Chapter 687 Blocked Canal

  Ah San is always comparing with Dongfang. Now, Dongfang has entered the era of stealth aircraft. Both the navy and the air force will equip a batch of them. How can Ah San bear it.

   Ah San is definitely looking forward to getting the 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.

Many of Ah San’s military equipment are provided by Da Mao. Even the Navy’s self-developed Delhi-class destroyer is armed with Da 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 Damao user, Ah San is the most suitable to purchase Damao weapons and equipment.

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

   "Boss Qin, you are right, we can indeed find Ah San to invest!" Simonov nodded.

  Although heavy stealth fighter jets cannot be exported casually, otherwise it will cause technical leaks, but if the target is Ah San, there is no big problem. After all, nuclear submarines can be leased to Ah San, and Ah San cannot imitate them anyway.

   "I wish you success." Qin Tao said.

   At this moment, Zaitsev hurried in from the outside, walked up to Nikolai, and whispered something in his ear.

   "What? Who did it?" Nicholas' voice was loud, and immediately attracted the attention of the audience.

Looking at a pair of puzzled eyes, Nicholas said: "It's not a secret, and the whole world will know soon that a 200,000-ton Tropical Glory oil tanker ran aground in the Suez Canal and was completely blocked." off the route."

What?

  The Suez Canal is blocked?

  The news came so suddenly, everyone was surprised for a while, and then looked at Qin Tao.

   That's right, they were all looking at Qin Tao at this moment! This made Qin Tao very annoyed, what do you mean? How could I, a person, do such a disgraceful thing? If this is instigated by someone behind the scenes, to put it simply, it is a provocation against the Pyramids, and to put it more complicated, it is a threat to the economic development of the entire world.

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

  Don't hold this **** pot on your own head, then you have to become a public enemy of the world. Although Qin Tao has hinted several times, it is just a hint, but he has never acted. It has nothing to do with him.

   "That's right!" Nicholas said: "The Suez Canal is just a trumpet mouth, it's too dangerous, and it's best to take our Arctic route! Now, taking this opportunity, we welcome outside merchant ships to take our Arctic route!"

   "This time, I don't know how many days it will be blocked. I think our domestic shipowners should choose the Arctic route, but this route needs the help of your icebreaker." Qin Tao said.

   "Of course no problem, we provide icebreaking service at the most favorable price, and the entire route is worth $100,000!" Nicola 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 put on hold. Although the reason was that the quality of the shipbuilding in the South Kimchi Country was not good, the big guys were still full of doubts about the Arctic route.

   Now, the opportunity finally came.

  The blockage of the Suez Canal benefits Da Mao. Therefore, even if countries suspect it, they should doubt Da Mao, and Da Mao has no doubts at all.

  The eyes of the whole world are looking at the Suez Canal, which, like the Panama Canal, is the main sea channel dug by hand. But since the Panama Canal only connects North and South America, in terms of importance, the Suez Canal must be superior.

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

  This canal is like a blood clot, delaying the trade of the entire world. But now, the Tropical Glory has completely blocked this blood vessel.

Seen from space, the cargo ship Tropical Glory did not turn completely sideways, blocking the entire route. However, its bow was poked to the left, and it was raised to a certain height. Cracks, if they break open, and the oil floats everywhere, it's an absolute nightmare.

If you look down, you can see that on the right side of it, there is still enough width for ships to pass through, but no ships dare to pass through, because the Suez Canal has always been a one-way street since it was established, and it can only pass in one direction. Of course Well, a small boat of a few hundred tons is no problem, but a boat of tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of tons is absolutely unacceptable.

This ship blocked the entire shipping route, so other cargo ships had to wait. Just behind this oil tanker, there were still 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 route is open, we can also find some extra money. means."

"Yeah, 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 a month, that would be great. The Pyramid Kingdom is also true. They pass through the canal cost, but he was reluctant to dig a bigger canal." Qin Tao said.

  This sentence is a bit unfair to the suffering master of the Pyramid Kingdom. In fact, since the completion of the Suez Canal, the authorities have continued to widen and dig deeper.

When the canal was first built, the width of the canal was only 91 meters, the bottom of the canal was 32 meters, and the depth was eight meters. It could only pass a cargo ship of 5,000 tons. meters, the passage of cargo ships was expanded to 30,000 tons, and construction continued in 1980, and the displacement of passage ships increased to 150,000 tons. The latest expansion was in 1994. The width of the river was 303 meters, the bottom was 123 meters, and the depth was 19.5 meters. The tonnage of cargo ships that can pass has reached 200,000 tons.

The last time was in 2015, when the government spent 8 billion US dollars to widen and deepen the canal, and at the same time dug the so-called "New Suez Canal" with a width of 317 meters and a length of 35 kilometers. ""The Pyramid Kingdom made history" and so on, but it was useless. A few years later, the canal was stuck again by a cargo ship. This time it was the most serious and the paralysis lasted the longest.

