Chapter 687 Blocked Canal

Ah San is always competing with Dongfang. Now, Dongfang has entered the era of stealth aircraft. Both the navy and the air force will be equipped with a batch of them. How can Ah San stand it?

Ah San is definitely looking forward to getting a stealth machine, but it is not easy for them to purchase it. They cannot join the American plan, so they can only go to Da Mao.

Much of Asan’s military equipment is provided by Mao. Even the Navy’s self-developed Delhi-class destroyers are armed with Mao’s weapons. The Army has T-90 tanks, and the Air Force has a large number of Sukhoi and MiG aircraft. , as a traditional Da Mao user, Asan is the most suitable person to purchase Da Mao weapons and equipment.

 Now, if Ah San wants to obtain a stealth machine, he has no other choice but to cooperate with Da Mao.

“Mr. Qin, you are right, we can indeed find Asan to invest!” Simonov nodded.

Although heavy stealth fighters cannot be exported casually, otherwise it will cause technical leaks, but if the target is Asan, there is not much of a problem. After all, nuclear submarines can be leased to Asan, and Asan cannot be copied anyway.

 “I wish you success.” Qin Tao said.

At this moment, Zaitsev hurriedly walked in from outside, walked up to Nikolay, and whispered a few words in his ear.

 “What? Who did it?” Nicholas’s voice was loud and immediately attracted the attention of everyone.

Looking at a pair of doubtful eyes, Nicholas said: "This is not a secret. Soon the whole world will know that a 200,000-ton Tropic Glory oil tanker ran aground in the Suez Canal and was completely blocked. route."

What?

The Suez Canal is blocked?

This news came so suddenly, everyone was surprised, and then they looked at Qin Tao.

 That’s right, they were all looking at Qin Tao at this time! This made Qin Tao very angry. What do you mean? How could I do such an outrageous thing? If this is instigated by someone behind the scenes, to put it simply, it is a provocation to the pyramid countries; to put it more complexly, it is threatening the economic development of the entire world.

"The Suez Canal is blocked, which is good for Da Mao. Your Arctic shipping route just has the opportunity to develop." Qin Tao said.

Don't put this **** basin on your head, otherwise you will have to become the public enemy of the world. Although Qin Tao has hinted it several times, it is just a hint, but he has never taken any action. The matter has nothing to do with him.

“That’s right!” Nikolai said: “The Suez Canal is just a bell mouth and it’s too dangerous. It’s best to take our Arctic route! Now, taking this opportunity, we welcome outside merchant ships to use our Arctic route!”

“I don’t know how many days the traffic jam will last. I think our domestic shipowners will choose the Arctic route. It’s just that on this route, we need the help of our icebreakers,” Qin Tao said.

“Of course, no problem, we provide icebreaking services at the best price. The cost of the entire route is one hundred thousand US dollars!” Nikolai said.

The Arctic route was opened last time, but the natural gas ship in the South Kimchi country had an accident, and the route was shelved. Although the reason was that the shipbuilding quality of the South Kimchi country was not up to standard, everyone is still full of doubts about the Arctic route.

 Now, the opportunity has finally come.

The Suez Canal is blocked, and the advantage is for Da Mao. Therefore, even if countries are suspicious, they should also doubt Da Mao, and no one will doubt Da Mao at all. Anyone who dares to complain will wave his fist at Da Mao.

The whole world's eyes are on the Suez Canal, which, like the Panama Canal, is a major artificially dug sea channel. But since the Panama Canal only connects North and South America, in terms of importance, the Suez Canal is definitely more important.

Energy from the Middle East must be transported to Europe through the canal, industrial products from Europe must be transported to the Middle East and East Asia through the canal, and industrial products from East Asia must also be transported to Europe. The Suez Canal is the first choice.

This canal is like a blood clot, slowing down the entire world's trade. But now, the Tropical Glory has completely blocked this blood vessel.

Viewed from space, the cargo ship Tropical Glory did not completely cross over and block the entire shipping route. However, its bow had already poked to the left and was raised to a certain height. Fortunately, the river bottom was relatively soft and did not cause damage to the bow. Rupture, if it cracks, the oil will go everywhere, which will be an absolute nightmare.

If you look down, you can see that there is still enough width to accommodate ships to pass on its right side. However, no ship dares to pass because the Suez Canal has been a one-way street since it was established. Of course, it can only pass in one direction. Yes, small boats of several hundred tons are no problem, but ships of tens of thousands of tons or hundreds of thousands of tons must not be tried.

