Chapter 202: The Logistics Tsunami

In the chairman's office of Fanghuan Investment, Su Hao was listening to another report.
"Chairman Su, according to the joint forecast of Netflix and ourselves, this year's revenue will steadily exceed 12 billion US dollars.
They said that as soon as the annual settlement is released, they will immediately deposit our share of the preferred stock dividend into our account."
With 12 billion US dollars in revenue, according to the preferred stock agreement signed at the time, this dividend would be at least several hundred million, and possibly even several billion.
In short, Netflix, the cash cow that no one had high hopes for, has been transformed by Su Hao into a non-stop money-printing machine.
"Furthermore, regarding the 'Money Heist' you mentioned earlier, Netflix has decided to follow the 'Stranger Things' model, pouring all resources into it and pushing it to the limit!"
Su Hao nodded slightly.
For Netflix, a blockbuster is just the beginning; a continuous stream of killer content is needed to keep users firmly on their platform.
"However, I've heard there's considerable internal opposition to *Money Heist* at Netflix.
After all, it's a story about bank robbers, and in the end, these lawless criminals are portrayed as heroes.
This script… many executives felt that, given the huge success and critical acclaim of *Stranger Things*, creating a show that doesn't promote 'good and evil,' but instead glorifies criminals as 'heroes of justice', was too risky. So the project was shelved."
"And then, with just one sentence, I got them to restart the project?"
"Yes. After you said 'go all out on this,' now everyone at Netflix is ​​incredibly excited. Even those who were the most vehemently opposed are now the most dedicated members of the project team!"
Su Hao wasn't worried about the professionalism of the people at Netflix.
Before *Stranger Things* launched, they produced incredibly compelling trailers and promotional posters, contributing significantly to the show's success.
They'll probably do the same this time.
If *Money Heist* becomes another hit, this investment can be a family heirloom; we don't have to do anything, just sit back and wait for the money to magically appear in our pockets.
"Then… the problem circles back to the headache-inducing shipping business." Lin Fan's voice lowered.
"With the collapse of Deutsche Bank, Jiangjin Group quickly entered the European market, acquiring semiconductor companies there and setting up a new chip foundry. This immediately infuriated TSMC."
As a result, they completely severed their cooperation with Fanghuan Shipping.
"The trouble is, the influence of that 'Pacific Rim Maritime Alliance' is greater than we imagined, stirring up trouble everywhere. Now, the 'Fanghuan Shipping crisis theory' is starting to emerge in the market.
There were already quite a few small shipping alliances, and now that American alliance is supporting them behind the scenes, together eroding our market share."
As a result, the cargo volume that was originally flowing to Fanghuan Shipping naturally plummeted.
"Furthermore, with the loss of the Port of Rotterdam, all cargo volume from Taiwan, led by TSMC, has shifted to the US alliance."
Not only that, international giants like Nvidia and AMD, which collaborate with TSMC, have also announced they will no longer use Fanghuan Shipping's services.
This feud has really escalated.
At this point, Su Hao felt he should probably seek compensation from Jiangjin Group for emotional distress.
"But, it's not at the point of closing down, is it?"
"Not quite. Fortunately, we still hold shares in many ports along the 'Global Shipping Route Plan,' and the foundation we built during the last shipping crisis is solid enough.
But the problem is, the business will continue to decline. If this continues, even with a solid foundation, it will eventually crumble."
That's how the shipping industry is; once a problem occurs in one link, the resulting domino effect is extremely terrifying.
“Furthermore, Rotterdam's port facilities and geographical location are simply too good. With Rotterdam collapsing, Tianjin Port is practically useless!
As the most important eastern gateway on the Asia-Europe shipping route, Tianjin Port's strategic value is significantly diminished.
Therefore, we must clear out the cargo there and plan entirely new shipping routes as soon as possible until we find a European port that can replace Rotterdam.”
Su Hao rubbed his temples.
Giving up the Port of Rotterdam was following his intuition.
But honestly, it hurt like hell.
It was tantamount to cutting off his own arm; it would be a lie to say he didn't feel the pain.
But at the time, his intuition kept sounding alarm bells in his ears.
Was that explosion in his hallucination a warning that if he stubbornly clung to it, the company might “explode”?
Was this warning… just a metaphor, or did some real accident actually happen?
***
"Holy crap, this accident is way too big!"
Back home, Su Hao, who was just about to relax, was suddenly frozen in place by a news report interrupting the television broadcast.
[...Around 10 PM tonight, a container storing hazardous chemicals exploded at Tianjin Port.
The initial explosion triggered a more powerful secondary explosion and a chain reaction of explosions, equivalent to 450 tons of TNT...]
The news broadcast showed footage of the explosion captured from the internet and surveillance cameras.
With a deafening roar, a terrifyingly large fireball shot into the sky, illuminating the entire night sky as if it were daytime, followed by a mushroom cloud rising into the air!
The massive shockwave knocked over even those filming dozens of meters away.
An unprecedented port explosion—at this moment, all media outlets were reporting on the Tianjin Port incident in a deluge.
Ring ring—
The phone rang urgently; it was Du Yuanhang.
"Chairman Su! Did you see the news?!" The voice on the other end of the phone was filled with shock and panic.
"Yes, I'm watching it."
"My God! What... what on earth happened?!
One, two, three explosions, the explosions are still going on, they've razed the surrounding factory area to the ground!
All the infrastructure we invested in at Tianjin Port... it's probably all gone!"
Countless containers, goods, infrastructure, and surrounding factories were all swallowed up by this massive explosion.
Su Hao asked, "This shouldn't have anything to do with us, right?"
"Don't worry, it has nothing to do with us! I checked it immediately! Our people and goods were all evacuated long ago!
And I heard it was chemicals transported by that 'Trans-Pacific Maritime Alliance' that caused the problem!
Thank God, if they hadn't stolen our clients, we would be the ones transporting those goods now, and we would be the ones in trouble!"
The news report said that preliminary investigations showed the problem was with the storage method of the hazardous materials.
But that wasn't the worst part.
The problem was that because the site contained chemicals that react violently with water and produce flammable gases, the firefighters sprayed water at the fire during the initial firefighting efforts, which triggered an even more violent chemical reaction, ultimately leading to this tragedy.
As a result, Tianjin Port was reduced to scorched earth, as if it had been carpet-bombed.
“However… Mr. Su,” Du Yuanhang continued,
“Tianjin Port is paralyzed now, and global logistics will definitely be thrown into chaos!
Those ingrates who abandoned us and sided with the Americans will now have no choice but to come back and beg us!
What do you think… we should do to deal with them?”
A long list of companies flashed through Su Hao's mind.
A cold smile curled at the corner of his lips: “What do you think we should do?”
“Freight volume will definitely surge towards us, and we might not even have enough manpower.
So, prices will naturally have to rise, right?
But we can hold off on raising prices for our long-term clients. We can keep prices unchanged for our existing clients.”
“However, for those companies that betrayed us and then returned, we should charge several times more?”
“Mr. Su, you are wise! Absolutely! Those treacherous guys deserve to pay a hefty price; how can we justify the grievances we suffered before?
What do you say, how about we do it this way?”
Su Hao was silent for a moment, his hand holding the phone trembling slightly.
"Okay, we'll do it your way."
The Tianjin Port explosion.
It's more than just an accident.
It's not only a strategic port for the Xia Kingdom, but also a vital logistics hub connecting Asia and even the world.
This explosion has triggered a global logistics tsunami.