Chapter 998 Mud Can Also Be Sold
Donghai Province stayed until the end of August, and the investment project jointly opened by Donghai Province and Fanshi Investment Group to open Hengshan Port finally received approval from the State Council, and the Hengshan Deep Water Port construction project, known as a tens-billion project, finally officially kicked off.
Fan Investment Group invested 10 billion. It occupies 80% of the port shares, and the Donghai Provincial Government occupies 20% of the shares. The entire investment has been put in place, and an engineering team is being organized to settle in Hengshan Port to start the work of removing the seabed silt first.
Although the overall blueprint for the construction has not yet been released, the seabed silt in the offshore sea must be cleared first. This work waits for no one, so Fan has quickly invested in 20 seabed dredging engineering machines. The preliminary construction of Hengshan Port began in a row.
After Fan invested heavily in the construction of domestic deep-water ports and acquired 80% of the equity to become the majority shareholder of Hengshan Port, this matter immediately attracted great attention at home and abroad. Especially when private capital and foreign capital can get involved in port construction and can hold more than 50% of the shares, the interest of foreign capital from all walks of life is very great.
However, domestic experts and scholars also have some differences in understanding regarding the decision that foreign capital can control the domestic port industry. Some are in favor of it and some are against it.
In fact, domestic ports are currently under construction. It also contains a lot of foreign investment. However, from the perspective of investment layout, currently domestic foreign-invested ports are mainly distributed in the south of the Yangtze River, especially in the Pearl River Delta region. Northern ports are slightly inferior in terms of investment scale and scope.
According to Fan Wubing’s observation. This is mainly due to the fact that the northern region is slightly inferior to the south in terms of the level of market economy and the business philosophy of the competent authorities. Foreign businessmen are also very worried about this. However, in recent years, the throughput of northern ports has grown rapidly, so there is no doubt that the battle for foreign businessmen will gradually move northward.
The injection of foreign capital has a positive role in promoting the development of the domestic port industry. This is easy to understand. The injection of foreign capital not only solves the problem of insufficient domestic funds for port construction to a certain extent, but also provides domestic ports It has brought advanced container terminal management concepts, methods and management technologies, improved the service quality of my country's ports, effectively improved the operational efficiency of the terminal, and enhanced the international competitiveness of the port.
China has relatively little experience in the management of large ports and does not know much about the external environment. The port industry is a global logistics industry. The injection of foreign capital can quickly improve the management and technical level of China's container terminals to a relatively high level. The degree of advancedness will shorten the gap with other advanced ports in the world, so that the advanced facilities, operating efficiency and management level of some joint venture container terminals in my country will soon approach or reach the level of the world's advanced ports. At the same time, this This move will attract more Chinese and foreign shipping companies to call, which can better serve my country's foreign trade transportation.
Secondly, the injection of foreign capital also attracts and stabilizes cargo sources and routes for domestic port enterprises.
Improving the port logistics system provides certain guarantees.
As the domestic port industry develops, powerful multinational shipping companies are pouring into China and into China's ports. The main purpose of joint ventures in China's container terminals has shifted from simply raising construction funds and introducing advanced technology to a new height, that is, In the future, port development strategies will attract foreign investment, and port enterprises will mainly consider the need to expand brand effects and build logistics chains.
The introduction of foreign investment will also bring in the popularity of these foreign companies and their integrity in the shipping industry, which plays a very important role in attracting and stabilizing the supply of goods. Internationally renowned large shipping companies or alliances have global shipping and agency networks and can effectively undertake the comprehensive logistics of multinational companies.
Therefore, being able to achieve asset marriage with large international shipping companies and build the port's logistics chain is of great significance for stabilizing and increasing routes and container sources, and maintaining and improving the port's comprehensive competitiveness.
Of course, the negative impacts here cannot be ignored.
Some experts who oppose the decision to relax the conditions for foreign capital to enter the port industry and hold shares say that investment by multinational shipping companies in domestic terminals will make it more difficult for domestic shipping companies to carry out feeder transportation, domestic trade container transportation and terminal business.