This ship blocked the entire shipping route, so other cargo ships had to wait. Just behind this tanker, there were several cargo ships waiting. As for the Red Sea behind, there were more and more cargo ships. .

 On the Mediterranean side, there are also ships waiting to pass. As time goes by, more and more ships will be blocked here.

"Come on, cheers!" In a secluded bar, Nicholas raised his glass and said excitedly to Qin Tao: "This is simply God helping us. Now that the Arctic shipping route is open, we can also find some extra money. means."

"Yes, this Tropical Glory is really unfortunate. I don't know how many days it will be blocked. If it can be blocked for ten days and a half, that would be great. The same is true for the Pyramid Country. They are blocking the canal. They are reluctant to build a bigger canal due to the cost," Qin Tao said.

This sentence is somewhat unfair to the owner of the Pyramid State. In fact, since the completion of the Suez Canal, the authorities have been continuously working on widening and digging.

When the canal was first established, the width of the canal was only 91 meters, the bottom was 32 meters, and the depth was eight meters. It could only pass cargo ships of 5,000 tons. In 1956, the authorities widened the canal to 148 meters, 36 meters, and 14 meters. meters, the passage of cargo ships was expanded to 30,000 tons. Construction continued in 1980, and the displacement of ships was increased to 150,000 tons. The most recent widening was in 1994. The width of the river is 303 meters, the bottom is 123 meters, and the depth is 19.5 meters. The canal The tonnage of cargo ships that can pass has reached 200,000 tons.

The last time was in 2015, when the government spent US$8 billion to widen and deepen the canal, and at the same time excavated the so-called "New Suez Canal" 317 meters wide and 35 kilometers long. At that time, it was praised as: "a gift to the world" and "a miracle of the Pyramid State" "The Pyramid Kingdom makes history" and so on, but it was of no use. A few years later, the canal was blocked by a cargo ship again. This time it was the most serious and paralyzed for the longest time.

 In fact, there have always been incidents of canal blockage, and there have been more incidents since the 21st century.

The canal had already been widened, so why were the accidents more serious? This is of course due to how bold people are and how productive the land is.

If it can pass 30,000 tons, the shipowner will order 30,000 tons. If it can pass 200,000 tons, the shipowner will order a cargo ship of 200,000 tons. In short, the shipowner will be stuck with the maximum capacity of the Suez Canal. Design freighters so they provide the greatest economic benefit.

 After all, the number of crew members on a big ship is about the same as that of a small ship, but the revenue from cargo transportation is much higher.

In fact, passing through the Suez Canal is not cheap. A single toll costs between US$300,000 and US$500,000, which is about the same as the gas cost of going around the Cape of Good Hope. But it saves time. With the development of the world economy , time is money. An extra trip will bring more benefits. As long as you can cross the Suez Canal, you must go to the Suez Canal.

"Yes, if they dug the Suez Canal to a width of several kilometers and a depth of several hundred meters, it would be unobstructed." Nicholas said: "It's a pity that they don't have the courage at all."

 This is not a matter of courage, the main issue is lack of money.

 “Come, drink!”

On the surface, the two of them wanted to express concern about this accident, but privately, they were not sure how happy they were that the importance of the Arctic shipping route would continue to be highlighted.

“By the way, how should the rescue work of this cargo ship be carried out?” Nicholas asked Qin Tao.

"Then it depends on how the Pyramid Country handles it. If we use an excavator in the stranded area, it will take several days. If we use our dredger, it will only take minutes. However, our dredger It will take ten and a half days to get there, so you have to be free."

Yes, the most suitable equipment for dredging the canal is a dredger. It only needs to dig out the sand under the stranded freighter. In this aspect, Mingzhou Group is definitely the strongest.

 It’s just that there are many problems.

The cost of building a dredger is very high, and the cost of hiring it is also very high. It's like a wealthy man who lives on the 30th floor and bought a 100-inch LCD TV. He can only dismantle the living room window and hang it in. The TV costs a lot of money. 20,000, but hiring a crane would cost 50,000. A crane of this level is expensive. If the dredger is sent out once, it will be even more expensive. Without a reward of millions of dollars, it will never come all the way.

The Pyramid State will definitely be reluctant to part with it, so they will use excavators to construct slowly. Anyway, the longer the blockage lasts, the more ships will go around and the more ships will take the Arctic route.

“Mr. Qin, please stay in Moscow for a few more days. Then, we will go to the Far East together to greet the first fleet passing through this route.” Nicholas said.

"good."

