Chapter 913 Is There Anyone Eager to Jump Into the Pit?

Zhuoer is the world's second largest offshore oil/gas drilling equipment operator.

It is considered a top giant in the offshore oil and gas field, especially in the cold zone offshore oil and gas field.

If the company can really win this $1.4 billion order from the other party, it will be a huge good news for the Hudong Factory, which is a newcomer in this field, and even for the entire Chinese shipbuilding industry.

But the problem is that this Zhuoer Group is definitely not a good person.

Their classic routine is to place several orders with huge total amounts through several different subsidiaries, and use this as a bargaining chip to reduce the proportion of the down payment.

When the order is about to be completed, they suddenly cancel part of it for bankruptcy protection or other reasons.

The final stage of this huge order is when the capital chain of Party B is the most fragile. If Party B suddenly loses a large order, it will basically fall into difficulties, or even directly become insolvent.

The part that has not been cancelled will also be delayed in delivery.

So a high penalty for breach of contract is generated.

For Party B, the only way out is to sell the products that are about to be completed but have been cancelled at a low price.

But the problem is that the application of marine oil and gas equipment suitable for cold waters is extremely narrow. After going around in circles, it is almost impossible to avoid Zhuoer Company.

At this time, another subsidiary of theirs will take the order at a super low price and kill two birds with one stone.

If the penalty mentioned above is taken into account, a batch of equipment can be obtained for free in many cases.

Even the shipyard has to pay for it.

As for what you said about submitting to arbitration?

It does not exist.

The contract stipulates that the dispute arbitration will be conducted in the buyer's country, that is, Norway.

The result... don't even think about it.

"The final right of interpretation of the legal provisions is with me" understand?

In short, almost all the top marine equipment manufacturers in the world have been cheated by them.

In the previous life, Dachuan Marine Engineering was directly bankrupted by such a combination of punches.

If it were not for the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission to back it up, I am afraid that there would be a series of moves in the future to acquire assets at a low price and then reorganize.

Chang Haonan quickly turned the document in his hand to the back, and sure enough, he saw the clause "If a dispute occurs, arbitration shall be conducted in Party A's country" in the inconspicuous remarks.

Then there is nothing to worry about.

At this time, Li Zhongyi next to him saw Chang Haonan stop and said:

"Comrade Haonan, this... you have to give the Hudong Factory a suitable reason, right?"

These days, the domestic people are not particularly wary of these Western companies. It can only be said that the brainwashing effect of the spirit of contract is still quite powerful.

But then again, it is only 2001, and it is indeed still a long way from the large shipbuilding and offshore engineering incident, so Chang Haonan can't use the sword of the Qing Dynasty to kill the officials of the Ming Dynasty.

Fortunately, Xizhuoer has a bad record even in Europe, so it is not difficult to find some strong arguments:

"Xizhuoer, the company behind Party A of this contract, is the Norwegian company that cheated the Black Sea Shipyard into dismantling the Ulyanovsk through contract fraud a few years ago."

"Old Wu told me about this before, saying that their boss is John Fredericksen, known as the Norwegian shipping king, who made his fortune by this method."

"So, although it is not impossible to do business with Xizhuoer, you must be more careful. For example, in this contract, there is only a 10% advance payment, and if a dispute occurs, it must be carried out in Party A's country. It is obvious that they are here to fleece the wool."

This explanation highlights the truth and falsehood.

Wu Yifan did talk to Chang Haonan about the Ulyanovsk, but as to whether Fredericksen was mentioned in it...

I am afraid that even the former himself has forgotten.

But what Chang Haonan said is absolutely true.

Therefore, it was logical to convince Ding Gaoheng and Li Zhongyi.

Of course, a major reason for this was the foresight that Chang Haonan had shown in the past.

If someone else were here, even if they said the same thing, they might not be so relaxed.

…

After being interrupted by this incident, Chang Haonan also realized that he had been staying in the new laboratory outside the Fifth Ring Road for a while.

Although the place was put into use in advance, it had not been officially registered, so the contact information written to the outside and several administrative staff of the laboratory were actually still at the old campus of Beijing Aviation University.

