I chose one of four options at the start, and I chose the number one clan in Lingnan.

Nineteen minutes later, two maritime patrol boats cut into the main channel from the southeast channel.

The lead ship's bridge received a call from the maritime channel. Wang Dehai turned off the ship's public address system, reduced the speed to four knots, and notified the five ships behind to collect fuel in sequence.

The maritime patrol boat approached the port side of the lead vessel, and instructions were broadcast over the loudspeaker.

"Lin's Logistics Fleet, this is the Jiangnan Maritime East China Sea Port Inspection Team. You have been reported for operating outside your designated navigation area, uninspected vessel modifications, and unqualified crew members. The entire fleet is to proceed to the inspection area. All vessels must maintain communication and remain in formation."

Wang Dehai picked up the maritime radio and announced the fleet's registration number.

"The fleet consists of one hundred transport ships and seven supply and rescue ships. The voyage plan was entered into the reporting platform three days ago."

All ship certificates, crew lists, and cargo manifests can be verified online. Mr. Lin agrees to board the vessel for inspection; please have the inspection team designate the vessel to berth with.

The two patrol boats separated.

One ship approached the lead ship, while the other patrolled the outer edge of the convoy.

The observation vessel chartered by Hailian Port Services was anchored two nautical miles away, and observer Zhou Wei held up a telephoto lens to continuously film the docking process.

He personally delivered the whistleblower materials.

The materials described all one hundred ships as local sand-carrying flat-bottomed boats, and included photos of cracked hulls, expired life-saving equipment, and unlicensed crew members. Zhou Wei and others were responsible for sealing the ships by the maritime authorities.

If the lead ship is seized, the remaining 99 ships will have to return to port.

Inspection team leader Zheng Haifeng went up to the deck and first checked the ship's certificates and navigation log. Three surveyors went down to the engine room, while two others measured the deck modification area.

No problems were found in the first inspection, and the second inspection of life-saving equipment also passed.

Zheng Haifeng turned to the page on hull modification and pointed to the newly added double-layered collision protection zone.

"This structure wasn't on the original ship's blueprints. How could you complete the modification in just twelve days, with construction, welding, flaw detection, and inclining tests all scheduled in the same timeframe? Get all the original inspection records out."

Lin Dayou took out six file boxes from the filing cabinet.

Each weld has a construction worker number, and ultrasonic flaw detection records, plate thickness measurements, cabin watertightness tests, and no-load and full-load tilt data are all archived according to the ship number.

The surveyors measured the effective thickness of the hull plate in the engine room to be 9.2 mm, while the minimum approved value is 7.5 mm.

The ship originally had four watertight zones, which were increased to seven after the modification.

The main drainage pump is equipped with three independent power supplies. After the bridge loses power, the engine room emergency system can still maintain navigation, drainage and maritime radio operation.

A surveyor walked out of the engine room and handed the record sheet to Zheng Haifeng.

"Team leader, the report says they dismantled old ship planks and pieced them together, but there are no corresponding traces on site."

The modified area uses welded single-plate construction, with reinforcement added at stress points. Calculated according to near-shore transport vessel regulations, the safety redundancy exceeds the approved limit by 68%.

Zheng Haifeng did not allow passage and went to inspect the second and third ships.

The result remained unchanged.

The flood alarm on the third ship was deliberately disconnected for testing, and four seconds later, the alarms sounded simultaneously in the bridge, engine room, and crew rest area.

The emergency drainage pump started within eight seconds, and the deck fire hoses, life raft release devices, satellite positioning and backup maritime radio also passed random inspections.

The technicians on the patrol boat input twelve data points into the ship classification calculation program, and the overall safety index displayed on the screen exceeded the international offshore classification standards for ships of the same tonnage.

Zhou Wei received the message on the observation ship and stopped using his telephoto lens.

He originally thought the Lin family was just adding a few steel plates to the old ship and issuing some certificates. Who could have imagined that a local clan's waterway would have such detailed ship inspection records for every single weld?

He called Morgan.

"The hull problems couldn't be contained. Three ships were randomly inspected by the maritime authorities, and all of them exceeded the near-shore regulations."

Now, only the navigation area permit and local vessel certificates prevent the fleet from venturing to offshore transshipment anchorages, which is sufficient to allow the fleet to return to port.

At 9:24 a.m., Zheng Haifeng found the same problem in the bridge of the lead ship.

One hundred transport ships were certified as operating in coastal waters, but the fleet declared their destination as the Donghai No. 2 offshore transshipment anchorage.

