African Entrepreneurship Record-Chapter 594 - 272: "Locomotive

Waltz was talking about the submarine cable from the South Ryukyu Islands to Fuzhou. The direct distance from Miyako Island to Fuzhou is nearly seven hundred kilometers, so this workload and consumption are enormous, making the task at Dar es Salaam’s state-owned cable factory very demanding.

Mori: "Submarine cables are indeed not simple, and the quality requirements are higher because the situation in the sea is complex, and ordinary cables can’t withstand it. However, can you give some parameters, some insights, so that our factory can be mentally prepared? Do you know the length of this Far East submarine cable?"

Waltz: "Ah, this is no secret. Not long ago, we East Africans had a conflict with Japan in the Far East over a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean. Our navy even fought there, claiming it as our territory. However, it’s too far from East Africa, so we definitely need to solve the communication issue there."

Upon hearing this, Mori roughly understood the situation. Although Mori was from a German rural background, he’d read quite a bit. Using the cultural level of this era, he could be described as "knowledgeable in astronomy and geography."

This is not an exaggeration, because the books Mori could access in the East African forces, at the simplest, were East African textbooks, which included history and geography.

Mori: "If the South Ryukyu Islands were to have telegraph communication, it certainly wouldn’t be a small project. As far as I know, the archipelago is at least a few hundred kilometers from the Far East continent. So I’ll measure the exact distance later to plan next year’s production schedule. No unprepared battles,"

Waltz: "No need to trouble yourself so much. The South Ryukyu Islands are about six or seven hundred kilometers from the Far East continent. You should first produce five hundred kilometers of cable to be safe; that won’t cause any problems. You can make up the rest later."

Mori: "The telegraph line is no trivial task. It seems the South Ryukyu Islands are of considerable national significance, so other factories must have tasks as well, right?"

Waltz nodded and said: "You’re right. A total of over a dozen factories are involved in this production task, including some European companies bidding. The factories in East Africa that received tasks are mainly in Dar es Salaam, Bajamojo, Tanga, and Mombasa, thus making production convenient due to their coastal locations."

Mori: "This is a major operation. We’ve never taken on such an enormous job before. Previously, all of East Africa’s submarine cables were imported from Europe. Three or four years ago, even the cable from Bemba Island to Bajamojo was transported from an Austria-Hungary factory."

Waltz: "You’re not going to grow it from the ground, are you? I remember your factory was one of the first cable factories in East Africa, established just three or four years ago. You probably couldn’t even figure out how to operate the machines back then, right?"

Mori: "You’re right. At that time, only two technicians and I knew how to work the machines. We had to teach everything, and back then, raw materials were all imported from overseas. We just did minor repairs and patched things up."

When the first cable factories in East Africa were established, they couldn’t even gather the raw materials. The railway had been in operation only a short time, so inland copper mines hadn’t been developed yet. Most copper was imported from Austria-Hungary and then processed along the East African coast.

As for coal and rubber, East Africa wasn’t short. East Africa’s coal mines are close to the coast, and regarding rubber, it benefited from being the world’s largest rubber producer, second only to Brazil. Brazil’s advantage in rubber is its proximity to the coast, especially in the Amazon plain with the Amazon River, where shipping is very convenient. Collected rubber can be directly shipped worldwide.

In this regard, East Africa fell short. East Africa’s main rubber production area is in the eastern Congo basin, where the Congo River is of little use. The downstream mouth is a group of waterfalls, so transportation to the eastern coast is only possible via land, which is time-consuming and laborious.

However, East Africa has other rubber production areas for substitution, especially where the eastern coastal plains meet the highlands. Rainfall is relatively adequate, and it can be directly transported to Dar es Salaam by the Central Railway.

In comparison, Mombasa City’s advantage is that the Northern Railway and the Great Lake shipping can transport rubber from the Great Lakes Region and Hessen Province to the east coast. The disadvantage is that Mombasa is very far from East Africa’s copper-producing areas.

Thus, the development of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa is like two locomotives, neither yielding to the other. Calling them locomotives is not exaggerated. East Africa’s two most important railways, the Central Railway and the Northern Railway, originate precisely in Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, of course, with New Hamburg Port City further south on the Central Railway.

The saying goes, "A train runs fast, all because of the locomotive," and Dar es Salaam and Mombasa play the role of the train’s locomotive. As for New Hamburg Port City, after all, it hasn’t been around long enough, and its foundation can’t compare to these established cities. The future remains uncertain.

However, Ernst doesn’t think New Hamburg Port City will surpass its two predecessors. Even entering the top three among coastal cities is challenging.

This involves Ernst’s long-desired Maputo Port, which is still in Portuguese hands. When East Africa finally takes action to seize it, it’s unclear when that will be. By then, New Hamburg Port City would have developed for many years, with a clear first-mover advantage.

Take, for example, the southern segment of the Central Railway. If Maputo were under East African control, it would definitely lead to its construction there, but now it’s a fait accompli that New Hamburg Port City has taken the lead.

The driving effect of railways on the economy is quite significant, especially for major lines like the Central Railway. There’s likely no future railway line in East Africa that will surpass it since, when designing this line, Ernst could say he took into account the essence of all East Africa.

Along the Central Railway, capitals of renowned African countries in previous years include Dodoma (capital of Tanzania), Lusaka (capital of Zambia), Harare (capital of Zimbabwe), and Dar es Salaam, which served as the capital, alongside notable cities like Mbeya, Bulawayo, Lubumbashi, among others.

The route essentially covers most of East Africa’s mineral production areas, cities, and villages, meaning East African cities connected to the Central Railway will start with a high future development baseline.

New Hamburg Port City, serving as such a sea and land transport hub, paired with the mineral resources of the former Transvaal Republic and Zulu Kingdom, can, if reasonably developed, contend with Mombasa and Dar es Salaam. However, this depends largely on the competence of New Hamburg Port City’s future leadership.

As of now, only Dar es Salaam, Mombasa, Mbeya, and Nairobi are in East Africa’s first-tier urban economy.

For New Hamburg Port City to be on par with these cities depends on future development. However, surpassing Mbeya and Nairobi in the future shouldn’t be too difficult. It’s just a matter of time because New Hamburg Port City is in South Africa, accessing resources that the other two cities can hardly match.

As for Mombasa and Dar es Salaam, it is almost impossible to be overtaken. Both cities enjoy East Africa’s most favorable conditions and involve the broader regional economy of East Africa. Overall, Dar es Salaam still holds more advantages, given the support of neighboring cities, while Mombasa can only rely on Nairobi and Tanga to support each other.