Chapter 3199: Better to come at the right time than to come early

The endless stream of freight trains did not stop even until the sky gradually darkened.

Ye Chen and Li Yalin observed their operating patterns. Generally, after the diesel locomotive pulls the entire train of freight cars into the port's freight yard, it completes uncoupling in the freight yard, then turns around via another line, and then pulls another train of cars away.

Those cars full of goods left in the freight yard will be pulled by a shunting locomotive into a factory building built over multiple tracks for unloading. After the goods are unloaded, they must pass through customs inspection, and then be transported by freight trucks within the port to the bulk cargo loading and unloading wharf for shipping.

In the southeast direction of the freight yard, there is also a relatively large railway marshalling station. Goods imported to the Casablanca port, if they need rail transport, are marshaled and loaded here after going through customs clearance procedures, and then pulled by a locomotive to their destination.

This means that the freight trains themselves are isolated from the interior of the port. Goods sent here have not yet gone through customs clearance procedures, while goods waiting for transshipment here have already completed customs clearance procedures, so the management of the freight train yard is relatively lax.

After nightfall, Ye Chen and Li Yalin first had dinner at the hotel. In the restaurant, Ye Chen saw a young waiter from China, so he asked him: "Young man, do you know what language the locals use more?"

The waiter said: "Sir, ordinary people here speak more Arabic, while public officials in government departments and faculty in schools basically speak French."

Ye Chen nodded. Morocco was under French colonial rule for a long time, and French is very popular in the government and education system. It is likely for this reason.

However, Ye Chen doesn't know much French. His parents taught him some when he was a child, but the learning time was short and the time apart was long, so Ye Chen's understanding of French is limited to some basic terms.

So, he thanked the waiter, and after the waiter left, he asked Li Yalin: "Does Detective Li speak French?"

Li Yalin nodded and said: "Because I have been dealing with people from countries around the United States and European countries for many years, I have learned both French and Spanish, and I am quite proficient."

Ye Chen breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good, otherwise I would have to find a translator now."

Li Yalin hurriedly said: "Mr. Ye, I don't know anything about Arabic."

Ye Chen said: "It's okay. The people we are going to contact tonight are all port staff. The port is especially important to Casablanca. The management positions there should all have received local elite education since childhood, and French must be the first language."

Li Yalin nodded and said: "If they speak French, then there will definitely be no problem."

After eating, the two took a taxi to the management office of the port railway. The transport dispatch of the entire port railway is responsible by this place.

Li Yalin looked at the gate of the management office and asked Ye Chen with some doubts: "Mr. Ye, are we just going in like this?"

Ye Chen nodded. He had just used his Qi to explore the situation inside the entire management office. At this time, except for one security guard responsible for security work outside the management office, there were a total of nine people working inside, six of whom were in the largest room on the second floor, which should be their dispatch room, and the remaining three were in different offices respectively.

Ye Chen's idea was very simple: directly use psychological suggestion to control the security guard outside the door, ask him who the person in charge here is, and then let him take the two to find the other party.

So, he said to Li Yalin: "Detective Li, when you see me pat the other party's shoulder later, just ask him in French who is in charge here, and then let him take us over."

"Okay." Li Yalin nodded. He knew that Ye Chen had great supernatural powers, and he didn't need to ask more, just follow his instructions.

The two came to the outside of the management office. The security guard outside the door saw that they were two Asians, so he shouted at the two in broken English: "Leave! Leave!"

Seeing the security guard directly driving the two away, Ye Chen smiled and said in English: "Brother, don't you remember me?"

As he spoke, he channeled a strand of Qi into the other party's brain, and then he walked up and patted the other party's shoulder like an old friend.

Li Yalin hurriedly stepped forward at this time and asked him in French: "Where is the person in charge here?"

The other party answered truthfully: "Our deputy manager is working the night shift in the office."

Li Yalin nodded: "Take us to see him."

The other party immediately said: "Please follow me."

