Chapter 352: Integration and Monopoly

Although Spain's five-year shipbuilding plan was proceeding very smoothly, the cabinet government began to discuss the current status of Spain's shipbuilding industry.

As the former "Empire on which the sun never sets," Spain's shipbuilding industry was, after all, a "lean camel is bigger than a horse," and it could still rank among the top in Europe during its weakest period.

Up to now, in addition to Spain's four official shipyards, there were dozens of medium-sized shipyards with a certain scale and hundreds of small shipyards with small scales.

The development of private shipyards was also quite fast. As Spain's colonies expanded to Africa, the shipping between Spain's mainland and Africa also promoted the development of the mainland's shipbuilding industry.

But no matter how it developed, Spain's mainland shipbuilding industry still presented a dilemma of "excessive manufacturing, insufficient R&D."

It was not a difficult task for these medium-sized shipyards to build cruise ships and cargo ships of several thousand tons. The same was true for smaller shipyards; they could also build commercial coastal vessels of several hundred tons with ease.

But to ask them to design a brand-new cruise ship or cargo ship completely from scratch, most shipyards could not complete this task.

Technological updates and iterations are not achieved overnight; they are accumulated by the efforts of hundreds or thousands of experts over many years. This also means that every update and iteration of related technologies requires a large amount of time cost, as well as human, material, and financial resources.

Clearly, the role played by those hundreds or even thousands of small shipyards in technological updates and iterations was not as good as that of dozens of medium-sized shipyards.

Although monopoly does not necessarily mean a good thing, compared to hundreds of small shipyards "involutioning" on small civilian vessels, it would be better to integrate them into fewer medium-to-large enterprises, enabling them to have the ability to independently research and design new types of ships.

In December 1890, Spain's Cabinet Minister of Industry, Huo Weiliyaer Suolaier, introduced the situation of Spain's shipbuilding industry to all the ministers of the cabinet government and Gao Da, who was attending the meeting.

"Your Majesty, everyone. Currently, the development of our shipbuilding industry has achieved great results with the development of mainland industry and economy and the construction of colonies."

"According to the statistics of the industrial department, our country has a total of 322 shipyards that are approved for legal operation, and the number of ships built annually exceeds 1,000."

"However, among these 322 shipyards, 275 belong to small shipyards, with only 200-500 shipyard workers. The proportion of small shipyards reached 85.4%, and these 275 shipyards can only build small private ships under 800 tons."

"There are about 32 shipyards with a total number of workers exceeding 500. There are only 11 shipyards in all of Spain with a total number of workers exceeding 1,000."

"As for shipyards with more than 5,000 workers, we currently only have 4, namely the Royal Guarnizo Shipyard, the Valencia United Shipyard, the El Ferrol Royal Naval Shipyard, and the Cartagena Shipyard."

"Currently, our country has about 134,000 shipyard workers, an increase of about 6% compared to last year. After the release of our five-year shipbuilding plan, it is expected that the growth rate of shipyard workers will remain above 5% in the next five years," Minister Huo Weiliyaer Suolaier introduced the current situation of Spain's shipbuilding industry in detail to the cabinet ministers and Gao Da.

Overall, Spain's shipbuilding industry was still quite good. 134,000 shipyard workers reflected the huge scale of Spain's shipbuilding industry, and a 5% growth in shipyard workers each year was equivalent to an increase of 6,700 shipyard workers per year.

Such data can be summarized in one sentence: Spain's current shipbuilding industry is thriving and booming.

Of course, "praising first and then suppressing" is also a common method for cabinet ministers to report the situation.

Minister Huo Weiliyaer continued: "Although our shipbuilding industry is expanding rapidly every year, except for the four official shipyards, the remaining expansion is mainly concentrated on small shipyards with fewer than 500 people."

"In the past two years, the number of small shipyards with fewer than 500 people has increased by 9 and 11 respectively. The increase in the number of these small shipyards alone can bring us an increase of thousands of shipyard workers."