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

  The canal has already been widened, so why are accidents more serious? This is of course because of 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 200,000-ton cargo ship. In short, the shipowner wants to use the maximum capacity of the Suez Canal Design the freighter so that it can bring the greatest economic benefits.

   After all, a large ship is a small ship, and the number of crew members is similar, but the revenue from freight transportation will be much higher.

In fact, passing through the Suez Canal is not cheap. The single-pass fee is between US$300,000 and US$500,000, which is about the same as the fuel 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 dig the Suez Canal to a width of several kilometers and a depth of several hundred meters, it will be unimpeded." Nicholas said, "It's a pity that they don't have the guts at all."

   This is not a question of courage, but mainly of lack of money.

   "Come on, drink!"

   On the surface, the two want to express their concern for this accident, but in private, they don’t know how happy they are. The importance of the Arctic route will continue to be highlighted.

   "By the way, how should the rescue work of this freighter be carried out?" Nicholas asked Qin Tao.

"That depends on how the Pyramid Kingdom handles it. If you use an excavator in a stranded place, it will probably take several days. If you use our dredger, it will be a matter of minutes. However, our dredger It will take ten days and half a month to move there, and you have to be free."

  That’s right, the most suitable equipment for dredging the canal is a dredger, which only needs to dig out the sand under the stranded freighter. In this respect, Mingzhou Group is definitely the strongest.

   However, there are many problems.

The cost of dredgers is high, and the cost of hiring is also very expensive. It is like a local tycoon who lives in a 30-story building. He bought a 100-inch LCD TV, but he had to open the living room window and hang it in. The TV was spent. 20,000 yuan, but it would cost 50,000 yuan to hire a crane. A crane of this level is expensive. It will be more expensive to dispatch the dredger once. If you don't pay a few million dollars, you will definitely not drive all the way here.

  The Pyramid Kingdom must be reluctant, so they will use excavators to slowly construct. Anyway, the longer the traffic jam, the more ships will go around, and the more ships will take the Arctic route.

   "Mr. Qin, you stay in Moscow for a few more days. When the time comes, let's go to the Far East together to meet the first batch of fleets passing through this route." Nikolai said.

"good."

  Anyway, he was going out for a trip, Qin Tao has long been used to being outside, and, compared to before, he brought his wife out this time, so it was considered a trip.

etc!

  After drinking the glass of wine, Qin Tao suddenly realized something: Could it be that the canal will be blocked for longer than expected?

   Da Mao wants to play tricks on it?

   While the two were drinking, the Canal Management Office of the Pyramid Country was already anxious like ants on a hot pot.

  The person in charge, Walid, stood on the edge of the canal, looking 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 doesn't have that much power. Now we are mobilizing the excavator to dig up the stranded part of the bow first." Derby said.

This is a 200,000-ton cargo ship. Since the route was widened in 1994, the largest cargo ship that can pass through the canal has risen to the 200,000-ton class. In recent years, small cargo ships have almost disappeared, and mainstream cargo ships are all of this class. Yes, but the tugboats equipped by their canal management office have not changed for decades, and they can only tow a cargo ship of about 30,000 tons away from the grounded place. Don't even think about such a 200,000-ton cargo ship.

   "No, we don't have time to wait, try 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 a minute, it will cause a lot of losses. Therefore, they must now resume their journey as soon as possible.

"All right."

The small tugboat started to come up. The easiest way for the tugboat is of course to go around to the left 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 be freed. After all, the bottom of the canal is an inverted The isosceles trapezoid is shallower towards the shore and widest in the center.

  The two most powerful tugboats came to the port side of Tropical Glory's bow, and they turned on their horsepower, puffs of black smoke came out of the chimney, and the water splashed by the propeller at the tail, but the huge freighter remained motionless.

   "This doesn't work, back up and hit it!" Waleed continued to give orders.

  Derby's face changed: "Your Excellency Walid, you can't do this! What if the tanker is damaged?"

   "On the outside of the tugboat, put some more rubber tires!"

Seeing Waleed insist on going his own way, Derby was very nervous, but there was nothing he could do. The impact brought by the impact was far greater than the direct push, but the danger would also increase. I really don’t know what Waleed thought, but since He is the person in charge, so I have to listen to him.

   Fortunately, in order to push the freighter, these tugboats have flat bows. If they are pointed, they can be poked in directly.

  The two tugboats rushed forward at full power, but before they could reach the freighter Tropical Glory, one of them suddenly changed direction, trying to ram the other!

   The side collision at high speed is very serious. The tugboat that was hit overturned in the sight of everyone, capsized, quickly entered the water, and then sank!