After saying that, the other party immediately turned around, stepped into the door, and walked towards the second floor.

Ye Chen and Li Yalin followed behind, all the way to the second office at the end of the second-floor corridor.

The man pointed to the door of the office. Li Yalin stepped forward and knocked twice. Inside, a voice also said in French: "Come in."

Li Yalin pushed the door and entered, and Ye Chen followed closely behind. The man saw the two and asked with some surprise: "Who are you?"

As soon as the words fell, he was also given psychological suggestion by Ye Chen.

Then Ye Chen said to Li Yalin: "Detective Li, let him introduce us to the operating mode here, as well as Duke Mining's freight records. If there are driving records of the train, it would be even better."

Li Yalin immediately asked the other party in French, and then the other party immediately introduced the general situation here to the two.

Morocco mines nearly 40 million tons of phosphate every year, of which more than 10 million tons are used for export, and the rest are used to make 20 million tons of phosphate derivatives for export, mostly chemical fertilizers. Most of these more than 30 million tons of goods are exported to all parts of the world. A part of the exports is digested by other African countries, and the rest basically have to be exported from the Casablanca port to the whole world, so the railway transport here is very busy, with at least twenty or thirty freight trains full of goods entering the station every day.

The trains entering and leaving the port do not adopt a 24-hour operation mode, but operate for fourteen hours a day, from 7:00 am to 9:00 pm. There are two more freight trains entering the station within half an hour tonight. After these two trains enter the station, there will be no more trains entering the station tonight, and the management office can also get off work, leaving only two people on duty daily.

However, the freight yard works 24 hours a day without interruption. Trains coming in at night have to be unloaded overnight, and many goods that have to be shipped out early tomorrow morning also have to be loaded at night.

Morocco's trunk railways basically belong to the Moroccan National Railways, that is, the Moroccan National Railways.

However, because this is a supporting facility of the port, the interior of the station is responsible by the port's own transport management office.

As for all trains, train-related drivers, and maintenance personnel, they are all employees of the Moroccan National Railways.

The operation plan of freight trains is also dispatched by the Moroccan National Railways. This place is only responsible for receiving plans, arranging the order and time of cargo loading and unloading according to the train operation plan, and arranging for trains to stop at designated locations and load and unload goods at designated times.

The area where Duke Mining is located is in the core production area of Moroccan phosphate, about 200 kilometers away from here, just on the special railway line for phosphate transport.

The phosphate special railway line was invested and built by the Moroccan National Railways. Every phosphate company of a certain scale along the way can pay the Moroccan National Railways to build a branch line directly into the enterprise for the convenience of train passage and to reduce transport costs.

And in addition to paying a construction fee to the Moroccan National Railways, after connecting to the trunk line, the enterprise also has to regularly pay threshold fees to the National Railways, as well as transport costs generated by specific transport.

However, even so, the unit transport cost of the enterprise is much cheaper than using automobile transport.

Although Duke Mining is not the largest phosphate enterprise here, its scale is medium-to-high, with an annual phosphate production of about 1 million tons. Moreover, Duke Mining is not involved in the production of derivatives, and all phosphate produced is used for export, so they have a train loaded with phosphate departing from Duke Mining and arriving at the port almost every day.

Coincidentally, the two also learned from the other party that the last freight train scheduled to enter the port tonight is the one from Duke Mining.

This train is expected to enter the station around 8:45 pm, and in tomorrow's freight train operation plan, there happens to be a train heading to Duke Mining, which means that a batch of imported goods from Duke Mining has arrived at the port and needs to be loaded and transported back tomorrow.

As for the driving record video Ye Chen wants to see, the management office is not qualified to retrieve it, but it is possible to find a way to check inside the locomotive after the train enters the station.

After hearing this news, Ye Chen immediately said to Li Yalin: "What is called better to come at the right time than to come early? Let's check this freight train first today, and by the way, check what Duke Mining is going to transport back tomorrow!" ===== CHAPTER 3200 =====