The layout and construction of domestic branch lines and domestic trade container terminals are usually based on the scale and needs of regional economic development and coordinated with other transportation modes. Multinational shipping companies choose to invest in container terminals according to their interests. This affects The domestic economic development requirements for the layout of branch lines and domestic trade container terminals are met. It has affected domestic branch lines and domestic trade transportation.
A very important point is that domestic shipping companies are still in the initial stage of terminal operations. As a scarce resource, terminals are difficult to reallocate once controlled by multinational shipping companies. With a large number of domestic hub ports being Equity participation by multinational shipping companies will limit the development space of domestic shipping companies in port investment and operation.
Secondly, when multinational shipping companies invest in ports, they always select sites and layout according to their own interests. This will disrupt the overall size and arrangement of domestic container terminals and have an adverse impact on the implementation of the overall strategy of domestic ports.
It is conceivable that multinational shipping companies obviously have no interest in those small ports. Relying on their financial advantages, they mostly invest in domestic hub ports. Especially after the government is about to lift the restriction on the share ratio of foreign investment in ports, multinational shipping companies Shipping companies will take advantage of their control over these hub ports to increase terminal usage fees, operating fees and other fees, increase the transportation costs of other calling shipping companies, and intensify vicious competition among container terminals.
Therefore, everyone can see that introducing foreign investment to build a port is actually a double-edged sword. Its good use and bad use all depend on the operation.
In fact, the psychological pressure on the leaders of Donghai Province is not small." After all, Hengshan Port is the first large-scale deep-water port in China that is not controlled by the government. If done well, this can be regarded as a very important political achievement. If it goes wrong, Wu Fukuan and others will probably be greatly affected by it.
However, Wu Fukuan's position on this issue is relatively firm. On the one hand, he is confident in the good reputation of Fan's Investment Group. At the same time, it is because of this that he has completely turned to Fan Heng and Fan Wubing and his son this time. Since he has chosen his own camp, then cooperate with Fan Wubing to make the overall layout, and there is no turning back.
In particular, the latest catalog of foreign investment industry guidance promulgated by the State Planning Commission and the State Economic and Trade Commission has decided to cancel the Chinese shareholding requirement for shared terminals in ports. The introduction of this policy is important for encouraging
, Internet investment in the domestic port shipping industry and alleviation of financial bottlenecks in port construction have all played a role in promoting.
Wu Fukuan has carefully studied this policy, and it is foreseeable that after the lifting of control restrictions, the domestic port and terminal industry will usher in a new round of foreign investment. In the next three to five years, foreign investment targets will still choose major coastal hub ports. The focus of investment will still be on the container business with relatively high yields. In addition, some ports in the west and large specialized terminals for coal, crude oil, ore, etc. will also be favored by foreign investors.
However, for reasons such as risk diversification, foreign investors' participation in terminal construction will still be mainly in the form of joint ventures with existing domestic port companies. This does not mean that the other parties have a bad appetite, but that they actually have doubts about some domestic policies. One thing is that if state-owned enterprises are involved, they can often leverage the power of the government when dealing with local disputes and conflicts.
For example, if the benefits and remuneration of the mainland employees you employ are meaningful, simply foreign-funded enterprises may have to operate in accordance with the legal framework. However, in joint ventures, Chinese managers often use the name of the government to suppress them. That will solve the problem.
In fact, to avoid the flood caused by Fan Investment Group, since the middle of this year, a new round of foreign investment in terminal construction has begun to emerge, such as Yantian Port Group and Hutchison Whampoa jointly building the third phase of Yantian Port, China Merchants International Signed a letter of intent for Tianjin Port Phase II with Tianjin Port Authority, Hutchison Whampoa and Ningbo Port Authority signed a joint venture agreement to operate the new container terminal of Beilun Port, Singapore Port Group and Guangzhou Port Authority jointly established Guangzhou Container Terminal Company, etc.
In addition, China Railway Corporation, Maersk Line and World Terminal Company have all expressed to the government their willingness to cooperate in building the Shanghai International Shipping Center.