  Because it still has speed, even if the tugboat sank, it was still rushing forward, just right under the bow of the cargo ship Tropical Glory.

   Now the airway is even more congested!

   "Damn, what's going on? Can someone tell me what's going on?"

   "Report, our steering gear is faulty and suddenly stuck!" The tugboat that got into trouble has already started to slow down, but it is still circling on the sea, and it actually lost its chain at a critical moment!

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

  Waleed's face darkened.

  Eight in the evening, prime time.

   "Hi everyone, welcome to Zhang Zhongshuo's program. Our program this time is Zhang Zhongshuo 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 own humor and ability to forcefully make this show deep. It is so popular with most people that even some housewives, after watching Fifth Prince and Little Swallow, would switch to watch Zhang Zhongshuo.

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

The camera turned to Professor Wang, who faced the audience calmly: "In order to let everyone better understand these impacts, I will give you some examples. For example, a container full of coffee is currently 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 is also blocked. Now, various countries in Europe The big supermarkets have sold out all the toilet paper, and at the same time, because the toilet paper cannot be transported, our domestic toilet paper factories will also stop working because their warehouses are full."

   "That is to say, the global economy is now affected, as if the pause button has been pressed." Zhang Zhong interjected.

"That's right, the pause button was pressed. According to the calculations of relevant agencies, due to the blockage of the canal, global sweaters will cause a loss of 5 billion U.S. dollars every day." Professor Wang said: "So, the blockage of the Suez Canal will also cause a huge loss. We remind that it is easy to cause problems if the transportation lines are gathered in one.”

   "Professor Wang, apart from the Suez Canal, it is the Cape of Good Hope. Now that the Suez Canal is blocked, can't we bypass 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 freighter sails from the Red Sea to the Cape of Good Hope, and the Suez Canal is opened to navigation, wouldn't it be a waste of time? ?”

   "That is to say, the key now is to see when the air route will be cleared?"

"That's right. When the accident just happened, the Canal Management Office was a little too hasty. They tried to use the tugboat to push the freighter away directly, but it didn't work. Instead, it caused a tugboat accident. It is said that the tugboat got stuck under the freighter, blocking the It’s more stringent, now, they should be steady, first dig up the silt under the cargo ship, and then wait for the high tide, multiple tugboats will move together, I don’t know if they can pull the cargo ship out.”

   "Yes, we also look forward to the opening of the canal as soon as possible and the restoration of normal shipping order. Professor Wang, do you predict how much impact it will have on our country's economy?"

   "There is no need to divert the freighter that has arrived in the Red Sea. It can only wait there. However, those who are still on the way can bypass the Cape of Good Hope. As for those who have just left the port, they can take the Arctic route."

   "Arctic route?"

"That's right, this route is closer than taking the Suez Canal. Now that summer is coming and the glaciers along the way melt, this route should be easier to travel. If this route goes through, our transportation costs will be even higher. The time will be shorter." Professor Wang said: "Currently, our first batch of ships have embarked on this route, and I hope they will all go well."

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

  Time is the most precious thing. Whoever can arrive in 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 departed from the eastern port, carried it all the way, crossed 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 cap, their hearts were shocked.

  Although a natural gas ship from the Mingzhou Group has already passed this route, it is only a special case after all, and ordinary cargo ships have never been here.

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

   "If it weren't for the Mingzhou Group to come forward, we really wouldn't dare to open up a sea route here."

   "That's right, Da Mao's icebreaker charges such a small guide fee, which is the same as sending us for free. I heard that President Qin has a good relationship with Da Mao's navy. We are very safe along the way."

   "Tell me, why don't we take the Cape of Good Hope? Although this is closer, it is a new route after all, and there are still dangers."

"You don't understand this, do you? This is Mr. Qin's vision." An old sailor said: "Although our navy is developing, it still cannot achieve the goal of global navigation. If there is any threat, our shipping routes will be destroyed. It will be cut off, especially in the Strait of Malacca, those people in Singapore are bad. Let’s take the Arctic route, and the whole journey is within the protection range of the Damao Navy, which is the safest.”

   "I really hope our navy can become stronger. It would be great if we had more than a dozen aircraft carriers!"

   "It will definitely. According to our development speed, in another twenty years, three or five aircraft carriers will be ready."

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

   "Listen, everyone, cheer up, Mr. Qin is here to inspect!"

   "Mr. Qin? Which Mr. Qin?"

   "It's Mr. Qin of the Mingzhou Group. He attaches great importance to our maiden voyage! He heard that we are here, so he came here to express his condolences."

  Everyone was excited.

  Qin Tao got off the helicopter, Nicholas followed him, and a reporter with a video camera. It won't take long for the news to spread all over the world.

  (end of this chapter)