Chapter 96: The Early Appearance Of Ck Hutchison Holdings
“Sir Lin, what you said during the BBC interview was truly excellent. I didn’t dare miss a single minute throughout.”
Inside Winfield Manor, Xu Aizhou, who had been specifically named by Lin Ran to be invited to attend his knighthood ceremony, flattered.
On the eve of leaving London, Lin Ran finally found time to meet him.
“Thank you for the praise. I just said some of my true inner thoughts.”
“I hope for peace, and I believe most people also hope for peace.” Lin Ran smiled.
Xu Aizhou waved his hands repeatedly and continued to flatter: “Sir, you are too modest. This morning before coming, I specifically had my secretary find all the big and small newspapers in London and read them to me.”
“No matter what their past stance was, they all praised your response on BBC last night without reservation.”
“It greatly boosted the morale of Chinese people and played an inspiring role for Chinese people of descent worldwide.”
Lin Ran said: “You flatter me too much.”
“As for the direct hotline I mentioned, Harvard University professor Thomas Schelling actually mentioned a similar concept in his published book ‘Strategy and Conflict’ last year, suggesting the need to establish an effective communication mechanism to reduce the risk of misunderstandings and misjudgments.”
“I merely built on his foundation and made a further, more specific design.”
“I just did a little bit of minor work.”
Lin Ran did not give Xu Aizhou the chance to continue flattering and went on: “Let’s not stand on ceremony. I’m heading back to Washington soon. Provide me with a copy of your standardized shipping pilot report, and I’ll arrange this as soon as possible after returning to Washington.”
Xu Aizhou took a report from his briefcase and handed it to Lin Ran: “Sir, this is the detailed report, the painstaking effort of all Hong Kong Shipping Personnel over the past year. It absolutely does not fail to meet your expectations.”
After taking the report, Lin Ran skimmed through it:
“1960-1961 Hong Kong-New York Route Container Shipping Pilot Project Report”
Date: September 1, 1960
Report Number: HKSC-1961-001
Submitting Unit: Hong Kong Shipping Corporation (HongKong Shipping Corporation, HKSC)
Standardized Container Shipping Pilot Project Achievements and Global Promotion Suggestions
“HKSC presents this report to the global shipping industry to showcase the achievements of the 1960 Hong Kong-New York route container shipping pilot project. This project, by introducing the Standardized Interface System, Conical Guide Post Positioning Device, and Container Data Structuring, has ushered in a new era of efficient, low-cost shipping in the industry.”
“Pilot data shows that this model excels in cost savings, efficiency improvements, and cargo security, fully verifying its transformative potential. This report aims to detail the project achievements and calls on global peers to adopt this standard, jointly promoting the prosperity of international trade.”
In this report, the Standardized Interface System ensures seamless compatibility between containers, ships, and port equipment; the Conical Guide Post Positioning Device improves loading and unloading efficiency, greatly reducing cargo damage; and Container Data Structuring unifies data formats, facilitating cargo tracking and management.
Overall shipping costs were reduced by 70.6%, and the cargo damage rate dropped from the original 5% to less than 0.5%, a decline of more than tenfold.
After reading it, Lin Ran compared it to the historical documents of Maersk in his memory and knew that this experimental route had already achieved the level that global standardization of container shipping would only reach ten years later.
“Old Xu, you have indeed done your utmost.”
“I guarantee you that I will strive for at least one seat on the container standardization committee for Hong Kong Shipping Personnel, and the shipping technology company established based on this set of standards will also give Hong Kong Shipping Corporation corresponding shares.”
After thinking for a moment, Xu Aizhou decided to fully communicate with the other party. Problems he couldn’t solve might be trivial for Lin Ran: “Sir, Jardine Matheson and Swire Group are both pressuring us.”
“They hope Hong Kong Shipping Corporation will sell them this standardized route.”
“Hong Kong Shipping Corporation can hold out for now, but if we don’t push forward quickly, I’m afraid we won’t hold out much longer, because HSBC behind Jardine Matheson has already made it clear that if we don’t sell, they will consider joining with banks in England to withdraw loans from Hong Kong shipping companies.”
“The reason they haven’t done so yet is entirely out of regard for your face.”
“Even if the Xu Family and Dong Family face loan withdrawal, we can hold out for three to five years without issue, but Hong Kong Shipping has many small and medium companies that may not be able to hold out if faced with loan withdrawal.”
After hearing this, Lin Ran nodded silently: “Alright, I understand. Don’t worry, England’s trading houses won’t take away your hard work.”
Any Chinese person who has received modern compulsory education in China would be familiar with the names Jardine Matheson and Swire Group.
Among them, Swire Group is a bit better, but Jardine Matheson was not only a direct beneficiary of the opium trade but also one of its main promoters, notoriously infamous.
