COST OF NEW SHIPS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 126, 30 May 1944, Page 3

COST OF NEW SHIPS

The problem of Bums Philp and Co., Ltd.. in deciding whether to build new ship£ In Australia or abroad, was stated by the chairman, Mr. James Burns, at the annual meeting in Sydney last week. . . The company would like to make plans for building new tonnage to replace units lost. Mr. Burns said, but they understood from London that if permission to build in Britain was given they would be a long way down the priority list. "If we could get the class of v.essel we want at a reasonable cost in Australia we would prefer to build here," he said, "but if after the war we have to compete, as in the past, with many of the great nations for the Pacific trade, we must be able to secure vessels at somewhat near the same costs as our competitors. If to replace a vessel we have to pay double the price in Australia that the same unit would cost in Britain, it might be an economic impossibility to compete with foreign shipping. The trading outlook for the current year appeared to be similar to that of the past year, in which sales had increased," he added.