Shipbuilding Crisis

Article is a collection of copy paste from another—will update.

After the creation of the Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine and it's unveiling in 2291, several hundred orders of Enzmann-types were put on an indefinite hold, and production then slowed to a crawl. Over the course of the next decade, many more partially completed ships in queue were cancelled in the hundreds. With the advent of Slipspace travel, Enzmann-types were made somewhat obsolete

Mars and Jovian Enzmann-type shipyards were impacted the heaviest by consumer reaction to the unveiling of the Translight Engine. Due to the high demand of Enzmann-types prior to it's unveiling, it was common for these shipyards to construct ship frames before orders were made, and Deuterium fuel bought before the funds for fuel was procured. With orders for ships being cancelled, and consumers unwilling to pay the price for such costly upgrades, the jump in cancellations spurred the closing of several orbital Shipyards, and the bankruptcy of several large Enzmann-type Shipbuilding Corporations, including Daimler-Raytheon. Shipbuilders of small to medium sized general purpose craft would be forced to sell ships at lower prices, but most would generally would fair well during the crisis.

Though many companies did attempt to quickly market retrofitting these ships, the design of most Enzmann-types were not readily suited for Slipspace travel. Retrofitting more sturdy frames and new state-of-the-art navigation systems were a very expensive investment for most consumers who had already been paying top dollar. Considering the Enzmann's were also originally marketed as "cost-effective", public reaction to retrofitting was unenthusiastic at best. Pulse Propulsion, in particular, was system of propulsion which was relatively weak to other consumer craft and required for ships to commit changes in velocity over long distances. The cost of retrofitting an Enzmann-type could easily jump to double the cost of it's current total even without a Translight engine retrofit. With the addition of a costly early production Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine, this could triple on Enzmann's original cost.

Most detrimental, though, to several ship builders was the massive deuterium fuel tank that was designed to fuel ships for several hundreds or thousands of years. The issue was negligible in respect to making smaller fuel tank; if anything, this was not an issue. The issue for most arose from the practice of paying for large amounts of deuterium fuel with credit that the companies expected to be able to pay back with the prospect of an ever increasing demand for colony vessels.

Some Enzmann-centric businesses attempted to recoup funds by liquidating pre-built frames and selling Enzmann-types at discount prices. A majority of these frames and Enzmann-types bought during these liquidations would end up in the hands of Jovian civilian hands. The local economies of many shipping companies were still struggling in the decades after the end of the, and these cheaper Enzmann's did fill a gap that many had struggled to be fill. Jovian Enzmann-types would often be retrofitted to carry water-ice after the ship was given a smaller Deuterium fuel tank. This did help some Shipbuilders in the short term, but the ship market was very saturated and, after consumers had cashed in on the clearance-priced ships, sales slowed once again.

During this era, several investment banks would also close due to shipbuilding businesses defaulting on loans, and losing market value. These investment banks would often give high-risk loans to these corporations to buy raw metal and fuel. When shipbuilders began to claim bankruptcy, a lot of these banks folded or were bought by larger institution. Bank closures caused a wider spread financial panic and subsequent market crash on Tuesday November 18th 2303. An on again-off again market recession followed for the next two decades.

Ultimately, the would vote to step in in 2305 and introduce a Several Trillion Credits stimulus package to shipbuilders, mining corporations, metal works corporations, and financial institutions to keep them operational. This was done largely to avoid a larger system-wide depression. In 2317, the of the UEG bottomed out at a loss of 11%. To date, the recession was the source of the largest total lost in Credits in human financial history prior to the, and also saw the largest unemployment rate in Martian and Jovian history.