"Feng, Li, you all should know that we had given in to you and allowed you to invest in our ports is because we need to provide more jobs for our people."
"You all need workers for the port reconstruction and loading and unloading. But if you all use a large number of AI machines, you all will not be able to provide more jobs, and you all will still have to lay off workers, right?"
Feng Yu looks at Li Zeju, and Li Zeju nodded.
Machines are more efficient, and the higher the efficiency, the higher the port's transshipment rate. This way, they can load and unload more cargo ships within the same amount of time. No cargo ships will be willing to dock at the port empty. After they finished loading and unloading, they will leave immediately. This way, they can make more money with the same number of berths.
Moreover, because of their high efficiency, more carriers would choose to dock at their berths, especially for some fresh goods, which had extremely high time requirements. There was once a time when the port was congested, and the cargo ships were delayed for more than a day. In the end, all the fresh goods were spoiled, and the carriers and cargo owners suffered huge losses.
That's why the more efficient a port is, the more the cargo owners and carriers will look after it. If the port has a large storage area and enough warehouses, the US, which is the world's number one country in terms of trade, will have lots of customers.
Because of the higher efficiency, they can even raise the prices slightly, and many cargo owners will choose to dock at their berths. This way, their profits will be higher.
But there is a big problem, and it is very serious for the Obama administration. That is the hiring of workers.
The European and US labor unions are very powerful and can influence the US economy to a certain extent. If it weren't for the labor unions asking for higher salaries and benefits, the automobile companies will not apply for bankruptcy protection.
There are many similar cases in the US and Europe. For example, Thomson, Europe's top electronics and electronics manufacturer, is now in dire straits.
The main reason is that the cost had increased too fast, and the profits cannot keep up. The biggest part of the cost was the cost of hiring workers.
In Asia and Europe, the ports are modernizing. The machines and equipment do not require much manpower. But the US ports are very backward.
It wasn't that the United States couldn't buy advanced equipment, nor was it that they couldn't design and develop similar equipment. It was just that they were being sniped by the unions, so they couldn't use too many automated equipment.
The digital revolution first appeared in Seattle and San Francisco, one of the most technologically advanced areas in the United States and an important port city on the West Coast.
There was a study that showed that the automation and robotics technology of the US ports was more than 15 years behind the Asian and European ports. However, the US was still the country with the largest import and export trade in the world and the most advanced in technology. Wasn't this ironic?
There was a dock union on both the east and west coasts of the United States. They all felt that digitization would pose a serious threat to their jobs because most of the workers here only had a high school education or less.
The admission rate for the college entrance examination in the United States was close to 100%. This was because most schools in the United States could not recruit enough students, except for those famous schools. Moreover, there were many private schools in the United States.
That's why the US started to recruit international students to fill the shortage of students in their schools. At the same time, they can also promote themselves as the most advanced country in the world and attract foreigners to become US citizens.
Currently, only slightly more than 60% of US high school students choose to continue their studies, and more than 95% of Hua Xia's students. But Hua Xia's admission rate is only 75%, including the three forms of undergraduate and junior college.
The graduation rate in the US is much lower than Hua Xia's. Among the developed countries, it is the lowest. Many students will choose to drop out, and some will only graduate after more than 10 years.
But overall, Hua Xia's students are more willing to go to university. The proportion of uneducated people in the US is higher.
If these people can't find office jobs, what can they do? They can only choose to do manual labor. Luckily, the US industry is more developed and needs a lot of workers.
For example, cars, docks, train stations, etc., all need a lot of workers. Also, these workers' salaries are not low, and their benefits are good.
Their benefits were not high at first. But with the help of Han Xuan, the workers' salaries, medical, pension, and other benefits had increased by a lot.
The East Coast of the US is carrying out technological innovations, and they want to introduce modern equipment to increase efficiency. But a lot of workers lost their jobs, and the West Coast is more cautious.
There is a rumor that Dubai Global Ports was accused of endangering national security. One of the reasons is that Dubai Global Ports wants to upgrade the port and introduce fully automated operations. Even the cranes will be unmanned. This way, more than 95% of the workers will be laid off.
If Feng Yu and the rest want to introduce automated machinery to the port, Obama will never agree. This will increase the unemployment rate of the workers in the West Coast, and it might even trigger a strike. The losses will be immeasurable, and it will be a heavy blow to Obama's political career.
Feng Yu had not thought of this, and Li Zeju is in a difficult position. If they built a large berth to accommodate larger cargo ships, then when the larger cargo ships arrived, it would still be a semi-automated loading and unloading mode. The efficiency would still be very low, and the profits would be too low. The investment would not be worth it.
Feng Yu's profits will be the lowest because he needs to register a subsidiary in the US, and he needs to pay taxes there. The port was important, but there were no profits to invest in. Why should he invest in it?
"Reed, in the future, we will hire more workers who know how to operate computers. They will supervise the loading and unloading of the equipment in the control center, which is not exposed to the sun and wind. This way, there will not be a high safety risk."
"This is the development trend of the world's ports. Are you all going to let the ports fall behind? Think about the Automobile Union in the US. Because of them, what happened to Chrysler and Autos? Even Ford had to sell off half of its business to survive. Are you all going to repeat the same mistake? "
Feng Yu used the Automobile Union as an example. Giving in to the Automobile Union will only drag the company into the abyss. How to choose is important.
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