SELLING SHDIPS.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 March 1924, Page 4

SELLING SHDIPS.

(By Ernest J. Chaloirer in Daily Mail)

Shipping men go to an auction of snips at the Bid to Exchange in London when they want to put their lingers on the pulse of the shipping industry. This is one of the places where fortunes may be lost or made in a very short time. The price at which steamers are sold tolls them whether the “slump” is nearly over, or whether the “boom” is going to last. To-day good steamers are sold at a price that works out at about £9 per ton. They realised as much as £lO a ton in 1920, when anything that would float was eagerly sought after to carry profit-earning cargoes to all parts of the world. Only one or two old-established British! firms arc allowed to sell ships at 11-. o Baltic Exchange. The auctioneers have to be spccialy trained men, with a sort of sixth sense which enables them to know when would-be purchasers arc' bidding. Shipping men at an auction pride themselves on looking like blocks of granite. II they revealed any intciest or emotion it would cost them too much money. Hundreds of thousands of pounds are spent in a few minutes. They sit silently in the auction room and the auctioneer has too read their faces. The movement of a cigar from one corner of the mouth to the other, the slight raising of an eyebrow, the tightening of lips, or the rapid glance of an eye may mean another thousand pounds on the price. The auctioneer can read these signs, and he works accordingly. When he has extracted the last £SOO ‘ from these silent bidders lii.s small ivory hammer knocks the final tap on ■ the black desk, and the liner, or the 5 barge, as the ease may be. passes to ■ its new owner. ‘ The specialised business of selling ' ships in Loudon had its real beginf ning just after the war. All the ■ ships that were captured Irom the f Germans had to lie sold at public aiie- ’ tion. Since then auctions have been ? thrown open to buyers of all nations, s end many of the German ships have - been bought back by the original Gor- - man owners, through their agents in f London. S Strikes and many other things have e field up the building of new ships since v tli(‘ war. and there wore never so many - old ships on the sea as there are top day. v Tlk* age of a ship is twenty-fit o d years. To-day nearly a quarter of the , ships on the ocean are more than twenty years old. 'this means that a ! Ije number will soon be turned over to H the ship breakers and that orders will n be given to the slnp-huilding yards to v replace them. People will he buying 1 new ships, instead of second-lmml ships ’ at the Baltic Exchange.