The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1916. BRITISH SHIPPING AND WAR LOSSES.

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2928, 14 November 1916, Page 6

The Dominion. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1916. BRITISH SHIPPING AND WAR LOSSES.

The vital question of shipping freights is of course largely governed by; the number of vessels available, and the war losses of British shipping and the shipbuilding capacity of Great Britain to replace those losses/ are therefore matters of special interest and importance to this Dominion. It is difficult to obtain any exact information as to the present strength of the British mercantile marine, and still more difficult to ascertain the .prospects of replacing in the immediate future the vessels lost. So long as the Admiralty continues to monopolise the big shipbuilding yards for the output of war vessels, the buil'dihg of mercantile steamers must necessarily be largely restricted,- and much uncertainty must prevail as to the dates at which orders given for new vessels will be completed. The Economist, however, with the assistance of such information as is available, has been endeavouring to arrive at an approximate idea of the situation and the prospects ahead, and tho conclusions it reaches are_ worth noting. In prewar days shipbuilding in Britain was steadily increasing, year by year,, and ithe output of new vessels greatly out-distanced tho losses through marine casualties or the breaking up of old vessels. In the two years previous to the war tho figures were:

British Steamers, Gross Tons. Launching. Casualties. Balanoe. 19U ..:. iyrao.9s7 245,356 1,475.601 1913 1,919,578 182,248 1.737.330 The balance of new tonnage, it will be seen, totalled between l\ and If million tons. The figures are taken from Lloyd's Ecgislcr, and may be regarded as exact. Under war conditions the only figures that are at all definite are those which carry things to the end of 1915. but they afford a_ very, fair idea of the change in the situation. The gross tonnage of British merchant steamers launched in the United Kingdom in 1915 was 648,629 tons,, as against 1,919,578 tons in 1913. And during 1915 of course there were quite exceptional losses through the operations of enemy warships and submarines. The casualties as shown by Lloyd's Register were as follow: — British Strainers, Grosß Tons; ' I . . War Marino Quarlorendcd— losses, losses. Totals. March, 1915 142,196 69.121 211,317 ■Tune, 1915 204,756 25,402 150,158 / Sept., 1915 311,965 41,947 353,912 Dec., 1915 235,177 58,533 • 291,710 ■ ... 12 months 892,094 195,003 1,087,097 : It will thus bo seen that whereas in the two years immediately preceding the war the excess of new tonnage over losses was something between a million and a quarter and' a million and three-quarter tons, in the first year of,the war there was a balance on the wrong, side of nearly half a- million tons, the actual figures being: — 1915. Tonnage lost 1,087,097 Tonnago launched .... 648,629 Balance 438.468 So far the figures given may be taken as approximately exact. When 'we come to the current year, however, wo get into tho region of estimates, and rough estimates at that. The Economist gives as a rough estimate of the figures from August, 1914, to August. 1916, the following:— British Steamers. Gross lons. Casualties, -war and marine 2,000,003 Launchings 1.500.000 The shortage here disclosed is of course emphasised as far as freightage available for ordinary mercantile purposes is concerned by tho diversion of vessels for Admiralty purposes, and also by the loss of neutral shipping and the locking up of a groat part of tho German mercantile fleet. But that phase' of the situation we need not discuss on tho present occasion. Tho point for consideration at the moment is tho possibility of replacing our losses of mercantile tonnage during the war or soon after its close. The London paper before quoted finds the figures given above encouraging for the reason that they indicate that our peace time increase of tonnage is so greatly in excess of our war time losses. In two years of war our losses have totalled approximately 2,000,000 tons, whereas in mic. year (1913} the launchings of new vessels totalled 1,919,579 tons. J This, it is argued, proves that whon

British shipbuilding yards are freed to resume the building of merchant steamers they can more than make good the normal wastage, plus tho wastage incidental to_ the war. It has to be borne in mind, however, that in recent times the losses of British and neutral merchant shipping have been heavier probably than at any stage of the war, and the past in this respect is no guide to the future. A special effort is now being made to speed up the building of mercantile vessels, ,and how that the needs of the Admiralty have been so fully met. it is expected that more of the shipbuilding yards will be released from tho work of turning out warships. But it must be obvious that the work of catching up arrears and at the same time keeping pace with current losses involves a tremendous task. If the forecast of the President of the Economic Section of the British Association is to be realised and tho end of tho war leave British shipping practically as it was when the war began, then it will necessitate a grcater-call on the resources of British shipbuilding than has yet been made. The situation, indeed, gives added strength to the contention of those who claim that one of the conditions of peace should provide that the losses of British and Allied mercantile shipping should be replaced as far as possible, from the remaining vessels of the German merchant fleet.