OLD VESSELS

Hokitika Guardian, 2 June 1932, Page 2

OLD VESSELS

SALES TO SHIP-BREAKERS,

BRITAIN ADOPTS NEW POLICY.

LONDON, May 20. Several large vessels wed known til the Australian trade have been so.d to ship-breakers, mostly in the East. It is evident that a new policy lias Ikoh -adopted by British shipowners with r** .gat’d to old tonnage. The Peninsular aqd Oriental Steam Navigation Company has now disposed of six of its iv class liners, several of which were lurinyrly engaged tu the Australian service. The Kashmir (.8985 toils gross) and Karmala (9128 tons gross) are the latest, having been sold to Japanese shipbreakers -or about £14,400 each, with dein cry at Osaka between June and July.

The Khiva (9135 tons gross) was sold in August last year for about £15,750, 'the Kashgar (9005 tons gross) in December, for about £16,400, and the .K.vbor (9114 tons gross) and Kalvan ,(91-14. toils gross) in October, for about £16,250 each, all to Japanese ship-break-ers, with delivery in Japan. All tluse ships were built during 1914-1915, loss than 18 years ago, and, under norma 1 conditions, would have several years ol active service before them.

The Dutch freighter Aagtekerk (80-19 -toils gross), which was withdrawn from the Australian service last year and renamed Oostkork, lias also been sold to Jaipaiiose ship-breakers, for about £11,360, with delivery at Osaka or Yokohama, whilst the British-owned Bonlomond (4887 toils gross), of the Ben line, lias been disposed of to ship-break-ers in Hong Kong lor about £6/50. The Aagtekerk was only 18 years old. and tlie Bonlomond 21 years old. The EUerman line steamer City of Agra (4836 tons gross), on the other hand, was 29 years old, and was well disposed of when she was sold to Italian ship-breakers for £2850, as she lav on the Clyde.

Passenger Ships

In the case td' passenger ships, modern progress is so rapid that a vessel i s out of date long before she is 20 years old, but in normal times it would be possible to find a profitable use tot her for at least another six years. Old freighters, on the other hand, find it difficult to compete efficiently with more modern tonnage, although they, too, in any times but the present, could bo employed without the. risk of operating at a loss. In the midst ot a world-wide shipping slump such as is now prevailing, however, it is natural, when the supply of ships is much in excess of the demand, that older vessels should be laid up, and the business go to more 1 modern ships. A recent calculation by Sir Archibald Hurd placed the amount of idle tonnage in the principal ports of the world at. 7,000,000 tons. The weight of idle tonnage has a continuously depressing effect on the freight market, and British shipowners have apparently decided that it is better policy to dispose ol them than t<> tie them up to await hotter days, especially in view of the fact that, as a vessel advances in age, the cost of .special surveys in order to maintain her class at Lloyd s becomes increasingly expensive. Rather than sell the ships profitably to Greek and other buyers of old tonnage, who immediately place them in competition with British-owned vessels, they have decided that it will be to tliei.r ultimate gain to dispose of them tor break- 1 ing-up. 1