"But the continuous increase in the number of small shipyards is not necessarily a good thing. Because of the insufficient number of workers, the warships built by these small shipyards are often small ships with low technical content."

"Although with the prosperity of the economy and the development of colonies, the domestic demand for small ships is also constantly increasing. But compared to the growth in the number of shipyards, the growth in demand for small ships is limited."

"After statistics on the number of orders and profits for civilian ships under 1,000 tons by the industrial department, we found a relatively tricky problem."

"Compared to five years ago, the order profit for civilian ships under 1,000 tons has fallen by 15%."

"On the one hand, it is because our per capita income is constantly increasing, and on the other hand, it is because against the backdrop of the surge in the number of small shipyards, the competition for small ships is also constantly increasing."

"According to the current growth rate of the number of small shipyards, perhaps in 10 years, these small shipyards will turn from profit to loss, thereby affecting the development of the entire shipbuilding industry."

In fact, to put it bluntly, Spain's current shipbuilding industry is in two extremes with completely opposite situations in the directions of large ships and small ships.

The small ship market is highly competitive for orders because there are too many shipyards, and shipyards have to lower their prices to obtain orders.

This has led to lower and lower profits for small shipyards, which are likely to face a situation where income is less than expenditure in the future, leading to large-scale losses or even bankruptcy of small shipyards.

And in terms of medium and large warships, Spain's shipbuilding industry reflects a situation of "too much porridge and too few monks."

Except for the four official shipyards that focus more on the military ship field, Spain has a total of 43 shipyards with more than 500 employees.

Among these 43 shipyards, 32 can only build medium-sized ships of the 1,000-ton class and cannot build large ships of several thousand tons.

There are only 11 shipyards that can truly build large ships, and these 11 shipyards vary in scale; only a scattered few can build several large ships at the same time.

With Spain's development of African colonies, economic exchanges between the mainland and African colonies have become more and more frequent.

Every day, a large amount of goods are transported from the mainland to Africa, and a large amount of goods are transported from Africa to the mainland.

The transportation of these goods relies entirely on the participation of large cargo ships, which is why Spain's shipbuilding industry reflects a situation of "too much porridge and too few monks" in terms of large ships. Large ships can be said to be in short supply in Spain, and even transportation companies established by nobles and capitalists have to purchase large transport ships abroad.

In addition to the economic exchanges between Spain's mainland and colonies, Spain's foreign import and export also require a large number of cargo ships to provide assistance.

Faced with the shortage of medium and large shipyards, it is indeed necessary to consider merging some small shipyards to improve Spain's foundation and quantity in terms of medium and large shipyards.

After listening to the report of Minister Huo Weiliyaer Suolaier, Gao Da nodded and asked: "Regarding the problems in our shipbuilding industry, what ideas does the industrial department have?"

Minister Huo Weiliyaer nodded and replied: "Your Majesty, in my opinion, we do not need so many small shipyards."

"The construction cost of small shipyards is too low, and a small shipyard with a certain scale can be established with a certain amount of capital. But in terms of medium and large shipyards, even with sufficient capital, it may not be possible to build a medium and large shipyard in a short period of time."

"Considering our increasing demand for large ships, I think it is necessary to integrate some small shipyards to increase the number of our medium and large shipyards to more than 50."

"At the same time, the government should introduce certain subsidy policies to help these medium and large shipyards better stabilize their footing. Only after these medium and large shipyards stand firm in the domestic and foreign markets can our shipbuilding industry compete with other major European powers."

"Before this, the government needs to pay a certain financial price, and perhaps also help these shipyards cultivate a new batch of skilled shipyard workers."

The Spanish government is actually no stranger to such methods.

As early as more than ten years ago, Spain adopted the same method in the field of military shipyards.

Originally, there were more than a dozen Spanish military shipyards, and after the final integration, only the current four major military shipyards remained.

Minister Huo Weiliyaer's proposal is actually to imitate Spain's integration experience in military shipyards and integrate some civilian shipyards.

