African Entrepreneurship Record

Chapter 1076: Chapter 85: Momentum

At present, the shipbuilding industry in East Africa has grown considerably, and in terms of the number of ships built annually, it has become a major global shipbuilding power.

With the implementation of the second Five-Year Plan, by the end of 1908, the total tonnage of East African civilian vessels had exceeded two million tons, approaching three million tons, accounting for about seven percent of the world’s civilian shipbuilding industry.

At that time, Germany’s total civilian ship tonnage was about three million tons, showing little difference with East Africa. Of course, the United Kingdom was more formidable, with its civilian ship tonnage accounting for more than fifty percent worldwide, approaching twenty million tons, even though during the 1890s, the share was even higher. Even as the shipbuilding industries of various countries developed, the UK’s share decreased but still led other countries by a vast margin.

The United Kingdom firmly held onto its top position in the world shipbuilding industry. Aside from domestic demand, a majority of orders from other countries were almost all given to the UK, including countries like East Africa and Germany, because of cost and technical factors, East Africa and Germany would also order ships from the UK.

Of course, East Africa has a long history of purchasing or leasing ships abroad, especially in earlier times when sailing ships had not yet fully retired from the historical stage. To meet domestic immigration and cargo transportation needs, East Africa even bought ships from small countries like Italy, the Netherlands, and Greece.

As time went on, East Africa’s shipbuilding industry experienced a leap in development, especially after the implementation of the second Five-Year Plan, where most domestic needs could basically be met by domestic shipbuilding companies.

Moreover, during the peak period of construction in the East African shipbuilding industry, it had basically bid farewell to the sailing era; currently, most of the shipbuilding industry in East Africa was at an upper-middle level, and in military shipbuilding, there was essentially no significant technical gap between East Africa and other great powers.

Through two Five-Year Plans, East African port cities have basically been fully developed, especially in the coastal regions of former Angola and Mozambique, where the East African shipbuilding industry has expanded nearly threefold since 1900.

Emerging coastal cities such as Cabinda, Luanda, Benguela, Bela, Crimane, and Maputo have developed rapidly, the number of important East African port cities has increased from over twenty in the 1890s to nearly forty.

The rise of these cities has significantly propelled the development of the East African shipbuilding industry, enhancing East Africa’s position as a maritime great power.

This has also created a rather prosperous and spectacular scene along the East and West coasts of Africa, with trade along the African coast flourishing once more following the Suez Canal’s replacement of the Cape of Good Hope.

Before the opening of the Suez Canal, most ships had to detour around the Cape of Good Hope, but after the opening of the Suez Canal, the shipping along Africa’s east and west coasts actually experienced a long period of decline until they rose again with East Africa’s emergence; only in the 1980s did East Coast trade begin to gradually recover its prosperity.

And after the South African War, East Africa became a veritable two-ocean nation, and with East Africa’s expansion into the American, Western European, and West African markets, commerce along the West Coast also became active once more.

The presence of East Africa has caused the shipping lanes along the East and West coasts of Africa to become one of the world’s main commercial routes again. Before the opening of the Suez Canal, although many ships passed by, except for small coastal areas, Africa had basically not been developed, so goods that could be traded from Africa were limited to a few specialties like slaves and ivory.

East Africa’s development of Africa directly propelled the prosperity of various commodities trading along the East and West African coasts, which also marked the first emergence of a country in sub-Saharan Africa exporting industrial goods externally.

In summary, the East African shipbuilding industry has a solid foundation for development, with East Africa’s own demand greatly promoting the rapid development of its shipbuilding industry in recent years.

Ernst said to the government officials, ”Emerging industries are not just industries that did not appear during the First Industrial Revolution. For example, electricity, automobiles, petroleum, and chemicals are new industries. There are also new emerging industries distinguished from ordinary traditional industries due to significant technological innovation, such as steel, railroads, and shipbuilding industries.”

”For instance, today’s steel industry is vastly different from the past. Although the product is still steel, there has been a monumental shift in technology. The steel industry used to rely on coal, but now focuses more on iron ore, and it is more efficient in the utilization of coal, with new steel production technologies based on the Thomas Steelmaking Method making today’s steel production distinctly different from that during the First Industrial Revolution, allowing Germany and the United States to surpass the United Kingdom in the steel industry.”

”Thus, this type of emerging industry is different from what we normally consider emerging industries. On the surface, it appears to be the same as traditional industries, but internally, there have been fundamental changes.”

Everyone deeply agreed with Ernst’s words, as East Africa’s industrial acceleration has been evident since the 1890s; they have all been witnesses. Nowadays, emerging industries have permeated all aspects of East Africans’ lives, such as clothing, food, housing, and transportation.

Unreservedly, East Africa, in a certain sense, has actually surpassed Europe and America; East Africans can enjoy technological products that many countries cannot, with home appliances and automobiles being the most typical examples.

However, East Africa’s industrial capacity still has significant room to grow, and in many fields, there remains a gap with Europe and the United States, causing East Africa’s overall industrial capacity to still be inferior to Germany and the United States.

As for the United Kingdom, with the nearing completion of the second Five-Year Plan, East Africa may very well have overtaken the UK in industrial terms.

After all, as early as five years ago, East Africa’s steel production was nearly on par with the UK’s. Steel production is the most intuitive data for industrial development during this Era, so to some extent, steel production can be used to infer a country’s level of industrial development; currently, East Africa’s steel production is definitely above that of the UK.

Of course, in terms of per capita figures, East Africa surely still has a large gap compared to the UK. For example, regarding per capita steel production, in 1900, East Africa’s steel production was about three million tons, with a population more than twice that of the UK, while the UK’s steel production at that time was close to five million tons.

And this five million tons of steel production does not include steel production from UK colonies, so before the first Five-Year Plan, East Africa’s per capita steel availability was significantly different from that of the UK. But over time, this must have greatly improved, although surpassing the UK remains no easy task in the minds of the East African government.

Of course, when comparing national strength, especially with the industries of other countries, per capita figures hold little significance for the East African government; industrial volume and the resources available for use are what the East African officials consider more important.

As a nation with a large government, with control over vast national resources, the East African government assumes its industry is second only to that of the United States and Germany. After all, the population size and land area of East Africa also demand that it cannot rank too low. Regarding per capita figures, they are mainly applicable in the realm of public welfare rather than in competition with other countries; as East Africa’s level of industrialization increases, per capita figures will naturally improve as well.

Moreover, the industrialization of East Africa is almost entirely government-led, which naturally makes the East African government pay more attention to the total industry rather than per capita figures, given that many see the development of East African industrialization as driven by the government.

In summary, as the second Five-Year Plan nears its end, the changes within East Africa are practically visible, especially in terms of industrial construction.

The emergence of emerging industries and the upgrading of traditional industries has brought unexpected results to the East African government because the rise of emerging industries has caused the second Five-Year Plan to exceed the psychological expectations of the East African government, a detail previously ignored by them.

During the first Five-Year Plan, emerging industries did receive significant development and promotion, but during the second Five-Year Plan, with the further development of emerging industries, they generated even more evident driving force, allowing East Africa to experience a more rapid rate of development than during the first Five-Year Plan.