King of Industry

  Chapter 686 I am willing to recommend myself

  In the office, Li Kejian and Qin Yang sat up straight after hearing what Zhao Guoyang said.

   Obviously, these two leaders are still very concerned about the development status of the country's shipbuilding industry.

  Zhao Guoyang sighed softly, and said: "Old Li, Director Qin, you two should also know that with the development of the world economy, the speed of large-scale ships and deep-sea development of marine resource development will be further accelerated."

   "And this requires a large number of steels with special properties for the shipbuilding industry and marine industry."

   "Because our country started late, there is a big gap between the international advanced level in the research and production of special steel for the shipbuilding industry and marine industry."

   "If we want to improve the level of our domestic shipbuilding manufacturing industry, the improvement of the level of special steel smelting is a big problem that our country has to face."

  After Zhao Guoyang finished speaking, Li Kejian couldn't help but sighed slightly.

  As a domestic industry leader, Mr. Li has always been very concerned about the improvement of domestic steel manufacturing level, and has also helped out a lot of ideas.

  In recent years, although the total domestic steel production has gradually leapt to the forefront of the world, in this respect, China is already a big steel country.

  However, being big but not strong is the main problem in the domestic steel industry.

  You must know that the conditions for a strong steel country are to have world-leading production capacity and technical level, and to be able to produce high-performance, high-tech and high-added products.

  While basically satisfying the domestic market, Huaxia’s steel production still focuses on high energy consumption and low value-added products, and most of the high value-added steel products still rely on imports. This is not a good phenomenon in Mr. Li’s opinion.

  The shipbuilding industry, because of the variety and quantity of high-performance special steel required, further highlights the lack of domestic steel manufacturing.

  At this time, Zhao Guoyang's narration happened to touch Li Kejian deep in his heart, and he couldn't help feeling a little sad.

   Qin Yang on the side may also see Li Lao's melancholy, so he forced a smile and said: "The problem that Researcher Zhao mentioned does exist. You are an expert in this field, I wonder if you can tell me in detail?"

   "For example, what kinds of special steel materials are urgently needed by the shipbuilding industry and the marine industry; in terms of technology, how far is the gap between us and the international advanced level, and so on..."

  Since the leader has spoken, Zhao Guoyang of course knows everything.

  He sorted out his thoughts, and then slowly explained what he knew about the status quo of special steel required by the shipbuilding industry.

   "According to the current situation of our domestic ship production, the gaps in special steel are mainly the following categories... First, it is the low-temperature steel used by liquefied gas carriers."

   "Internationally, liquefied gas is mainly carried out by special transport ships for liquefied gas, including LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) ships and LNG (liquefied natural gas) ships."

"The internationally accepted "Code for Steel Materials and Welding" stipulates the low-temperature ductile steel used for the construction of liquid cargo tanks and adjacent hull structures of liquefied gas carriers, including carbon-manganese steel and Nickel alloy steel with a temperature of -60~-196°C."

  “Among them, 9Ni steel is the most important steel type for building self-supporting LNG ship storage tanks. Unfortunately, there is no domestic steel manufacturing enterprise that can produce this kind of 9Ni steel plate for ships.”

Zhao Guoyang sighed and said: "With the enhancement of human awareness of environmental protection, the proportion of clean energy in international energy consumption will gradually increase, which will inevitably lead to a large number of applications of LPG ships and LNG ships. This requires a large amount of low-temperature steel, such as 9Ni steel and expansion steel. Alloy, etc."

   "None of our domestic steel manufacturing companies has the ability to mass-produce this type of low-temperature steel. If you want to manufacture this kind of liquefied gas carrier, this type of special steel can only be imported..."

  After listening to Zhao Guoyang's narration, Mr. Li, who is familiar with the situation of the steel manufacturing industry, sighed for a while.

  Although Qin Yang is not particularly proficient in steel manufacturing, he is still sweating.

   Indeed, if what the researcher Zhao just said is correct, the development prospects of the domestic shipbuilding industry are really worrying.

Zhao Guoyang paused for a moment, then continued to speak: "In addition to low-temperature steel, special steel that is often used in the shipbuilding industry and marine industry, it also includes ship plates for welding with high heat input, steel plates with high crack arrest performance, and steel plates with high crack arrest performance. Ultra-high-strength steel for offshore platforms.”

   "As far as I know, there are few steel manufacturers in China that can mass-produce these special steels."

Speaking of this, Zhao Guoyang sighed and said: "It is no exaggeration to say that if the domestic steel manufacturing enterprises cannot achieve a large improvement in the production level of special steel products. Our Chinese shipbuilding industry wants to take off. That's a no-brainer..."

  Hearing Zhao Guoyang's somewhat exaggerated words, Qin Yang was stunned.

   But when he saw Li Kejian next to him nodding in approval, he could only force himself to accept the radical ideas of this young "Researcher Zhao".

