Chapter 770 - 353: Integration and Monopoly

Although Spain’s five-year shipbuilding plan is proceeding very smoothly, the Cabinet Government has begun discussing the current state of Spanish shipbuilding.

Once the Sun Never Sets Empire, Spain’s shipbuilding industry is still like a camel that has died, but with greater size than a horse, continuing to rank among Europe’s leaders even in its weakest period.

So far, besides Spain’s four major official shipyards, there are dozens of medium-sized shipyards of considerable scale and over a hundred smaller shipyards.

The development of private shipyards is also quite swift, as Spain’s colonies have expanded to Africa, and the sea transportation between the Spanish mainland and Africa has likewise promoted the development of domestic shipbuilding.

Regardless of the development, Spain’s domestic shipbuilding industry still presents a dilemma of surplus manufacturing yet insufficient research and development.

For these medium-sized shipyards, building thousands of tons of passenger ships and cargo ships is not a difficult task. The same logic applies to smaller shipyards, which can easily build hundreds of tons of commercial offshore vessels.

However, for them to start from scratch and design a completely new passenger ship or cargo vessel, most shipyards are incapable of completing such a task.

Technological updates aren’t a natural occurrence; they are accumulated through years of effort by hundreds or thousands of experts. This also means that every related technological update requires significant time costs, as well as human, material, and financial resources.

It’s quite clear that the role played in technological updates by those hundreds, even several hundred small-sized shipyards is not as impactful as those by dozens of medium-sized shipyards.

Although monopoly doesn’t necessarily mean a good thing, compared to several hundred small shipyards concentrating on small civilian vessels and competing intensely, it’s better to integrate them into fewer medium and large-sized enterprises, enabling them to have the ability for independent research and designing new types of ships.

In December 1890, the Spanish Cabinet Government’s Minister of Industry, Hoviar Soler, introduced the situation of Spanish shipbuilding to all ministers of the Cabinet and Carlo, who participated in the meeting.

"Your Majesty the King, everyone. Currently, the development of our shipbuilding industry, along with domestic industry, economic progress, and colonial construction, has achieved great effectiveness.

According to statistics from the Ministry of Industry, our country has 322 shipyards legally operating after approval, with the number of ships built annually exceeding 1,000.

However, among these 322 shipyards, 275 belong to small shipyards, only employing 200-500 shipbuilding workers. The proportion of small shipyards has reached 85.4%, and these 275 shipyards can only build small civilian vessels under 800 tons.

There are about 32 shipyards employing over 500 workers. Across Spain, there are only 11 shipyards employing over 1,000 workers.

As for shipyards employing over 5,000 workers, currently, we have only 4, namely the Royal Guanizuo Shipyard, Valencia United Shipyard, El Ferrol Royal Navy Shipyard, and Cartagena Shipyard.

Currently, our country has approximately 134,000 shipbuilding workers, which is an increase of about 6% compared to last year. After our five-year shipbuilding plan was released, it is expected that in the next five years, the growth rate of shipbuilding workers will remain above 5%." Minister Hoviar Soler detailedly introduced the current situation of Spanish shipbuilding to the Cabinet ministers and Carlo.

In general, Spain’s shipbuilding industry is still quite good. The 134,000 shipbuilding workers reflect the massive scale of Spain’s shipbuilding industry, with a 5% annual growth in shipbuilding workers, equating to an increase of 6,700 shipbuilding workers annually.

Such data can be summarized in one sentence: Spain’s current shipbuilding industry is thriving and developing vigorously.

Of course, highlighting first and dampening expectations later are more or less the usual means by which Cabinet ministers report conditions.

Minister Hoviar continued, "Although our shipbuilding industry is expanding rapidly each year, except for the four major official shipyards, the remaining expansion is primarily concentrated in small shipyards with fewer than 500 workers.

In the past two years, the number of small shipyards with fewer than 500 workers increased by 9 and 11, respectively, and just the increase in the number of these small shipyards can bring us thousands of shipbuilding workers’ growth.

However, the continuous growth in the number of small shipyards isn’t necessarily a good thing. Due to the insufficient number of workers, the warships built by these small shipyards are often low-tech small vessels.

Though with the prosperity of the economy and the development of colonies, domestic demand for small vessels is also continuously rising. But compared to the growth in the number of shipyards, the demand growth for small vessels is somewhat limited.

After the Ministry of Industry’s statistics on the order quantity and profits for civilian vessels under 1,000 tons, we have discovered a relatively troublesome problem.

Compared to five years ago, the profit from orders for civilian vessels under 1,000 tons has declined by 15% currently.

One reason is that our per capita income continues to grow, and the other is that, under the backdrop of a surge in the number of small shipyards, the competitiveness of small vessels is also steadily increasing.

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

In truth, put simply, the current Spanish shipbuilding industry, regarding large and small vessels, is in two starkly opposite extremes.