FEWER SHIPS

Evening Post, Volume CXVII, Issue 73, 27 March 1934, Page 14

FEWER SHIPS

DECREASE IN TONNAGE

NEW ZEALAND REGISTER

STEADY REDUCTION

There are fewer ships registered in New Zealand today than there were before the opening of this century, a doclino on tho figures for 1932 being shown in the statistics of Dominion shipping up to December 31, 1933, which have just come to hand. During the past sovon years a steady reduction in the number of ships registered in this country has been taking place, and there are now only 510 vessels of 205,729 tons gross recorded on the registers of tho'eight main ports— four fewer than were registered in 1900, and three fewer than last year. Tho tonnage of Dominion shipping at the close of 1932 was 214,752, which was the highest- that had been recorded since before the Great War. A noticeable feature of the figures Cor 1933 is that tho number of motorships has increased considerably. Since December, 1932, thirteen new motorships havo been added to the register, making a total of 249 in all, aggregating 18,041 tons gross, as against 236 of 17.624 tons in 1932. The number of steamers has decreased to 211 against 225 twelve months ago. A decline, though not so' pronounced, is recorded in regard to sailing vessels, of which there are now fewer than there lias been for fifty years or more. THE PEAK YEAR. . The year 1913 may be reckoned as. tho peak year in' our' maritime history. In that year over' a quarter of a million tons gross of shipping was registered, and. never have those figures been exceeded. Tho following table, covering the period between 1908 and 1933, indicates the rise and decline of shipping registered in tho Dominion:— No v of . Gross E. Year. Ships. Tonnage. ,1908 .. ::640 228,399 1910 ..";... 606 233,531 1912 ...... 616 245,445 1913 ~-...... 616 254,117 1914 ....;. -581 . .i 358,552 1916 580 ...... 148,497 1918 ...... 557 ...... 141,751 1920 ...... .547 ...... 139,945 1922 556 V 15.0,589 "1924 ...... 564 190,144 1926 558 j..... 202,354 1928...... 560 194,304 1930. ......" 531 201,650 1932 ...... 519 ...... 214,752 1933 .;..;.. 516 ...... 205,729 The figures do not, of course,:. take into account ships trading in New Zealand which are registered at overseas ports, e.g., tho Wahino registered at London. THE SAILING SHIPS. ' Although tho drop in the number of sailing ships registered in New Zealand was not particularly pronounced during the past twelve months, it is largely in this connection that the decline shown in the : above figures has been due. Twenty-two years . ago there were 242 sailing ships of 30,558 tons gross registered in New Zealand; by 1923 this had fallen to 138 ships of 23,583 tons gross; and today the total stands at 56 ships of 5588 tons gross. - The drop has , been continuous since , 1907, and tho fall has been duo largely, to motor-ships replacing sailing vessels.1 During the last-four years the tonnage of motor-ships has increased by almost half while the-tonnage of sailing ships has dropped by over one-third.

Steamships preponderate in New Zealand,1 there being now 182,100 tons gross on register. In 1895 steam accounted for 64,240 tons, represented by 180 ships, while sail, with 299 ships, accounted for 36,748 . tons.v .In 1900, when there were 520 ships on register, sail represented 44,824 tons.

The best years in-the history of sail in the Dominion; .were 1903 and 1905. In the former year,. of 570 ships registered, 335 were sailing..vessels, sail/re-1 presenting a gross 'tonnage of 46,042. In 1905 there were more sailing ships! (338), but the aggregate tonnage had' dropped to 43,847. For the two years, following 1905 the sail tonnage figures were relatively stable, but they have. slumped heavily since then. The f 01- ; lowing table shows how the popularity j of sail has waned, and it muy be taken, as representative of tho position throughout tho world:— No. of Gross Ships. Tonnage. 1902 „._...... 325 44,770 1912 „...■.... 242 '36,558 1922 „„ 138 23,583 1932 „.„«.., 58 0,163 1933 56 5,588 THE SMALLER SHIPS. Many erstwhile sailers have been equipped with small auxiliary engines, but the smaller ships,.however, are slowly passing. The home ■of the Dominion's "mosquito" fleet is Auckland, where 36 sailing ships are registered, nearly half the total sail tonnage being domiciled there. Auckland has also over half of the Dominion's motor-ships registered there, 192 in all (9d85 tons gross), as against Wellington's 20 (4707 tons). Wellington, however, leads in steam tonnage, 52 ships of 106,250 tons gross being registered here. Auckland has 74 steamers, but the total tonnage aggregates only 29,297. Other ports in New Zealand where ships are registered are Napier, Nelson, Lyttelton, Timaru, Dunedin, and Invereargill. In 1930 there were 143 ships of under 100 tons gross register each, in 1932 the figures had dropped to 119, and last year there was another fall to 100.. . Since 1930 the number of Dominionregistered? ships (exclusive of river steamers) employed in the coastal and foreign trade has dropped considerably. Four years ago there were 264 of these ships, employing 3680 men and boys, exclusive of masters. At the beginning of 1933 there were 226 vessels, employing 3560 men and boys, registered in New Zealand, and now there are only 205 ships, employing 3431 men and boys. Altogether, the tale of New Zealand shipping, especially during the past few years, has not been particularly bright. It must not be imagined, however, that the depression has been entirely responsible. Eather is it indicative of movements which have been taking place for the past two decades, and which have been somewhat exaggerated by prevailing conditions. Every country is scrapping ships at the present time, and the same thing has been occurring in New Zealand. Quite an appreciable number of ships have been sold for scrap and broken up in the past year or so.