The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, SEPT 20th, 1922.

Hokitika Guardian, 20 September 1922, Page 2

The Hokitika Guardian WEDNESDAY, SEPT 20th, 1922.

WORLD’S MERCANTILE MARINE. Li.oyb h Register Book for 1922-3 fur ? nishes some interesting and valnabl statistics and notes concerning th r world's shipping and the changes tha o have been effected since the last pro war period. Excluding vessels of les than 100 ferns, there are recorded ii t the Register Book 4,080 sailing vessel of 3.027,834 tons and 29,255 steamer: , and motor vessels of 61,342,932 tons making a world total of 33.935 vessel: of 04,370.780 tons gross. The tonnage 1 of wood vessels owned in 1914 amount • ed to 1 per cent of the total stenir ' tonnage, but for the present year that percentage had risen to 3.0, this being 1 one of the effects of tbe shortage oj 1 tonnage during the war and the con. sequent construction of a large num. I her of wood vessels. The world’s total of seagoing steel and iron steamers and motor vessels for June 1922, amounted to £50,802,000, as compared with 12,511.000 in June 1914, and to this gross tonnage the United Kingdom contributed 19,053,000 tons compared with 13877,000 in 1914, and British Dominions 2.201.000, compared with 1.407.000 iO.h. The figures for Germany ooncuis ; vfc!v shoved the cltiiiged maritime position c.f that country, White in 1914 she ranked next to the United Kingdom with 5,098.000 tons of seagoing steel and iron steamers, such tonnage now stands at only 1.783.000. On the other hand the United States’ percentage of the world's seagoing steel and iron steam tonnage has increased from 4.3 in 1914 to 22 in 1922, her total for ,Tulle being 12,506.000 toils. The relative posit ion of some other countries, including tbe United Kingdom, has also altered to a large extent, tn 1911 the (*ni;:d Kingdom owned nearly I4J per cent of the world’s seagoing steam tonnage, whereas the present percentage is just over 33V. Norway, which o eu| ic'd the third place, is now seventh v.ith a toilnage of 2.337.000; while Japan, which was sixth, is now third with 3.325,000 tons, closely followed by Franco with only 22,000 tons less. Taken together. the Scandinavian countries— Norway, Sweden, and Denmark—show an increase of 594,000 tons as compared with 1914. A comparison between tbe figures issued in the 1922-3, and and tbe 1921-2 editions of Lloyd’s

Register Book shows that the world’s total steam and motor tonnage recorded in the present edition exceeds by two and a half million tons the figures for the present year. The countries where the largest increases have oeeurrod during the twelve months are Germany 1,131,000 tons; Holland 409,000; British Dominions 258.000; France 239900; Japan 232,000; Italy 231.000. A striking feature of the statistical ffg--11 res is the large proportion of comparatively new vessels owned in some countries especially the United States, whose per rentage of sen-going vessels built during th(> last five years is nearly 03. The percentage of the United Kingdom is less than 23. Other interesting details are the great increase that lias

taken place in the tonnage of steamers carrying petroleum and in the number cf vessels fitted with iiiteriml-coinbiis-tion engines, and also the marked development in regard to the use of liquid fuel on board steamers. Whereas in 1914 there were in existence 385 steamers for the carriage of petroleum in hulk, with a total tonnage of 1,479,000 tons, there are this year 977 steamers and motor vessels of 5.057.000 tons for that trade, an increase of 2(2 per cent, in the tonnage. Included in the total arc 43 vessels of over 10.000 tons each. The iiiimhcr of vessels fitted with internal combustion engines is now 1,039, of 1,511,000 tons as

compared with only 290 vessels! o“ ! 231,000 tons in 1914; while at the present time no fewer than 2,793 steamers are fitted for hurtling oil fuel. : compared with 304 in 1914. The lort- ! nage of such vessels amounts to 14,383000 tons, or nearly eleven times that of 1914.