Small shipyards do not have much improvement for the country, but medium and large shipyards have a certain improvement for the country and also have strategic value.

Civilian shipyards can be completely transformed into military shipyards in wartime, and this transformation speed is far faster than the speed of building a military shipyard from scratch.

If Spain can build dozens of medium and large shipyards, it also means that Spain has dozens of military shipyards that can build warships during wartime.

At that time, the four major shipyards can be allowed to build battleships with all their might, and these medium and large shipyards that have been converted into military shipyards can be allowed to build cruisers of several thousand tons and other types of warships.

Gao Da nodded, but did not directly agree to Minister Huo Weiliyaer's proposal, but looked at Prime Minister Canovas and asked: "What does the Prime Minister think? Does anyone else have any ideas?"

At this time, Prime Minister Canovas was no longer the political newcomer who needed the support of the Duke of Serrano to stabilize his position. Since officially becoming Spain's cabinet prime minister in 1877, Prime Minister Canovas had spent 13 years in the position of Spain's highest government leader.

Being re-elected as cabinet prime minister for three consecutive terms reflected Gao Da's trust in Prime Minister Canovas on the one hand, and also reflected Prime Minister Canovas's ability and influence on the other.

Currently, Prime Minister Canovas is undoubtedly the person with the highest influence in Spanish politics, and his influence is no less than that of the former Prime Minister Primo, only his control over the army is still a little worse.

Hearing Gao Da's inquiry, Prime Minister Canovas shook his head and said with a smile: "I approve of Minister Huo Weiliyaer's proposal. For the problems that have appeared in the shipbuilding industry, perhaps this approach is the best solution."

Prime Minister Canovas had no objections, so naturally, others would not stand up and put forward their own views.

After all, neither Gao Da nor Prime Minister Canovas expressed opposition. Standing up to oppose at this time, isn't that openly slapping the King and the Prime Minister in the face?

Seeing that no one expressed opposition, Gao Da nodded and then issued an order: "Since there are no objections, then adopt the method mentioned by Minister Huo Weiliyaer."

"The industrial department should come up with a plan as soon as possible, and the subsidy issues for shipyards involved can be communicated and resolved with the financial department."

"After there is a complete plan, your cabinet can vote on it yourself."

For these twenty years of being a king, Gao Da's biggest experience is not to express too much opinion during cabinet meetings.

As long as the King does not have a clear attitude, the final responsibility has nothing to do with the King. If this matter succeeds, the credit will not be less for Gao Da.

Because this method has been used once in military shipyards, Gao Da is not worried that such a plan will fail.

Even if the integration of small shipyards gives birth to a few powerful medium and large shipyards, these shipyards will not be able to achieve a monopoly position.

Even if there are enterprises that can achieve a monopoly position, they are destined not to affect Gao Da's power in Spain. The biggest difference between Spain and other European countries is that official enterprises with the background of the royal family and the government have become giants in Spanish capital.

Coupled with the capital of the nobles as assistance, it is difficult for domestic or foreign capital to obtain the power of the Spanish government.

The benefit of state capitalism is like this. Capital can indeed have an impact on the government. But the biggest capital is the royal family and the government, which can ensure that the only ones who can have an impact on the government are the royal family, and other capital is just "pediatrics" in front of official capital.

Among Spain's four major shipyards, the royal family has a certain share. The largest Royal Guarnizo Shipyard is completely controlled by the royal family. This is a super-large shipyard with nearly 10,000 employees. How can other shipyards compete with this giant?

In these twenty years, the royal family's capital has already penetrated into all walks of life in Spain. Some important industries, such as heavy industry, chemical industry, military industry, oil, and agriculture, all have the shadow of royal capital.

Let alone a monopoly enterprise in a certain industry, even if several monopoly enterprises are combined, they are destined not to be comparable to the capital power of the current royal consortium.

Whether it is competing for influence on the government or competing for pure capital, looking at the whole world, there are not many capitals that are opponents of the Spanish royal family.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 353 =====