It can be seen that the strategy adopted by foreign businessmen is to cooperate with mainland port companies and occupy the market before the policy is introduced. After the policy to lift restrictions on controlling rights is issued, they can obtain the operating controlling rights of joint venture ports through methods such as capital increase and share expansion.
When Wu Fukuan and Fan Wubing came to inspect the construction of Hengshan Port, they saw many barges parked on the sea. Through thick pipes, the large-scale excavation and dredging machinery that had sunk dozens of meters into the seabed would be cleared out. The seabed silt is transported up and transported by barge to a nearby open area for processing.
The scene after twenty large-scale dredging machines are started at the same time is still very spectacular. Of course, the energy consumed is also an astronomical figure. Fortunately, Fan Wubing's men are already using the most advanced solar energy currently developed by the company at the beach. The electrical system forms a medium-sized motor unit. As long as it is daytime and the sunlight conditions are relatively good, it can basically meet all the electricity needs of large machinery."
At night, the energy storage equipment provides a few hours of power supply, and then the power is supplied through the local power grid. Because the power grid is used more late at night, it will not cause too much damage to the local daily electricity consumption. A lot of pressure, this can be considered a big improvement.
"Fan's comprehensive strength is far beyond our estimates." Wu Fukuan saw the scene in front of him. I couldn't help but sigh for it.
"Oh, it's nothing special." Fan Wubing shrugged, "When you have sufficient funds for development, as long as you have a little vision and a little foresight, you can do better. The reason why our Fan family develops faster is because we are more interested in all advanced things."
"Deng Gong said that science and technology are the primary productive forces," Wu Fukuan replied with a smile, "but according to Mr. Fan, it seems that curiosity is the driving force behind all advanced technologies."
"That's true." Fan Wubing also said with a smile, "Although sometimes curiosity can kill a cat, more often than not curiosity can make a cat evolve into a tiger. In the past ten years or so, During the development, Fan caught up with many good opportunities and did not waste them. Over time, he finally achieved the scale he has today. "
"I believe that the cooperation between Donghai Province and Fan will impress the world, and Hengshan Port will become the most important hub port in the entire Asia." Wu Fukuan nodded in agreement.
"I am very concerned about this, especially the joke of building the largest port in Asia. As long as we develop here. Most shipping companies will prefer to come to Hengshan Port instead of Busan Port. After all, We have the advantage of good location here,” said Fan Wubing.
"Have you decided to deal with the silt like Ru Ran?" Wu Fukuan looked at the mountains of seabed silt next to him and asked Fan Wubing.
As the seabed dredging work continues, more and more silt will accumulate here. Wu Fukuan thought that there seemed to be no place to pile it nearby. And such a large amount of silt accumulates together. It was indeed an eyesore, but I didn't know how Fan Wubing would deal with it, so I asked one more question.
"Haha, we plan to sell this thing." Fan Wubing replied.
"Sell it?!" Wu Fukuan immediately said in shock. "Who would buy such a thing?!"
Fan Wubing explained with a smile, "Seabed mud is a magical natural biological soil. According to legend, the person who discovered the magic of Dead Sea seabed mud and used it for skin health and beauty is the beautiful Cleopatra, she The secret of beauty is to soak in the mineral hot spring water of the Dead Sea to fully nourish and moisturize the skin, and apply the Dead Sea mud all over the body to improve the delicateness and softness of the skin. If it is sold in small bottles, the market response will be very good. For this reason, we may need to set up a cosmetics company.”
Seabed mud contains a large amount of minerals, trace elements, etc. These substances have accumulated on the seabed for hundreds of years, and the seabed mud has the effect of promoting blood circulation and thoroughly cleansing. Its mineral essence is especially suitable for dry, sensitive and damaged skin.
In fact, deep sea mud is often made into facial masks by some cosmetic brands, and the color looks green. Some fans of sea mud believe that its moisturizing and whitening effects are very significant.
This area is surrounded by shallow sea mud, but Fan Wubing believes that this area is due to historical reasons. It is not a main waterway, and the degree of pollution is relatively high, so the usable value of this sea mud is still relatively high.