Chapter 433 Navigation of the Suez Canal
In Egypt, the Suez Canal has also reached a critical moment. After nine years of construction, it is finally coming to an end.
This time, there was no stoppage in the middle, and there was no shortage of labor. France and Austria jointly built the Grand Canal, but the British failed to make trouble, but instead made their Egyptian cotton planting plan aborted.
There is no other reason why the construction took so long. The main reason is that the depth of the canal is four meters higher than the original design depth of the Suez Canal.
Later, in the actual construction, the engineer sent by the Austrian side asked to ensure that it was safe, and put it down another two meters.
As the depth increases, the width naturally increases accordingly, and the amount of engineering also increases accordingly. In the age of lack of machinery, the increased amount of earthwork is not a small project.
The increase in the amount of engineering has also increased the construction cost. The original Suez Canal was finally opened after several twists and turns, and the cost was as high as 18.6 million pounds. Now the cost is as high as 37.7 million pounds without navigation.
The rising cost has driven the stock of the Suez Canal all the way down, and many people doubt whether the canal can pay off.
This just happened to be cheaper for Franz, and he took the offer when someone sold the stock. Anyway, you can't lose, it's just a matter of time.
It was because of him, the pick-up man, that the Suez Canal stock did not fall into the price of cabbage. Of course, falling below the issue price is inevitable.
After issuing two additional stocks, seeing that the stock was in a downturn, it seemed that it could not be sold. The Canal Company directly mortgaged the property rights of the Canal to the bank.
It was cold in the financial market. Fortunately, it was a strategic project, which was regarded by the French and Austrian governments as an opportunity to break the British monopoly on the Strait of Gibraltar.
Banks are only willing to provide loans under the guarantee of the two governments. Franz originally planned to take over the business himself, but was opposed by the bank staff.
After all, the outside world is not optimistic about the Canal Company, and issuing such a huge loan will easily trigger a chain reaction. If it affects the Royal Bank's ability to absorb deposits, it will be troublesome.
Remember that most of Franz's investments were actually made with loans. In this context, ensuring the Royal Bank's storage capacity is crucial.
Loaning from his own bank, the cost of capital he needs to pay is just the deposit interest rate. In fact, it is even lower than the deposit rate.
Funds are used on a rolling basis. Even if the money is spent, it is often transferred from one account to another and not withdrawn from the bank.
In this era, there is no UnionPay, and inter-bank transfers need to be done by yourself. In general, very few people do this.
This is the opportunity, and the bank can recycle a single fund many times. As long as there is no financial crisis or run on the bank, there is no problem in doing it dozens of times.
Even the financial crisis has little impact on Royal Bank, and credibility is a good thing.
The Royal Bank has collected a lot of gold over the years, some of it has been sold, and most of it has been stored. There is also a reserve of 100 tons of gold at its Vienna headquarters.
This is the reputation of Royal Bank. On the surface, one hundred tons of gold is a lot, but the actual value is only 27,322,400 Aegis.
It just sounds domineering, making people feel rich and secure.
Of course, the most reassuring thing is the "Royal" brand. As long as the royal family does not fail, the Royal Bank will not fail. This is equivalent to Franz's face, it is impossible to make it bankrupt.
Most of the funds are invested by themselves, and naturally less funds are used for lending. In fact, Royal Bank has so far not been a small business.
To put it simply, the loan business of less than 100,000 Aegis is not accepted here, and no collateral is accepted. The deposit limit is much lower, and Five Aegis can open an account.
There is no way, this era is limited by technology, and all business is handled manually. The deposit is okay, but the problem is the loan review, and it is very troublesome to investigate the information.
Royal Bank makes small loans, except for policy loans entrusted by the government. The government is responsible for guaranteeing the repayment ability of customers, and these problems naturally do not exist.
The real small loan is only done by small and medium-sized banks in this era, and the interest is much higher than that of ordinary commercial loans. I didn't make much money, and the infamy of usury came first.
The positioning of Royal Bank from the beginning was to serve Franz himself. He is not keen on lending, and most of his business is conservative.
In this way, Royal Bank's personal loan business has developed very well, but there are not many bad debts. Generally speaking, it is only a small profit.
Most of the profits come from corporate loans, government loans, and international loans. These large comprehensive loans and small banks do not change, and the market competition is much smaller.
Interest rates may be lower, but the management costs that need to be invested are also lower, and the profits are more lucrative.
Especially for international loans, the apparent interest rate is not high, but the actual income is very rich.
For example: handling fees, exchange fees, usually three or four points. When a loan is issued, the principal and interest that should be repaid in the first year are generally deducted, and some loans are deducted at one time for three to five years.
Often banks also sell products part-time, especially limited-use loans. Banks can bundle a certain amount of goods to customers and earn the difference.
Generally speaking, if a loan of 10 million Aegis is issued to the outside world, the debtor can get 9 million Aegis, even if it is a conscience loan. If the conditions are harsh, it is not impossible to get a loan with a direct discount of 50%.
The worst is the installment loan, but you have to bear the full interest. With this kind of loan, the funds actually obtained in the end may be less than four tiers of the total number of loans.
International lending wouldn't be abhorrent if it weren't for these dubious clauses. Just a few pips of interest is too small for the appetite of the capitalists.
...
"Mr. Lesseps, the canal project has passed the inspection and can be released."
Lesseps was the chief engineer of the Suez Canal, and his main achievement was to fool the Egyptians to send people to participate in the excavation of the Grand Canal.
