SPEED AT SEA.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 18 October 1924, Page 13

SPEED AT SEA.

THE COST OF FAST VOYAGES. Li a paper of. .the recent World PowConference, entitled “Sea Speed 'Me* Costs,» Mr. Alexander Gray ***?* *’ as tb f P° lic y of the ship owner to gauge what was the probable demand for speed in his trade and build his vessels accordingly, reports “EnginA s a mail liner cost anything from half a million to two or thiee million pounds, depending on her speed and size, and might require two or three years to build, it wa s impossible to meet suddenly and demand for unusual speed, whilst to provide gieater speed than was requitite for the demands of her trade involved the owners m serious financial loss. The object of the paper was to show to whafc extent the public should be called upon to pay for speed apart from the ser i ice of transport Voyage costs might be divided into general charges, such as wages, victualling, capital depreciation, and interest which were influenced by the time and tended to increase with the reduction of speed, and fuel costs, which are decreased by a reductiin of speed There was some particular speed, which might be termed the natural speed, for each type of vessel at which the extra costs would outweigh the savings in the other. This natural speed would yield the greatest working efficiency, but the economic speed might be higher and would vary with the character of the employment." The tramp vessel naturally showed the lowest speed. A cargo 'liner was usually of a superior type to a tramp and-, more expensive to construct and maintain, because she was required to take part in the service with some reputation for regularity, if not also for speed. Her economic speed was therefore higher than that of the tramp. The cost of this higher speed vvas met by better earnings, due to the carriage of the best cargoes. An intermediate liner was regarded as a first-class cargo vessel with the addition of passenger accomodation, which implied greater capital cost and maintenance charges, with the consequent higher economic speed than that of the cargo liner. Except under special circumstances, the public did not pay for speed in the case of tramps, cargo or intermediate liners. The mail liner was. however, different. Speed in this case was of vital importance, and as the higher speeds were attained the cost per knot increased out of all proportion to the increase rate of progress. The economic law of diminishing re-t-irn. onerntinn so forcibly that the limit of sneerl at which ocean liners could be driven with any hone of commercial gain appeared to have been reached °lrendv on the North Atlantic’wne. Freight, generally w-vs of but, miner belt) to high speed shin's, which rrmlrl l)i’'p bu+- little capacity for anvth:ng othe- than spec’e-, or time for Vs manirirdntinn