worse than Lake Baikal, all other conditions are better than Lake Baikal. After all, Lake Baikal’s external connections in Siberia are all dependent on the Siberian Railway, and the area where Lake Solon is located is the hinterland of East Africa, and the future infrastructure will not be sufficient. Kigoma, Bujumbura, and Mbeya are all important cities in East Africa. Mbeya is the current heavy industry center in East Africa and can provide support for submarine research at any time.

 (End of this chapter)