Lodamun

[imperialpearl]

The Harrington Company’s role in facilitating the vast majority of Lodamese trade (be it imports and/or exports) is such that the company must remain abreast with rising demand from domestic exports and importers. It is natural to conclude that as the economy reawakens and roars back into action, the demand for imported goods will undoubtedly increase and so too would exports to established markets increase. With greater emphasis/attention being placed on Berkwaki’s downstream petrochemicals industry, the demand for imported crude oil and natural gas, for which the sector in dependent on, makes it incumbent on the Harrington Company to meet demand. Beyond this, attempts to expand Lodamese exports to newer, more distant markets, including Artania, Majatra and parts of Dovani, put much of the HC’s work into focus as the entity balances the otherwise complex logistics of transnational shipping. As mentioned prior, the Harrington Company accounts for around 80% of all commercial maritime traffic into and out of Lodamun, with the remaining 20% being shared among various medium-sized companies, both domestically and internationally. 

It is underscoring this, the behemoth task of keeping trade into and out of Lodamun as seamless as possible comes into perspective. The HC must, by virtue of its quasi-statutory monopoly on commercial shipping, maintain a fleet of various commercial ships ranging from containers to bulk carriers. Similar to the Lodamese Navy and Coast Guard, the Harrington Company must submit a shipbuilding program to the National Congress wherein it details its plans to either expand or reduce the size of its fleet of ships and the reasoning behind these decisions. Such a document ultimately details the entity’s plans to decommission old vessels, expand research/development into newer technologies and, most importantly, construct new ships at a rate of replacement such that it is capable of meeting ever-growing demand. At a substantive press conference held at its headquarters in Harrington, Merchant-General Charlotte Farr and Chief Factor Dr Robert Cowan spoke to the finer details of this programme, which had been recently released for public scrutiny.

The document recognised that given the fact that the Lodamese Navy and Coast Guard had submitted their shipbuilding orders ahead of the Harrington Company, the entity would ultimately have to tussle with the Department of Defence on sharing the various spaces at the nation’s shipyards going into the next half-century. It noted that with the Lodamese Navy switching towards a staggered shipbuilding timeline (i.e. back-to-back shipbuilding), it may be reasonable for the entity to look beyond Lodamese shipyards to fulfil its orders. The Harrington Company has been no stranger to relying on foreign shipyards to meet shipbuilding orders, having previously contracted Kalistani, Kazulian and Luthorian shipyards to construct bulk carriers and container ships. “As was outlined in the report, I think it is reasonable for us to begin looking at foreign shipyards once more to fulfil these orders,” MG Farr proposed. “Whilst we recognise the importance of maintaining domestic shipbuilding capacity, we will ultimately have to change the ratio of domestic-foreign contracts.” 

The ratio in question relates to the formula set by the HC, which mandates that 70% of all Harrington Company shipbuilding orders be produced within Lodamun, via Lodamese shipyards, with the remaining 30% being built either domestically or through foreign contractors. However, as most Lodamese shipyards are likely to be pre-occupied with Department of Defence orders, Farr has noted the HC is looking into altering the ratio to 40% domestic and 60% foreign. This change is likely to have major implications for shipbuilding throughout the globe as Farr has also noted that whereas previously the HC had looked at shipyards on each continent, improved relations between Lodamun and other nations has made it such that orders will likely be handled by Kalistani, Gaduri, Dorvish, Dolgavan and Egelian shipyards. “I think that this would undoubtedly become a major boon for shipbuilding on the Seleyan continent as our order is immense and on a long-term programme,” Farr noted. These orders, which amount to 165 ships, will be weighted towards Kalistan, which is the only nation on the continent which maintains the capacity to construct large numbers of vessels outside of Lodamun.

The vessels to be constructed range from the rudimentary container ship to oceanliners. The document disaggregates the shipbuilding order as follows: 42 container ships, 35 tankers (15 Oil Tankers, 12 LNG Carriers and 8 Chemical Carriers), 25 Dry Bulk Carriers, 20 Roll-on/Roll-off Vessels, 15 General Cargo Ships, 10 Reefer Ships, 8 multipurpose vessels and 5 oceanliners. The order of 20 Roll-on/Roll-off vessels is unique for the Harrington Company as the company has not previously operated such vessels and has traditionally relied on other private-sector firms through sub-contracting. However, amidst growth within the domestic automotive industry and growing interest by the various automakers to export their cars to markets outside of Lodamun, the vessels were included in the order book. The 42 container ships have been identified by the report as being of particular interest in that, compared to their contemporaries currently operating under the HC throughout the world, 13 vessels will be expanded to take full advantage of the additional space granted by the Aldegar Canal (Aldemax) following its widening. Although Harrington Company ships have historically never traversed the Canal, Farr noted that it would be beneficial to take advantage of greater bulk space should there be a time HC ships traverse it. The 5 ocean liners are connected to Harrington Lines, the passenger/luxury line connected to the Harrington Company. Although the subsidiary’s operations have not kicked off, Managing Director of Harrington Lines Isaiah Moffett confirmed that many of its future routes could take persons as far as the White Ocean and some sub-regions of Dovani.