SERIOUS SHIPPING POSITION

Hokitika Guardian, 14 March 1930, Page 5

SERIOUS SHIPPING POSITION

VESSELS AND MEN IDLE

LONDON, March 8

The position in the shipping industry is becoming most serious. According to a writer/in the “Financial Times” more than 300 vessels with a carrying capacity of nearly 2,000,000 tons, mostly flying the British flag, are/ lying idle, with crews numbering some 10,000 men paid dff.

“More than 1400 men and officers are seeking employment at Cardiff, compared with less than a thousand a month' go, and less than 900 two months ago. This is a typical state of affairs prevailing in seaport towns in the United Kingdom. “Tn the last two months vessels have been laid up on an unprecedented scale as the collapse of the grain markets has rendered it impossible for owners iO secure profitable employment for ships. The collapse of the grain markets has been reflected in other trades, to which ships diverted, with the result that the supply available tonnage has exceeded the demand with the inevitable reduction in rates.

“Though heavy laying up of vessels has created steadier tendency, out ward freights and Homeward requirements are still too meagre to offer any encouragement for the early future, though much is hoped for the steady absorption of tonnage in the Russian timber trade through the opening of the White Sea and Baltic ports, and the navigation of the river St. Lawrence.

“The future, however, will depend on grain shipments, for unless there is a substantial improvement in this direction the volume of shipping available for other trades will exceed requirements.”