Chapter 581 "Locomotive"
Waltz is talking about the submarine cable from the Southern Ryukyu Islands to Fuzhou. The straight-line distance from Miyako Island to Fuzhou is close to 700 kilometers, so the workload and consumption are very huge, so it is said that Da The No. 1 State-owned Cable Factory in Es Salaam City has a heavy workload.
Morrie: "Submarine cables are indeed not simple, and the quality requirements are also higher. After all, the situation in the sea is complex, and ordinary cables cannot withstand it. But you can give me some parameters and get to the bottom of it. Our factory can also It’s better to be mentally prepared. I wonder what the length of this Far East submarine cable is?”
Waltz: “Hey, it’s not a secret. Didn’t we in East Africa have a conflict with Japan in the Far East a while ago? There is a group of islands in the Pacific on the map. Our navy heard that we had a fight there. That is our place, but it is too far away from East Africa, so the communication problem there must be solved.”
When Morrie heard this, he probably understood. Even though Morrie was born as a German country bumpkin, he also read a lot of books. In terms of the cultural level of this era, he "knows astronomy at the top and geography at the bottom."
This is not an exaggeration, because the simplest books that Morrie had access to in the East African troops were East African textbooks, and East African textbooks were for learning history and geography.
Mory: "If the Southern Ryukyu Islands are telegraphed, it will definitely not be a small project. As far as I know, this archipelago is at least several hundred kilometers away from the Far East mainland, so I will use a ruler to estimate this archipelago later. How far is it from the Far East Continent? Arrange production tasks for next year, and don’t fight unprepared wars.”
Waltz: “There’s no need to go to such trouble. The distance between the Southern Ryukyu Islands and the Far East Continent is about six to seven hundred kilometers. You should first guarantee the minimum length of five hundred kilometers. production, there will definitely be no problems, and we will Just complete it."
Morrie: "This telegram is not simple. It seems that the Southern Ryukyu Islands are of great significance to the country, so there must be other factories that have also received the mission?"
Waltz nodded and said: "You are right, this A total of more than a dozen factories participated in this production task, and some European companies also bid for it. The factories we received in East Africa were mainly Dar es Salaam, Bagamoyo, Tanga and Mombasa. The city is convenient for production because of its proximity to the sea.”
Morrie: "Then this time is a big move. We have never taken on such a big job before. In the past, the submarine cables laid by East Africa were imported from Europe. Three or four years ago, from Pemba Island to Pakistan Gamoyo’s submarine cables were still shipped from the Austro-Hungarian Empire factory Come.”
Waltz: “If we don’t import it from Europe, will it still grow from the ground? I remember that our factory was one of the first cable factories in East Africa. It was established three or four years ago. At that time, I'm afraid you can't even figure out how to operate the machine. ?”
Morrie: “You are right. At that time, I and the two technicians in the factory were the only ones who could make machines. We had to teach everything. Moreover, at that time, the raw materials were imported from overseas, and we also Just make some minor repairs and use it.”
< br>When the first cable factories in East Africa were established, they couldn’t even get the raw materials together. The railway had just been opened to traffic at that time, so the inland copper mines had not yet been developed, so most of the copper mines came from It was imported by Austria-Hungary and then processed along the East African coast.
As for coal mines and rubber, there is no shortage in East Africa. The coal mines in East Africa are close to the coast. As for rubber, East Africa completely accounts for the world's largest rubber producer. The second is Brazil. Brazilian rubber The advantage is that it is close to the coast, especially the Amazon plain, where the Amazon River exists, and shipping is very convenient. The collected rubber can be shipped directly to ships and shipped to all parts of the world.
East Africa is far behind in this regard. The main rubber producing area in East Africa is in the eastern part of the Congo Basin. The Congo River is also unfit for use. The downstream outlet is a group of waterfalls, so it can only be transported by land to the eastern coast, which is more time-consuming and laborious.
However, there are other rubber producing areas in East Africa that can be substituted, especially the intersection of the eastern coastal plain and plateau, where rainfall is relatively sufficient and can be directly transported to Dar es Salaam via the central railway. In comparison, Mombasa's advantage is that the Northern Railway and Great Lakes Shipping can transport rubber from the Great Lakes region and Hesse Province to the east. Its disadvantage is that Mombasa is far away from the copper producing areas in East Africa.
So the development of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa is like two locomotives. No one gives way to the other. There is no problem in saying that they are locomotives. They are the two most important railways in East Africa. The starting points of the Central Railway and the Northern Railway are Dar es Salaam and Mombasa. Of course, there is also the New Hamburg Port City to the south of the Central Railway.
As the saying goes, a train runs fast because of its headband. Dar es Salaam and Mombasa play the role of locomotives. As for the New Hamburg Port City, after all, its time is too short, and its heritage is different from that of these two cities. If you can’t compare with the established cities, you won’t be able to predict the future.
However, Ernst does not believe that the new Hamburg Port City will surpass the two old predecessors. Whether it can even join the top three among coastal cities is questionable.
This involves the Port of Maputo, which Ernst cherishes so much. However, the Port of Maputo is still in the hands of the Portuguese. When East Africa actually takes it over, I don’t know when. At that time The New Hamburg Port City has been developing for many years, and its first-mover advantage is obvious.
For example, if Maputo is in the hands of East Africa, it will definitely be built in the southern section of the Central Railway. But now it is a done deal, allowing the New Hamburg Port City to take the lead.
The role of railways in driving the economy is quite obvious, especially trunk lines like the Central Railway. There may not be any railway line in East Africa that can surpass the Central Railway in the future. After all, when Ernst designed this line , it can be said that it co-ordinates the most elite areas in East Africa.
In the Central Railway, the more well-known capitals of African countries in the past include Dodoma (the capital of Tanzania), Lusaka (the capital of Zambia), Harare (the capital of Zimbabwe), and Dar es, which served as the capital. Salam City, Pretoria; a number of important African cities, Mbeya, Bulawayo, Lubumbashi, etc.
The line basically covers most of the mineral producing areas, cities, and villages in East Africa. Therefore, East African cities that can connect with the Central Railway will have a high starting point for future development.
The new Hamburg Port City, a sea and land transportation hub, combined with the rich mineral resources of the former Transvaal Republic and the Zulu Kingdom, if it can be developed reasonably in the future, it can compete with Mombasa and Dar es The city of Salam is trying to force the situation, but the specifics will depend on whether the leadership of the new Hamburg Port City in the future can provide adequate support.
As of now, the only cities in the first echelon of East African urban economies are Dar es Salaam, Mombasa, Mbeya and Nairobi.
If the New Hamburg Port City wants to be on an equal footing with these cities, it depends on subsequent development. However, it should not be difficult to surpass Mbeya and Nairobi in the future. It is only a matter of time, because the New Hamburg Port City is in South Africa. , guarding resources that are difficult to reach in two cities.
As for the cities of Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, it is almost impossible to be overtaken. These two cities have the most advantageous conditions in East Africa and involve the large regional economy in East Africa. , but overall Dar es Salaam has the advantage. After all, Dar es Salaam is surrounded by other cities, while Mombasa can only stay together with Nairobi and Tanga.
(End of this chapter)