NEW SHIPS FOR ATLANTIC

Chronicle (Levin), 23 April 1946, Page 8

NEW SHIPS FOR ATLANTIC

"" 1 1 1 ' BRITAIN SHOULD LEAD RACE AIRLINE GOMPETITION NOT " FEARED LONDON, April 21. Whether the, modern airliner will take ■ away 40 per cent. of the post-war firstand cabin-elass pasSenger tralfic, as some people think, or whether it will take more, as others think, it is certain tc exert an important effeet on designs for new ships in those trades and in the serviees and rates. they offer. One of the lesults of this competition will' be that there will be less likelD hood that the building of "Blue Ridbon" and "prestige^' liners will be undertalcen by the cdntinental states of Europe. " • A considerable amount of passenger and mai! tratflc is likely to gojry aeroplane and because of the over tonnage of North Atlantic liners before thc war tlie present shortage of ships may prove more of a blessing thaii has been previously realised. American shipping and economist experts are of the opinion that three nations, Great Britain, the United States, and Sweden, in that ordhr -of importance, are destined to dominate the early post-war seaborne passenger movemcnts across the North Atlantic, although the airliner will probably prove the toughest competitor they have ever faced on this greatest, stormiest, and most high-ly-eompetitive of 'all the world rs big trade routes. Sweden has kept her liners in good condition throughout the war and will have a new. one ready in two years. She will thus probably take. the lead in' trans- Atlantic liner serviees and liold this leadership for several months, perhaps a season. Great Britain will doubtless then displace Sweden and assume a position of pre-eminence never before surpassed on tliis'route in modern times. She has more than a dozen liuge liners, including some of the biggest and best afloat, which when eonverted will l)e able to take to the seas without any immediate cliallenge from their former competitors in Gerfnany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. On this North Atlantic passenger service the Cunard-White Star Line is in by far the best position of any eombine with respect to liners still afloat, not only with the two liuge "Queens" which gave such splendid war service, and the new 34,000-ton Mauretania, but grantcd continning good "fortune with ihe older liners, Georgic, Aquitania, Britannic, Franconia, Samaria, Laconia, Galifdrnia and Cameronia, reeonverted.

j The impression is strong in thej United States in spite of occ-asional proi lests from Britain that the big Cunard- 1 evs have not been as fully eonverted 'to troop-carrying as any non-British liners. It is thought in America that such vessels as the Ile de France, Manhattan, and Washington have been so i;adi- ) cally altered as to preclude their re-'j turn to the commercial serviees for a' long time — if at all. Many famous passenger units of the pre-war North Atlantic service are missing today. Such liners as the Normandie, Bremen, Rex, Rona, Columbus, Paris, and Pilsudski will not be seen on tlie New York run again. The United States will probably assume an importanee on the North Atlantic service which, although secondary to Britain, may nevertheless be greater than she has enjoyed on that route since 1940. There are two sehools of thought as tc the proper type of passenger ship l to 'compete with the airliner in the North Atlantic though it is generally j agreed that steamship lines will have to eut their rates sharply to meet the threat from the air. One believes that the super-liner can cut its rates to the level of the smaller liners, liold its own against the aeroplane, and drive the smallers vessels out of the service. The Cunard Line, which, it is beligved, intends to build two more huge "Queens," would seem to subscribe to this theory, at least in part. 1 Another group believes that the med-ium-sized liner, between 20,000 ancl 40,000 tons, will fare better because of • the- 'gye.ater . stability of its passebgeT load in the past, and because of fhe higher propoftion of tfte, higltey revenues it deriveg from freight. While the super-liners can afford to cut their rates to a certain extent, their loss of revenue is iikely to be greater proportionately than the loss ineurred by thc small erlines. What few post-war plans have been disclosecl by private lines so far indicate a cautious trend to smaller ships. Private shipping lines are generally aware that they are going to have to do more than cut rates to hold both their passengers and revenue. In partial replacement of the glamour they will lose to the airliner, they will probably be more inclined to offer comfort and spaeiousness than extremelv low rates and, on some lines, anywav, to place more reliance upon features that will attract stable all-year passengers and stable eargoes than on those that will attract and accommodate large numbers of tourists during the summer rush.