GERMAN SHIPPING.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 131, 4 June 1923, Page 3

GERMAN SHIPPING.

PROGRESS OP MERCHANT FLEET. BHIPS OX BVERY ROUTE. (By ARCHIBALD HURD.) For the time being the Ship Subsidy Bill, by which the American Government hoped to create conditions in which they might be able to cell the ships which were built during the war at a cost of 3,000,000,000 dollars, is dead. What will happen to these vessels it is impossible to foresee. But their future constitutes only one of the embarrassing factors in the shipping outlook. Germany has become once more a competitor in the sea-carrying trade of the world, writes Mr. Archibald Hurd, the well-known authority on shipping affairs. Her recovery is one of the most remarkable, if the least generally recognised, events of the past four years or so. Consider what has happened in that country, which is supposed to be so poor that it can hardly exiet. 1. When the war broke out Germany possessed rather more than 5,000,000 tons of shipping, constructed of steel or iron, apart from, on the one hand, her sailing vessels, and, on the other, all ships of less than 100 tons. She ranked as tho second greatest sea-carrying Power in the world, and had created an efficient organisation in every foreign port for dealing with passengers and cargoee. She was the most serious competitor of the British mercantile marine but her competition was in passenger and cargo liners rather than in tramp ships, and half the shipping of this country consisted of tramps—a term not of reproach but of pride. 2. Under the Treaty of Versailles Germany was called upon to surrender practically all her seagoing tonnage, and she was left with only about 400,000 tons of steam tonnage, built of steel or iron, of 100 tons or upwards. it seemed as though to the limit of vision Germany would not count in the seacarrying trade of the world. 3. As soon as all this shipping had been handed over to the Allies—proving rather a curse than a blessing to them, and to us in particular—the Germans set to work to create a new merchant fleet, with every assurance that it would be the most efficient in the world. The German Government set aside first 11.000,000,000 of marks, and later on, when the value of the mark had fallen, a further 15,000,000,000 of marks. All this money was allocated as compensation to shipowners who had surrendered their vessels under the Peace Treaty, in order to assist them in paying for the new ships and on the understanding that they used it for this purpose, and no Dther. 4. This policy has been so far successful that the Germans now possess a mer?hant fleet of about 2,500,000 tons, and oy the end of the present year they will own about 3,000,000 tons, without counting sailing ships or vessels under 100 tons. They have built a great volume of new tonnage at very cheap rates, and they have bought—and are still buying second-hand tonnage, purchasing iii England as well as elsewhere, and paying cash! r * s

ACTIVITY ON THE TRADE ROUTES. Germany is thus once more a competitor in the sea-carrying trade of the world. During the war and in the years immediately following the conclusion of peace, German ship-owners managed by one means or another to keep alive their shipping agencies in all parts of the world. The result was that as soon as they had ships to resume sailings they were able to pick up the threads of their pre-war business under favourable conditions. They earned freights in tha high, though varying, currencies of foreign countries, but they paid for wages, provisions, and stores, representing about half the outgoings, in greatly depreciated marks. Anyone who cares to calculate the little sum thus suggested Wing in mind that wage values in Germany did not keep pace with the sensational drop of the mark, will appreciate that German ship-owners did very Under the subsidised shipbuilding programme the Germans were in a position to keep all their shipyards and engineering labour busy at a time when we in this country had thousands of men idle, and thus saved any unemployment dole, and then they were gradually able to absorb into their ships at sea no mean part of the survivors of the crews who were engaged before the war, paying them exceedingly low wages. It is true that they have had to submit to the three-watch system in practically all ships over 3000 tons gross register, and to other regulations which involve additional expense, but on the balance they have undoubtedly been better off than the shipowners of any other country, and have made profits where others have made losses. A German periodical, "Hansa"—recently quoted by Lloyd's List—has ddclared that "the progress recently made in the German mercantile marine is due, not to the valuta or cheaper material, but to the unquenchable energy and business acumen of the German shipowners and to the efficiency of the maritime employee."

SHIPBUILDING STILL IN PROGRESS That is very much In the nature of an ex parte statement, which is intended to disarm envious criticism on the part of the shipowners of other countries. We can be satisfied with the facts as they exist. The Germans, in spite of all their protestations of poverty, have re-created a. large merchant fleet, building their ships with clean labour and obtaining in return very efficient tonnage. For a new ship, embodying the latest improvements in design and equipment, is always a better profit-earning machine than an old one. The Germans, realising the advantages of the motor-ship, have built, for instance, a great many vessels with this type of propulsive engine, and have vessels of about 375,000 gross tons of this class still in hand—not all, however, for German ownership. As new ships have been completed they have been put out on the trade routes, and German shipping, as British merchant captains know, is now to be met with in all parts of the world. There is no country, cast, west, or south, which is not now visited by German ships, and month by month the number of vessels employed at sea is being , steadily increased. This continuous placing of additional tonnage on the trade routes is presumptive evidence that profits are being made, and good profits. If the vessels were being run at a loss, how are the losses on the increased volume of shipping being met by the German shipowners That is the question that seeks an answer. Wise business men, however rich, do not go on putting money into a losing concern: and, moreover, these particular business men assert that they are far from being rich; are, indeed, desperately poor. AVhat ie the answer to the riddle?