Chapter 45: An Irresistible Bait
Xu Aizhou was still recalling Lin Ran’s speech today; he believed it at a glance after reading the report.
The data inside was so detailed that even he, an old-school shipping giant, couldn’t obtain it.
Like the transportation cost of America International Intercontinental Trucks, he couldn’t get that data.
And the real data he knew inside almost matched Lin Ran’s report perfectly, with any gap at most a tiny difference after the decimal point to the third place.
And the design drawing of the Conical Guide Post Positioning Device that the other party displayed, an old giant like Xu Aizhou could see at a glance how useful this thing was.
Past cargo damage caused by loading and unloading collisions, and the resulting cargo devaluation problem, was solved at the root.
And once the world uses one standard, just the Conical Guide Post Positioning Device alone would become an essential device for every cargo ship and every dock, what a massive industry that would be.
This is the benefit that standards bring.
After Lin Ran left, Xu Aizhou picked up the report again, looked at the registration names and dates of the three patents inside, all registered under Randolph Lin.
That is Lin Ran’s English name.
He had suspected this was a Jewish family pushing from behind the scenes, since Lin Ran mentioned Rockefeller and Morgan.
The other party’s close relationship with the Morgan family was something Xu Aizhou had heard about.
But on second thought, he felt it unlikely.
No matter the white gloves, when has international standard ever been up to Chinese people to decide?
Especially merchants from Hong Kong, such a frontier place.
Although Xu Aizhou had the reputation of Chinese Shipping King, he wasn’t even a character in the global shipping industry.
If it were Rockefeller or Morgan finding Jewish people to cooperate, would their Chinese shipowners dare not comply with the international standards they set?
Looking again at the patent owner on the patent registration, this old shipping king dismissed the idea that the other was acting on behalf of Rockefeller and Morgan; undoubtedly, this was something he wanted to do himself.
This old shipping king’s heart sighed: “Seeing that the new generation is indeed formidable, truly the Yangtze’s new waves push forward the old waves!
The young people’s vision nowadays is much bigger than mine. At his age, I was still selling peanut oil.
Professor Lin is indeed a once-in-a-century mathematics genius.”
He shakily walked to the telephone, and after connecting, he roared with full vigor: “Shi Xun! Get over here right now immediately!”
After hanging up, thinking of the outstanding person he just met, then thinking of his son who only knew horse racing and playing with girls, he got furious.
Xu Shixun loved horse racing, to the point of becoming Hong Kong’s biggest horse owner.
Meanwhile, Dong Haoyun, upon learning, responded even more actively, declaring he would definitely cooperate with Xu Aizhou to get this done:
“Professor Lin, even if this project doesn’t make money, I will do my utmost to make it succeed; this is a major event to boost Chinese prestige, helping us Chinese people gain fame in the global shipping industry.
I will definitely cooperate well with Mr. Xu to build the modern shipping route you mentioned.”
In Hong Kong’s Lu Yu Tea House, Lin Ran and Xu Aizhou brought his eldest son Xu Shixun; Dong Haoyun also brought his son for a three-party meeting.
The tea house like Lianxiang House where Chen Jingrun and Section Chief Zhang went was for ordinary people, with shrimp dumplings and siu mai at 0.3 Hong Kong dollars per basket, while the Lu Yu Tea House where Xu Aizhou hosted had signature abalone stew pots at 12 Hong Kong dollars per serving.
And it required booking half a month in advance.
This one meal could cost half a year’s salary for an ordinary person in Hong Kong.
“Mr. Xu, Mr. Dong, this is the one-year technology licensing for the three technology patents: Honeycomb Deck System, Conical Guide Post Positioning Device, and Container Data Structuring.
You can cooperate with each other, find other shipowners to cooperate, or go solo; I don’t care how you specifically build the modern routes.
What I care about is that one year later, after the International Container Association is established, when I have them come to Hong Kong for a visit, there will be things for them to see, so they can see our proposal’s superiority at a glance.
And you two, with your mature construction experience, will naturally become the contractors for major shipowners and dock modification engineering after the standards are set.
Whether I give you shares from the technical standards or not, you will both profit from it.
Furthermore, if you two do well, you can naturally strive for seats in the final standards alliance.
And shares in the company behind this set of standards; I am actually just contributing patents as shares, so I don’t have much say.
So whether we can truly pry open the global shipping market depends on your efforts over the next year.”
Lin Ran handed the two patent authorization documents signed with his name to Xu Aizhou and Dong Haoyun respectively.
Using patents and container standardization as bait, and international docks and ship modifications as lures.
Any shipping giant who carefully studies the patents Lin Ran provided cannot resist taking the hook.
This is an open scheme in broad daylight.
The meal ended with host and guests all delighted; Xu Aizhou’s eldest son Xu Shixun presented the land deed for 23-27 Wing Kut Street in Central with both hands:
“Professor Lin, a small token of appreciation from the Xu Family; please accept it.”
Lin Ran took it and looked, genuinely a bit surprised, because it wasn’t just one floor, but the whole building.
The 23-27 property, a full 14-story commercial-residential building, with floors 2-5 already contracted with Chow Sing Realty headquarters at 1 million Hong Kong dollars per year rent to them.
Just the rent from floors 2-5 already exceeded his annual salary.
Such a grand gift truly stunned Lin Ran; he realized that although he had abilities others lacked and extraordinary observation skills, his grasp of morale was still insufficient.
Xu Aizhou told him he was giving one floor, but actually gave the whole building; this effect was much better than saying he would give the whole building and then doing so—it felt far better.
Lin Ran pondered inwardly: learned something new; as expected of a Chinese businessman who stood firm through war and still sat steadily afterward.
Meanwhile, Dong Haoyun gifted 5% shares of Dong Family Shipping Group.
Both sides hoped to pull Lin Ran onto their ship as much as possible; the shipping king knew how to pull people aboard.
The meal ended with host and guests all delighted.
That evening, back at the single dorm arranged for him by Hong Kong University, Lin Ran pulled out a blackboard and carefully reviewed on it:
“According to my calculations, post-modification routes from the Far East to Europe and America would cost about 60% less than railway transportation.
America’s deindustrialization will start twenty years early; General Motors will complete over 80% components outsourcing in the 1960s.
The Yokohama-Busan-Hong Kong new route will form a Pacific assembly line.
European companies will go direct to Asia early; deep-water berths in the Malacca Strait will also be built ahead of schedule.
Hong Kong has a great chance to take on a large amount of manufacturing, replacing the position 4v was originally to bear.
Hong Kong’s shipping in the 60s and 70s will be much safer; from a risk perspective, electronics industry transfer can only come to Hong Kong.