It was a trip anyway. Qin Tao had long been accustomed to being outside. Moreover, compared with before, he brought his wife out with him this time, treating it as a trip.

etc!

After finishing the glass of wine, Qin Tao suddenly realized something: Will the canal be blocked for longer than expected?

 Damao wants to manipulate this?

While the two were drinking, the canal management office of the Pyramid Country was already as anxious as an ant on a hot pot.

The person in charge, Walid, stood on the edge of the canal and looked at the cargo ships in the river: "What are you waiting for? Where is our tugboat?"

The easiest way to rescue a stranded freighter is to use a tugboat. Just use the tugboat to tow it away.

"Your Excellency Walid, our tugboat does not have that much power. Now we are mobilizing an excavator to dig out the stranded part of the bow first." said Debi, his subordinate.

This is a cargo ship of 200,000 tons. Since the channel was expanded in 1994, the largest cargo ship that can pass the canal has risen to the 200,000-ton level. In the past few years, small cargo ships have almost disappeared, and the mainstream cargo ships are of this level. However, the tugboats equipped by their canal management office have not changed in decades. They can only tow a cargo ship of about 30,000 tons from the stranded place. Don't even think about this kind of 200,000-ton cargo ship.

"No, we don't have time to wait. Let's try it first. How will we know if we don't try?" Walid shouted.

 The toll of the canal is one of the four pillars of their finances. If the canal is blocked for one minute, it will cause a lot of losses. Therefore, they must now resume their journey as soon as possible.

"All right."

The small tugboat came up. Of course, the easiest way to tug the boat is to go around the left side of the bow and push the bow to the right. As long as the freighter is pushed to the center of the canal, the freighter can get out of trouble. After all, the bottom of the canal is an inverted canal. It is an isosceles trapezoid that becomes shallower toward the shore and is the widest in the center.

The two most powerful tugboats came to the port side of the bow of the Tropical Glory. They turned on full power. Black smoke came out of the chimney, and the water splashed by the propeller at the tail. However, the huge freighter did not move at all.

“This won’t work, go backwards and hit us!” Walid continued to give the order.

 Debi's expression changed: "Sir Walid, you can't do this! What if the tanker is damaged?"

 “Put more rubber tires on the outside of the tugboat!”

Seeing Walid going his own way, Debi was very nervous, but there was nothing he could do. The impact of the impact was far greater than the direct push, but the danger would also increase. I really don’t know what Walid was thinking, but since, He is the person in charge, so you have to listen to him.

 Fortunately, in order to push the cargo ship, these tugboats have flat bows. If they were pointed, they would be pierced directly.

The two tugboats rushed forward at full speed. Before they could reach the cargo ship Tropical Glory, one of them suddenly changed direction and wanted to ram into the other!

 The side collision at high speed was very serious. The tugboat that was hit overturned, capsized, quickly took on water, and then sank in front of everyone's eyes!

Since it still had speed, even if the tugboat sank, it was still rushing forward and plunged right under the bow of the cargo ship Tropical Glory.

 The airway is now even more blocked!

 “Damn, what’s going on? Who can tell me what’s going on?”

“Report, our steering gear failed and suddenly got stuck!” The tugboat in trouble had begun to slow down, but it was still circling on the sea. It actually lost its chain at the critical moment!

 It’s over, now the accident handling is even more troublesome!

Walid's face darkened.

 Eight o'clock in the evening, prime time.

“Hello everyone, welcome to the Zhang Zhong Talks program. Our program this time is Zhang Zhong Talks about the Canal.”

Now Zhang Zhong is definitely one of the most popular hosts. The military was originally just a small category and an unpopular industry, but he relied on his humor and ability to make this program a profound one. It is so popular with most people that even some housewives will turn to the channel to watch Zhang Zhongshuo's program after watching Fifth Brother and Little Yanzi.

"The Suez Canal doesn't seem to have much to do with the military, but in fact, it still has a lot to do with it, because its blockage will seriously affect world shipping and the world economy, and there will be economic problems. , military construction will also be greatly affected. In this episode of our program, we specially invited Professor Wang, a well-known economic expert, to talk to us about the impact of the blockage of this canal on us."

The camera turned to Professor Wang, who calmly faced the audience: "In order to let everyone better understand these impacts, I will give you some examples. For example, there is currently a container full of coffee stranded in the Red Sea. Next, , the supply of coffee in Europe will be affected, and the price of existing coffee in Europe will increase. If you still don’t understand this, let’s talk about toilet paper. A container full of toilet paper has also been blocked. Now, various countries in Europe All toilet paper has been sold out in large supermarkets, and at the same time, because toilet paper cannot be transported, our domestic toilet paper factories will also stop operations because their warehouses are full."

