SHIPBUILDING IN U.S.A

Hokitika Guardian, 24 January 1920, Page 4

SHIPBUILDING IN U.S.A

BELIEF IN STANDARD TYPES. (Times Shipping Correspondent.) Two interesting publications concerned with shipbuilding hare recently been issued in the United States.

This one is a special issue of the , weekly journal “Speed-up” to commemorrate the second anniversary of the signing of tho contract for the construction of 50 structural steel fabricated ships by the Submarine Boat Corpora tion. (Two.months later a contract was placed for a further 100 ships.) The other is the annual report for the year ended June 30th last of the American Shipbuilding Company. Both these | undertakings have lately been building : ships on a large scale—the one near | New York and the other at various

I plants on the Great Lakes. ; On September 14th, 1917, Newark : {Bay shipyard was only a swamp, undisj turbed, as the editor of “Speed-up” exI preses it “by day or night, save for the ; occasional toot of a tug in the bay or I the bass croak of a frog in the rushes.” 1 A number of attractive articles in \ “Speed-up” by the chief officials of the 1 company describing the work which has 1 sindo been carried on at Newark are in- ! troduced by a farewell message from | Mr Edward N. Hurley, the late Chairman of the United States Shipping Board. Mr Henry R. Carse, president of the Submarine Boat Corporation, writes that during the last 15 months the company has launched 75 ships at the Newark Bay shipyard, and has delivered 65 completely finished. The ' construction of the yard was originally | a war measure, but the president of the corporation writes that it is the intention of the company to make the shipyard a permanent shipbuilding plant. 1 He states that the corporation “has received numerous inquiries for ships from France, Italy, Poland, Jugo-Slav- , ia, and Norway, from. South America, ! and from Australia, and we know we

can build ships under our plan in competition with any shipyard in the world. The steel is cheaper in the United States than in any other country and our production is more efficient.” SAYING OF LABOUR. Mr Henry R. Sutphen, vice-president of the company, with whom the idea of ship fabrication for Newark Bay originated, declares that “the standardised ship has come to stay, and will be recognised, as people become better acquainted with the product, as the most efficient type of ship to own and operate. He maintains that

“With the high wages in the United States, it becomes more and more necessary in the future to employ every known method and device to save unnecessary labour, and only by the manufacturing methods that we follow in building ships will it be possible to con struct ships cheaper, quicker, and better than would be possible by following the old shipbuilding practice.” Mr Beverley L. Worden,, the very successful general manager, writes of the difficulties involved in the change from war conditions, when “haste and more haste were the impelling motive” to shipbuilding in times of peace. The support of the stern spirit of war necessity is, he points out, now lacking, but the ambition to be leaders in the work which they have chosen will cany all concerned through. The United States,

he says, “must and shall surpass in the building of the best and cheapest ships, and we must and shall be leaders in tnis, our own country.” PHONOGRAPH RECORDS.

The enterprising spirit which pervades the shipbuilding establishment at Newark Bay is indicated in an account of the development of the yard which is being engraved in a phonograph record. Each ship which is delivered by the company is equipped with a phonograph, and with the machine go three records, one in English, one in French, and one in Spanish, which tell “the miracle of Newark Bay.” The special issue of Speed Up has many excellent photographs of the plant and of the ships built. So long as the company is for tunate in possessing the present management, who were the pioneers of the shipyard, it will not fail for lack of enterprise.

In the report of the American Shipbuilding Company it is shown that during the fiscal year ended June 30 the company completed and delivered 'IOO ocean cargo ships of 422,800 tons gross. It has yet to deliver 63 ocean cargo ships, of 255,900 tons gross. Interesting facts are that the sum of $43,200 (£8,640) was appropriated for lands in the city of Wyandotte, Michigan, upon which dwellings have been erected by the Emergency Fleet Corporation to house workmen. The cost of lands turned over to housing companies at Lorain, 0., and Wyandotte, Mich,, and the expense of organising these companies amounted to $116,111 (£23,222), which item has no investment or other value. The capital stock of each company is valued in the books of the American Shipbuilding Company at sl.

A VIEW OF COMPETITION. The financial policy of Mr Merton E. Farr,'the president, is known to have been one of limiting the profits of the company, and it is stated in the report that the “board nas authorised the revision of all contracts with the United States Shipping Board on the basis of a profit of 10 per cent on the cost of labour and material, plus a fixed per.centage to cover overhead charges. The following interesting passage respecting competition is included in the report:— “The ability of this company to compete with foreign builders depends largely upon labour costs, which at the present time are excessive, not so much on account of the prevailing high wages, as the lack of individual efficiency and application. The cost of steel, coal, and other commodities used in shipbuilding is much lower in the United States than in countries where shipbuilding is an important industry. Notwithstanding the advantage of lower material costs, this company cannot now meet the prices quoted by British builders for ocean cargo ships, but has somo advantage in being able to make early deliveries. In order to - secure orders for ocean cargo and other ships, construction costs must be materially reduced, and this can only bo brought about through increased individual production and greater economies in working.” Earlier in the year Mr Farr, who is recognised as one of the ablest shipbuilders in the United States, visited tho United Kingdom, and secured firsthand information as to (shipbuilding conditions in Europe.,-