Now they still want to grab the cake, Lin Ran felt anger, but calmness soon overpowered the anger.
Lin Ran also understood why this knighthood ceremony was so grand this time, with the Governor rushing over from Hong Kong to attend and personally coming to pick him up; it was estimated that England had its eyes on this cake too.
It was just because of Korolev’s accident that London hadn’t found an opportunity to communicate this matter with him alone.
In a Mid-Levels Villa in Hong Kong,
Xu Aizhou’s eldest son, the actual head of the Xu Group, Xu Shixun; the other white person is Hugh Barton, the Taipan of Jardine Matheson.
Additionally, it also shows the strength of Jardine Matheson capital at this moment.
“Mister Xu, have you considered it? Actually, whether you agree or not doesn’t matter. We have the full will and ability to acquire Hong Kong Shipping.
If it weren’t for Sir Lin’s face, we would have taken action long ago.
If you don’t agree, then you will soon see our methods.
“Instead of getting a piece of the cake in global shipping standards formulation, the entire Xu Group falls apart as a result.” Hugh Patton’s attitude was extremely arrogant.
Not only because Hong Kong is under British administration, Jardine Matheson is a long-established vampire.
At the same time, it is also because Jardine Matheson publicly issued stocks this year, which is what is later called public offering, and its issuance was oversubscribed by a full 56 times.
This is enough to show the strength of Jardine Matheson capital at this moment.
Distant London, because of an accident Lin Ran failed to reach an agreement with London’s capitalists and officials, the pressure from Hong Kong’s side started directly.
Xu Aizhou was wrong; previously, the firms in England wanted routes, but now they want the entire Hong Kong Shipping.
“This is not something I can decide.” Xu Shixun, although a second-generation heir and one who was somewhat wasteful, also knew he could not agree.
This both concerns the interests of all Chinese shipping companies and is because the price offered by the other party is really too low.
The price on the contract is just set according to the average pricing method of shipping companies. It must be known that Hong Kong Shipping’s greatest asset is their experience in building the world’s first modern shipping route.
Moreover, these three words “modern” very likely, under Lin Ran’s promotion, will become the three words “standard.”
The experience of building global shipping standardized routes, if valued using the industry’s average pricing method, is somewhat insulting.
Hugh Barton suddenly stopped speaking English and said in broken Chinese: “Mister Xu, China has an old saying: do not refuse a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit.”
Xu Shixun explained: “My father is still in London. Wait until he returns, then talk to him.
Additionally, I must remind you that what Jardine Matheson and Swire want is international standards. You want to push this matter, but without Sir Lin, it absolutely cannot succeed.
The relevant patents are all in his hands.
I do not believe he will bypass Chinese people and cooperate completely with White People.”
Xu Shixun knew that Jardine Matheson had not pressed earlier out of concern for Lin Ran, but now they wanted to pull Lin Ran out as a shield.
Hugh Barton smiled and said: “Of course I know.
We very much respect Sir Lin and have conducted a thorough investigation targeting Sir Lin.
We naturally know that Sir Lin favors Chinese people and hopes to take care of Chinese people because of your cultural blood ties.
Otherwise, when Sir Lin came to Hong Kong last year, he should have sought cooperation with Jardine Matheson and Swire, rather than with you Xu family.
Additionally, when Sir Lin was in Hong Kong last year accepting an interview from Hong Kong Radio, I listened to it from beginning to end, even though my Chinese is not very good.
But I still have a profound impression of Sir Lin mentioning apricot blossoms, spring rain, Jiangnan in the interview, mentioning the rain of ancient China falling from misty to surging, from eaves dripping to river and sea.
I can still feel the beauty from ancient Chinese culture in it.
So whether Jardine Matheson or HSBC, both will fully respect Sir Lin.
We will find a young person to hold shares on our behalf; he will become our frontman.”
Hugh Barton’s Chinese was not good, but his memory was impeccable, Xu Shixun thought to himself. He subconsciously asked: “A young person? Who?”
He thought it was some young boss from a small company among the shareholders of Hong Kong Shipping who could not withstand the pressure and defected.
Hugh Barton answered: “Li Ka-shing. It’s normal if you haven’t heard of him; he runs a plastic factory.
However, we believe that once our container standards become global shipping standards, it will be up to us to decide which ports to modify first and which ports later.
The Hong Kong port modified first will benefit from shipping advantages, and all industries will usher in vigorous development.
Of course, that includes the plastics industry.
But this is not important; what is important is that this piece of cake must fall into our hands.
Oh, additionally, let me tell you, after we acquire Hong Kong Shipping, we will change its name to:
CK Hutchison Holdings”
To be honest, the shipping standards that were designed before the book started, even including Li Ka-shing playing the villain role here, were all designed in the initial outline.
But unexpectedly, the news keeps broadcasting about this person every day…