   Zhao Guoyang seemed to think of something suddenly, and said again: "Ah, by the way, Director Qin. There is another important type of special steel, I forgot to tell you."

  Qin Yang was slightly taken aback, and then hurriedly said: "Researcher Zhao, just say it, I'm listening!"

  Zhao Guoyang nodded with a "hmm" and said, "The last special steel is corrosion-resistant steel..."

  Hearing the three words "corrosion-resistant steel", Li Kejian seemed to be awakened, and soon regained his energy.

   "Corrosion-resistant steel? Is it stainless steel? Researcher Zhao, there seems to be a domestic company that can produce stainless steel, right?"

  Qin Yang should know something about this aspect, after listening to Zhao Guoyang's narration, he couldn't help interjecting.

Zhao Guoyang took a deep breath and explained: "Director Qin is half right. This corrosion-resistant steel is indeed a type of stainless steel. It refers to steel that can resist corrosion in certain strong corrosive media. Stainless steel is just Steel resistant to corrosion in air or weak media."

   "To put it bluntly, stainless steel is not necessarily corrosion-resistant, and corrosion-resistant steel must be stainless steel."

  Hearing this, Qin Yang slapped his head and suddenly realized.

  After Qin Yang understood it, Zhao Guoyang continued: "In our country, according to the difference in corrosion resistance of various stainless steels, the specifications are set from 301 to 349."

   "But in fact, domestic steel manufacturers can only produce stainless steel in the range of 301~314."

   "In international shipbuilding, the performance of the corrosion-resistant steel required is at least 321 or higher. In other words, in terms of corrosion-resistant steel, our domestic shipbuilding enterprises are completely dependent on imports..."

  Zhao Guoyang's narration made Li Kejian and Qin Yang, the two leaders, a little ashamed.

   Indeed, as the department leaders of the Ministry of Machinery and Electronics Industry and the State Oceanic Administration, the two of them are responsible for leading the domestic shipbuilding industry.

  The current lag of this industry has also put a lot of pressure on the two leaders.

  Zhao Guoyang did not notice the unnaturalness of Mr. Li and Director Qin. Since he mentioned corrosion-resistant steel, he had to introduce more about the meaning of this special steel.

"Director Qin, the reason why I specifically mention this corrosion-resistant steel is because it is an indispensable special steel for oil tankers. In the cargo oil tanks of oil tankers, the amount of corrosion-resistant steel accounts for 40% of the total steel consumption of ships. ~45%, which means crude oil corrosion resistant steel plate has a huge market demand.”

   "You know, as an important tool for international crude oil transportation, the number of oil tankers has been increasing every year. And the range is quite large..."

  As the leader of the State Oceanic Administration, Qin Yang is no stranger to the widespread use of oil tankers.

  After listening to Zhao Guoyang's explanation, he nodded deeply and said, "I really understand a lot after listening to what you said, Researcher Zhao!"

   "It seems that if we want to achieve some success in this pilot project of the State Oceanic Administration and the Ministry of Machinery and Electronics Industry, we really have to start with steel companies first?"

After Qin Yang finished speaking, Zhao Guoyang replied in a serious manner: "It is true, Director Qin, the development of the shipbuilding industry is inseparable from the development of the steel industry. On this issue, I think the two leaders and departments, It’s totally conceivable.”

  Zhao Guoyang explained in a calm tone: "As we all know, the shipbuilding industry is one of the eight major industries in the world's steel consumption. Specifically, in China, the annual steel demand of the shipbuilding industry is at least between 2 and 2.5 million tons."

"Among them, 80%-90% of marine steel plates are only the steel consumed by shipbuilding itself, not including steel other than shipbuilding, such as steel for building factories and equipment for shipbuilding. In this respect, the domestic marine steel market , is huge."

  Hearing this, Qin Yang's eyes lit up, and he already understood what Zhao Guoyang meant.

  Sure enough, Zhao Guoyang quickly continued: "I think, since we want to start this pilot project of private shipbuilding, it's better to solve some special steel issues as a package."

   "In this way, we can gradually explore the path of private enterprises and get involved in the shipbuilding industry; at the same time, we can improve our domestic steel production technology level to a certain extent. It is really the best of both worlds!"

  Qin Yang rubbed his chin and nodded again and again when he heard the words: "Well, yes! Researcher Zhao's idea can definitely be implemented, it is very feasible!"

  Seeing that Director Qin was gradually "getting into the game", Li Kejian on the side glanced at Zhao Guoyang amusedly.

   As for Mr. Li, Zhao Guoyang didn't think about hiding it. He didn't feel ashamed at all when he glanced at him.

  Zhao Guoyang calmed down for a while, and said with a shy voice: "Director Qin, regarding the private shipbuilding pilot project you proposed, I am willing to recommend myself!"

   "Oh? Self-recommendation? Could it be that Researcher Zhao owns a shipbuilding company?" Hearing this, Qin Yang was puzzled.

  (end of this chapter)