SHIPBUILDING WAR

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 482, 11 October 1928, Page 13

SHIPBUILDING WAR

GREAT BRITAIN STILL LEADS RACE FOR SUPREMACY la spite of the il..,ression in j the freight market, and the high cost of construction, ten nations are now engaged in a race to put new ships afloat, and four of them are battling for a position to challenge Great Britain’s control of the high seas. Every month foreign ships with better appliances, more luxury, and greater speed made maiden voyages to Australian waters. Last year alien companies collected £2,500,000 for conveying our wood abroad. Frequently a dozen foreign flags may be see *u the port of Melbourne. The growth of shipbuilding is revealed in the particulars of world's tonnage, excluding vessels of less than 100 gross tons: 1900 —25,957,358 gross tons; 1914—49,089,552; 1919—50,919,273; ins—t j4,G59 (incomplete). As wholesale building is now in progress, the 1928 figure will be increased by at least 2,000,000 tons by the et of the :—. Sail'ng shi..3 are of little account, for they now amount to only 990,577 tons, and their percentage to the total is 2.7. There is no doubt, however, that while maintaining her efficiency, Britain has not been resjionsihle for any unnecessary or embarrassing expansion. Since 1914 America has increased her tonnage by 9,127,000 (sea) and 194,000 (lakes); Japan, by 2.432,000; France, by 1,334,000; Holland by 1,337,000; Italy, by 1,919,000; Norway, by 997,000; Britain, by 862,000; and the British Dominions by 1.118,000. The latter inclu' is the Commonwealth Line, which has now been transferred to the Home fleets. Before the war Great Britain and Ireland owned 41.6 per cent, of the world steam and motor tonnage. The percentage is now 30.3. But, excluding 3sels trading on the Treat lakes of North America, wooden ships, vessels of less than 5,000 tons gross register, and vessels more than 25 years old, the British merchant fleet comprises actually 38.10 per cent, of the ocean-going tonnage available for passengers and general cargo. British services are the most modf n afloat, fo- while other nations retain out-of-date craft to increase their fleets, the British shipowners are quick to scrap or sell ships which become obsolete.

No less than 57.7 per cent, of the big liners (15,000 tons and upwards) is owned by Great Britain and Ireland. There are 407 vessels of tonnage between 10,000 and 20,000 tons. Of these, 232 are under the British flag. Of the tonnage owned by Great Britain and Ireland, 22.7 per cent, is less than five years old. The only country which has a larger proportion of new tonnage is Norway, with 23.6 per cent. France, Greece, Japan, and Spain have less than 10 per cent., and of the United States’s sea-going vessels only 3 per cent, are less than five years old. The condition of the British merchant fleet is: Under five years old, 4,483,277; five to ten years, 5,392,257; 10 to 15 years, 3,394,725; 15 to 20 yc~.s, 2,927,262; 20 to 25 years, 1,818,939; over 25 years, 1,737,5391 It is thus apparent that the United Kingdom, while not putting surplus tonnage afloat, has increased its efficiency, and is ready to meet any emergency in ocean transport. Across the Western Ocean, through the Pacific, along the shores of the Indian Ocean, from the rr,uote parts of the Orient to the borders of the Antarctic, Britain for many years must remain mis tress of the seas.