If you don’t know the situation, it’s really not easy to find others.

Thinking of this, Chang Haonan did not go home immediately after leaving the Science and Technology Commission, but went back to school.

As a result, as soon as he arrived at the door of the office, he ran into Wang Jie who was running up the stairs in a hurry.

“Professor Chang…”

Wang Jie’s breathing was quite rapid, and his face and head were covered with sweat. Obviously, he came in a hurry.

"Wang Jie?"

Chang Haonan opened the office door and motioned for the other party to follow him in:

"Didn't I tell you that you can take a half-month vacation in late August and return to work in September? Why did you come to school?"

He turned on the air conditioner and took out a bottle of water from the cardboard box next to him and handed it to Wang Jie.

Graduate students should theoretically have a summer vacation of about one and a half months.

Although most doctoral students cannot enjoy it.

However, Chang Haonan was not so rude, and he was also worried that his students were too tense, so he would let them take a vacation of half a month to a month depending on the situation.

"Teacher Liu and Teacher Lei have an urgent report to submit to you. I happened to be on vacation, so I brought it here."

Wang Jie, who finally caught his breath, took out a file bag from his schoolbag.

However, it was different from the common file bags.

The opening was not a strap, but a seal.

Of course, it did not have any legal confidentiality effect, but only played a similar function as sealing wax, letting the recipient know that "this thing has not been opened."

"Is it about someone going to Hudong Factory to order 8 LNG ships?"

Chang Haonan naturally thought that Liu Fangping and Lei Zhixing were also going to talk about this.

Although the timeliness was a bit poor, considering that it was sent from Shanghai to Beijing by human courier, the time was not too outrageous.

However, Wang Jie hesitated when faced with this question:

"Uh..."

"Yes, but not completely."

"Anyway, please open it and take a look. The situation is a bit complicated, and it is not clear in a few words..."

Chang Haonan stood up, took out a letter opener from the pen holder, and cut the seal at the mouth of the bag.

Inside was a printed document.

The length was not long, only about less than 10 pages.

So Chang Haonan didn't take long to read it.

"So..."

He showed an indescribable expression:

"You speculated from the attitude of GTT that Samsung Offshore may want to compete with us for this LNG ship order?"

At this time in 2001, South Korea was actually a new player in the high-end marine equipment market, and had no experience like China.

So it was normal to covet this billion-dollar order.

"That's right."

Wang Jie nodded, and then explained:

"In the past two months, several people in the delegation sent by GTT to Hudong Factory have been intentionally or unintentionally trying to get close to us and the comrades from Hudong Factory, and then asked about things that had nothing to do with the liquid cargo tank system, so we paid some attention."

"Later, we and the comrades from the factory security department found that one or two of them might have been bribed by Samsung Offshore Engineering in South Korea, but there is no direct evidence yet."

"Hiss..."

Chang Haonan touched his chin and did not answer immediately.

Commercial espionage is not quite the same as military espionage.

Most of the cases are borderline.

After all, when others cooperate with you, they will involve a lot of commercial secrets in the process.

Therefore, in actual operation, even if the evidence is conclusive, it is difficult to convict.

Unless someone opens the safe through the window in the middle of the night and is caught red-handed.

Since there is no direct evidence at the moment, there is definitely no way to expel or arrest the other party through official means.

If GTT were to change personnel hastily, not to mention that the other party might not agree, even if they did, it would be difficult to achieve a fundamental solution.

Instead, they would lose this definite goal.

So, after thinking for a while, Chang Haonan had to remind them:

"Let the security department in Shanghai keep a close eye on it. Of course, more importantly, you should be vigilant and pay attention to confidentiality regulations."

Anyway, Huaxia was not ready to take on this risky order. If Samsung Offshore was willing to be a sucker, he would not stop it.

However, Wang Jie's brows did not relax because of this:

"In fact, Mr. Chang... I'm not worried about the business problems of the Hudong Factory."

"What do you mean?"

Chang Haonan raised his head with some curiosity.

"What do you think..."

Wang Jie hesitated a little when he said this, but continued:

"Will Samsung Offshore be interested in our BOG reliquefaction technology?"