"Feng, Li, you should understand that the reason why we will give in this time and allow you to invest in our port is because we need to provide more employment opportunities for our American people.ｗ? ．”
"Port reconstruction requires workers, and port loading and unloading also requires workers. But if you use a large number of intelligent machinery and equipment, then this port reconstruction will not only not provide more employment opportunities, but you will also have to lay off employees, right?"
Feng Yu looked at Li Zeju, who nodded in recognition.
The efficiency of machinery is higher, and higher efficiency can ensure that their ports can have a higher transshipment rate, so that more cargo ships can be loaded and unloaded in the same time. No cargo ship will be willing to park empty ships at the port and waste money. They will leave immediately after loading and unloading the goods, so they can make more money with the same number of berths.
And because of the high efficiency, more carriers will choose to dock at their berths, especially for some fresh goods, which have extremely high time requirements. Once upon a time, there was congestion at the port and it was difficult for the cargo ship to dock. It was delayed for more than a day at sea. As a result, the fresh goods were damaged, and both the carrier and the cargo owner suffered huge losses.
Therefore, ports with higher loading and unloading efficiency will be more favored by cargo owners and carriers. If the supporting storage yard is large and there are enough warehouses, there will definitely be no shortage of business in a country like the United States, which has the largest import and export trade volume in the world.
Even because of their high efficiency, they can raise prices a little, and many cargo owners will choose to dock here, so that their profit margins will be higher.
But this involves a big problem, at least very serious for Aobaniu, and that is the problem of hired workers.
Trade union organizations in Europe and the United States are very powerful and can even influence the U.S. economy to a certain extent. If it weren't for the union's constant demands for salary increases and various benefits, Tongyong Automobile would never have filed for bankruptcy protection and eventually fell from the altar.
There are too many cases like this in the United States and Europe. For example, Thomson Company, once Europe's top electronics and electrical appliances manufacturer, is now in decline.
The main reason is that costs have risen too fast and profits cannot keep up. The largest part of the cost is the cost of hiring labor.
In Asia and Europe, ports are developing towards modernization. Various mechanical equipment require very little labor. However, the ports in the United States are very backward.
It's not that the United States can't buy advanced equipment, or that they can't design and develop similar equipment, but that they are under attack from labor unions and cannot use too much automated equipment.
The digital revolution first appeared in Seattle and San Francisco, one of the most technologically advanced regions in the United States and an important port city on the West Coast.
A research study shows that the automation and robotics technology of American ports lags behind Asian and European ports by more than fifteen years. However, the United States is still the world's largest country in import and export trade and the most technologically advanced country. Isn't this ironic
There are dock unions on both the east and west coasts of the United States. They all feel that digitalization will pose a serious threat to their employment, because most of the workers here have only high school education or below.
The college entrance examination admission rate in the United States is close to 100%, because admission here is mainly by recommendation, and most schools are unable to recruit students. Except for those famous schools, there are also many private schools in the United States.
That’s why the United States recruits students internationally to make up for the shortage of students in their schools. By the way, it can also promote them as the country with the best science and culture in the world, and attract some foreign talents to become their American citizens and create wealth for the United States.
Currently, only over 60% of high school students in the United States choose to continue studying in college, while the rate in China is over 95%. However, the acceptance rate in China is only 75%, including Three tables: undergraduate, junior college, etc.
The graduation rate of American college students is far lower than that of China. It is also the last among developed countries. Many people will choose to drop out of school midway, and many others may take more than ten years or even decades to graduate.
But overall, people in China are more willing to go to college, while the proportion of uneducated people in the United States is actually higher.
You say such people can't find those office jobs, what can they do? You can only choose manual labor as a worker. Fortunately, the industry in the United States is relatively developed and requires a large number of workers.
For example, cars, docks, train stations, etc. all require a large number of workers. Moreover, the income of these workers is actually not low, and their benefits are very good.
Originally the benefits were not very high, but under the leadership of these unions, wages, medical care, pensions and other benefits have all increased a lot and become very heavy.
The east coast of the United States is undergoing technological innovation and hopes to introduce modern equipment to improve efficiency. However, this caused a large number of dock workers to lose their jobs, and the West Coast was much more vigilant.
There is also a saying that the reason why DP World was said to endanger national security was that one of the important reasons was that DP World wanted to transform the port and introduce fully automated operations. Even the cranes were unmanned. Workers at that terminal will be laid off by more than 95 percent.
So if Feng Yu and the others want to introduce highly automated machinery and equipment to the port, then Obanu will never dare to agree. This will make the unemployment rate of workers on the West Coast even higher, and may trigger a strike and protest by the entire dock workers, causing immeasurable losses. , it was also a heavy blow to his political career.
Feng Yu didn't expect this, and Li Zeju also felt very embarrassed. If large berths are rebuilt to accommodate larger cargo ships, then when the large cargo ships come, it will still be a semi-automatic + worker loading and unloading mode. The efficiency will still be very low, the profit will be too low, and the investment will not be so cost-effective.
In particular, Feng Yu’s profit was the lowest because he was required to register a subsidiary in the United States and pay local taxes. The port is very important, but why should Feng Yu make it as an investment with little profit
"Reed, in the future we will hire more employees who understand computer operations to supervise the loading and unloading of equipment in a control center that is not exposed to wind and sun. There will no longer be such a high safety risk."
"This is the future development trend of ports around the world. Are you still going to let ports lag behind? Think about your American auto union. Because of them, what has become of Tongyong Automobile and Collision today? Even Ford, You can only survive by selling half of your business. Are your ports and terminals going to make the same mistake again?"
Feng Yu used the automobile union as an example. Compromising blindly with that union will ultimately drag the original company into the abyss. How to choose is very important.
… (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to come to Qidian.com () to vote for recommendations and monthly votes. Your support is my biggest motivation. Mobile phone users please go to m. to read.)