A port city's development could not be separated from the strong support of its economic hinterland. Otherwise, no matter how favorable its port conditions were, its potential for growth would still be limited.
Take Maputo Port in Mozambique, for example. Its natural conditions were quite good. Maputo lay near the southern entrance of the Mozambique Channel, enjoying an excellent geographical position. The Portuguese therefore established a colonial foothold in Maputo, and as history progressed, Maputo gradually became the capital of Portuguese Mozambique.
Yet this port city, developed by Portugal over a century, had been overtaken by New Hamburg City in an extremely short time, with the gap rapidly widening. Although Maputo and Natal were also receiving heavy investment now, surpassing it again would be harder than climbing to the sky.
East Africa's vigorous investment in New Hamburg Port was certainly key, but relying on the southern section of the Central Railway, New Hamburg City's economic hinterland included Southern Frontier Province, Lorraine Province, southern Matabele Province, and New Württemberg Province (formerly the Zulu Kingdom, the Republic of the Transvaal, southern Zimbabwe, Botswana, and British Bechuanaland).
This revealed the direct gap between the three ports. If Maputo did not join East Africa in the future, it could only remain a head shorter than New Hamburg City.
Thus, the development of East African port cities could not do without the support of inland cities. In turn, port cities supplied the interior with essential conditions for development, such as capital, technology, and manpower.
Mutual support—Ernst liked this kind of overall social atmosphere very much. As for conflicts of interest, East Africa currently did not have so much nonsense going on. After all, East Africa had indeed provided a way out for immigrants from the Eurasian continent, largely meeting their expectations. As a nation governed