You must know that this time is even more excessive than the same period in history. The Egyptians did not get the shares of the Canal Company, but only got the right to dividends.
In fact, it is the same. Even if it is given shares, the Egyptian government does not want to get money.
In the original time and space, the Egyptian government only won the annual treatment of 300,000 pounds in 1937. As for their initial 44% stake, who admits this?
The same is true for dividends now, anyway, you won't get the money in the end. Lesseps was able to fool the Egyptian government into actively cooperating, which was naturally recognized by the Canal Company.
Although the canal company pays the Egyptian government a sum of money every year, it is not worth mentioning at all compared with the labor cost.
The Suez Canal was not so much built as it was filled with human lives. However, the Egyptian government itself does not care about casualties, and the Canal Company naturally does not care.
Without being sloppy, Lesseps ordered: "Then let the water go!"
With an order, in the "roaring" explosion, the dam was blown open. The surging sea rushed directly past, and the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea merged.
With a loud bang, the news of the opening of the Suez Canal quickly spread across the European continent, and everyone's reaction was varied.
Delighted, surprised, worried, unbelievable... all kinds of expressions are available.
The Port of Venice, as the most prosperous commercial port in Austria, people pay much more attention to the Suez Canal than other areas.
In the tavern, discussions have already started.
A young man proudly showed off: "The Suez Canal is open, have you heard of it? It is said that it can sail a 50,000-ton ship. Isn't this a joke? There are no such big ships in the world, it's a waste!"
A middle-aged man next to him retorted: "What do you know? That is the maximum navigable capacity. The Suez Canal is located on the main route of Europe and Asia. There must be a lot of ships coming and going. Of course, multiple channels must be paralleled.
Moreover, now that shipbuilding technology is so advanced, it is said that some people are developing 20,000-ton giant ships. If such a giant ship appeared, wouldn't it just be possible to stagger it? "
The young man was unconvinced and said, "Come on, the Suez Canal has tolls, and there are so many boats going through it. It's a big deal to take a detour to the Strait of Gibraltar and travel a little longer, and you won't pay this unjustly.
The real use is still military. We dug this canal with the French. The obvious problem is to get rid of the British control of the Strait of Gibraltar.
As for the Suez Canal Company, I am afraid to lose. To build such a large canal is to run a few warships. "
Another young man walked in and sat down and said, "Philfer, it seems that you need to buy a map and take a good look at it, don't pretend to understand, and show off your knowledge here.
After the passage of the Suez Canal, the voyage to the Indian Ocean has been greatly shortened. How can there be no commercial value? Take Venice as an example, there are no less than a thousand ships going to and from the Indian Ocean every year.
After the passage of the Suez Canal, this number will increase. Perhaps Austria alone has tens of thousands of ships going to and from the Indian Ocean every year, and all the Mediterranean countries add up to tens of thousands of ships.
Even if a ship charges 300 to 500 Aegis, the annual navigation fee income of the Canal Company has tens of millions of Aegis. This figure will also increase with the increase of international trade, and it is possible to collect hundreds of millions of Aegis shipping fees every year in the future.
As long as the navigation fee does not exceed the added cost of the detour from the Strait of Gibraltar, everyone will be happy to reduce the sea journey. "
In this era, living at sea is an adventure. Thousands of ships die every year, and sailing at sea is a risk.
Being able to shorten or sail distances is a good thing for every capitalist engaged in shipping by sea, which means their sunk costs are lower.
Compared with the military value of the Suez Canal, ordinary people are still more concerned about the economic value. From the map, this canal has the greatest effect on Austria. Whether traveling to the Indian Ocean or the Western Pacific, this is the best place to go.
This has already affected the Austrian economy, especially a port city like Venice. After shortening the voyage, it has a great effect on promoting trade.
This is undoubtedly a good thing for those who seek a life here. The increase in overseas trade means an increase in the number of ships coming and going, which also means that the local economy will become more prosperous, and everyone's income will also increase.
Different people care about different things. In Vienna Palace, Franz did not care about the economic impact of the Suez Canal, he was more concerned with strategic value.
Looking at the basic parameters of the canal: the width of the water surface is 138 meters, the width of the river bottom is 48 meters, and the water depth is 15.4 meters. It is expected to accommodate ships of 50,000 tons.
This means that even in the era of dreadnoughts, the Suez Canal can be freely navigable, which has greatly increased the strategic value of the Suez Canal in the same period of time and space.
This gave Franz a sigh of relief, and his efforts were finally not in vain. This value is sufficient in the era of dreadnoughts, and it is not necessary to consider in the era of aircraft carriers. By then, the British should also be in decline.
Looking at the cost of the canal, Franz couldn't help but sigh. More than double the original time and space,
It is indeed a high investment project. If it wasn't for foresight, Franz would not have dared to invest so much.
This huge investment means that it will be difficult for the Canal Company to recoup its investment in the next decade. But it doesn't hurt, the Canal Company is still a golden rooster that lays eggs.
With the development of maritime trade, the future of the Canal Company is promising. The investment in the short term is completely worthwhile, and perhaps the construction cost can be recovered in one year's navigation fee in 20 to 30 years.
In this respect, Napoleon III's courage is also admirable. Without the advantage of being a prophet, he dared to follow the big investment.
On the issue of the Suez Canal, Napoleon III's strategic vision was completely impeccable.
The butterfly effect is really terrible. Without the halo of winning the Crimean War, it should be a good thing for the French, and their emperor did not float away.