This location is on the edge of the expanded navigation area pilot zone, and ordinary coastal transport permits cannot cover the entire voyage.

Zheng Haifeng closed the certificate.

"The ship and crew are in good condition, and the cargo paperwork is complete. However, the voyage exceeds the designated area. If you cannot provide documents to expand the voyage area, the fleet will have to return to Pier 6. You can reapply later, but it cannot be approved today."

The maritime observation vessel received the information, and Zhou Wei reported the results to Morgan.

Morgan immediately instructed the agency to submit a supplementary complaint to the East Bay Review Committee.

If Lin turns around in the main channel, Hailian can use its insufficient shipping capacity to apply for priority review and bidding. No matter how good the previous ship inspection data is, it cannot make up for the lack of navigation area documents.

Zheng Haifeng was preparing to fill in the return-to-port instructions on the inspection form when a high-speed supply ship with the number Lin Yuan 01 approached from behind.

The supply ship docked at the starboard side of the bow, and Lin Ting boarded the deck carrying a sealed document box. Lin Fu followed behind, placing the electronic verification terminal on the bridge.

Lin Ting pushed the file box in front of Zheng Haifeng.

"On the first day of the renovation project, the Lin family had already submitted an application to expand the navigation area for trial voyages."

Ship inspection, insurance, crew training, emergency rescue, and weather services are all subject to joint approval. The official approval was entered into the system last night, and the paper documents were delivered to the dock this morning.

Zheng Haifeng opened the file box.

At the top is the approval document for the temporary trial operation of ocean shipping, jointly issued by the transportation authorities, Jiangnan Maritime Safety Administration, and port and shipping management agencies.

The approval authorized 100 transport ships belonging to the Lin family to sail along designated routes to the Donghai No. 2 offshore transshipment anchorage during a 30-day trial period.

Seven rescue vessels are responsible for weather warnings, towing of broken-down vessels, and personnel rescue. The convoy must not deviate from its declared route, and each voyage is subject to online maritime monitoring.

Below the document are an expanded flight area underwriting letter from a state-owned insurance company, a customs transit order for foreign trade goods, and emergency transportation instructions for imported dialysis consumables from three hospitals.

Zheng Haifeng picked up the terminal to verify the approval number.

The page is displaying correctly.

He then called the provincial maritime command center to confirm that the joint trial voyage registration had been included in the day's scheduling plan, and the command center had also allocated a dedicated passage period for the fleet.

Zheng Haifeng put away the documents, turned around to face the deck and stood at attention, raising his right hand to the brim of his hat.

"The Lin family's fleet has complete documentation and the vessels are in good condition for sea trials. The Jiangnan Maritime Safety Administration's East China Sea Port patrol team has completed its inspection and grants passage along the declared route."

Two patrol boats guided the convoy to buoy number six, with each vessel maintaining a speed of four knots.

Maritime flag signals are passed from the bow of the ship to the stern.

One hundred transport ships set sail in sequence, and five convoys re-entered the main channel. Two patrol boats, positioned at the front and outer edges, guided the convoys through the estuary.

Zhou Wei, aboard the Hailian observation ship, bit his lip and spat a mouthful of bloody saliva into the sea.

Morgan was silent for more than ten seconds on the phone before asking only one question.

"What is the top speed of Lin's seven supply ships?"

Zhou Wei checked the filming records.

"With a 32-knot hull, shallow draft, and small turning radius, they are too big for coastal rescue vessels of the same tonnage to catch up with."

After the call ended, Morgan forwarded the ship numbers and parameters of the seven supply ships to a number labeled "Old Hawk".

Three long-established smuggling gangs along the coast received the same document within half an hour.

At 5 p.m., the first batch of export goods completed its transshipment at sea. Eight more refrigerated transport ships were dispatched from Pier No. 6, with two high-speed rescue vessels providing escort.

The ship was loaded with the first batch of golden fruit from the Tazhai experimental orchard that had reached the harvest standard, totaling 800 boxes.

Once export quarantine, cold chain records, and cargo insurance are all completed, the buyer will pick up the goods on a cold chain mother ship at sea.

When the eight ships reached the edge of international waters, ten unidentified targets appeared on the radar.

The target was flanked from the north and south, with a speed exceeding 28 knots.

Inside the Lin's Logistics Dispatch Center, the duty officer connected to the emergency channel. The captain of the escorting ship shouted into the radio:

"Grandpa, the Golden Fruit fleet has been intercepted by ten speedboats on the edge of international waters. They've already deployed boarding hooks and are climbing onto the deck!"