“In other words, the entire global economy has been affected, as if the pause button has been pressed.” Zhang Zhong interjected.

"Yes, the pause button has been pressed. According to calculations by relevant agencies, global trade will cause losses of US$5 billion every day due to the blockage of the canal." Professor Wang said: "Therefore, the blockage of the Suez Canal has also caused a loss of US$5 billion." We remind you that if transportation lines are gathered together, problems can easily arise."

“Professor Wang, apart from the Suez Canal, there is also the Cape of Good Hope. Now that the Suez Canal is blocked, can’t we go around the Cape of Good Hope?” Zhang Zhong continued to ask.

"Of course, the Cape of Good Hope is a good choice, but the Cape of Good Hope also has its problems." Professor Wang said: "If the cargo ship leaves the Red Sea and arrives at the Cape of Good Hope, and the Suez Canal is opened to navigation, wouldn't it be a waste of time? ?”

“In other words, the key now is to see when the waterway can be opened?”

"Yes, when the accident just occurred, the canal management office acted a little too hastily. They tried to use tugboats to push the freighter away directly, but it did not work. Instead, it caused an accident with a tugboat. It is said that the tugboat got stuck under the freighter and blocked it. It’s tighter. Now, they should work steadily, dig out the mud under the cargo ship first, and then wait for the tide to rise. Multiple tugboats will work together. I don’t know if they can pull the cargo ship out.”

“Yes, we are also looking forward to the canal being opened to navigation as soon as possible and normal shipping order to be restored. Professor Wang, do you predict how much of a blow it will have to our country’s economy?”

“Freighters that have arrived at the Red Sea have no need to change their route and can only wait there. However, those that are still on the way can go around the Cape of Good Hope, and those that have just left the port can take the Arctic route.”

 “Arctic sea route?”

"Yes, this route is closer than taking the Suez Canal. Now with the arrival of summer and the melting of glaciers along the way, this route should be easier to navigate. If this route is opened, our transportation costs will be higher. If it is lower, the time will be shorter." Professor Wang said: "Currently, our first fleet has embarked on this route, and we hope they will go well."

 Crisis can also bring opportunities. Take toilet paper as an example. Europe is now out of stock. If we can transport a large amount of toilet paper across the country, we can take advantage of the canal blockage and make a lot of money!

Time is the most precious. Whoever can get to Europe first and unload the first batch of goods can make a lot of money. If you want to save time, you have to take the shortest distance!

The mighty fleet set off from the eastern port, carried it all the way, passed through the Miyako Strait, crossed the Bering Strait, and came to the Arctic route.

 Almost all the crew members came here for the first time. When they saw the vast ice caps, they were shocked.

Although natural gas ships from the Mingzhou Group have already passed this route, it was only a special situation after all, and ordinary cargo ships have never been there.

The leader was the container ship Hope. The crew stood on the bridge and looked at the big icebreaker leading the way, feeling very emotional.

“If it weren’t for Mingzhou Group’s intervention, we would really not dare to come here to open a shipping lane.”

“That’s right, Da Mao’s icebreaker ships charge such a small toll, just like sending them to us for free. I heard that Mr. Qin has a good relationship with Da Mao’s navy, and we will be very safe along the way.”

“You guys think, why don’t we go to the Cape of Good Hope? Although it’s a little closer, it’s a new route after all, and there are still dangers.”

"Don't you understand this? This is Mr. Qin's vision." An old crew member said: "Although our navy is developing, it still cannot achieve the goal of global navigation. Once there is any threat, our shipping routes will be It will be cut off, especially the Strait of Malacca, and those people in Singapore are doing bad things. We take the Arctic route, and the entire journey is within the protection range of the Korean Navy, which is the safest."

“I really hope our navy can become stronger. It would be great if there were more than a dozen aircraft carriers!”

“Definitely. At our rate of development, in another twenty years, we will have three to five aircraft carriers.”

While everyone was talking, a helicopter flew from a distance and landed on their container ship!

“Everyone listens and cheers up, Mr. Qin is here to inspect!”

“Mr. Qin? Which Mr. Qin?”

“It’s Mr. Qin from Mingzhou Group. He attaches great importance to our maiden voyage! Hearing that we were coming, he came here to offer condolences.”

 Everyone was excited.

Qin Tao stepped off the helicopter, with Nikola beside him, and a reporter carrying a camera. It won’t take long for the news to spread all over the world.

 (End of this chapter)