SHORTAGE OF TONNAGE.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 15488, 15 January 1916, Page 9

SHORTAGE OF TONNAGE.

CONGESTION OF G EXE HAL CARGO. ANXIETY of shippers. (SFECI-AL 10 ' TEE THES?. ) AVELLINGTON, January 11. The shortage of tonnage for transport, to London of general cargo, and especially wool, is causing people concerned with the control oi shipping crave anxiety. There is no shortage of insulated spacc-tlii, is all provided for by the arrangements the Government have made with th»> Imperial Board of Trade-but no. suu satisfactory arrangements about the carriage of general cargo can be made. "Things are very serious, indeedworse than anything I hnvv. ever known in tho New Zealand trade, said a prominent shipping man. in giving his opinions to a reporter to-c.iy. _ lou can't make the statement too ompnaucaJJv, becau.se the position is really very bad. Just now wo are giving wool preference over such othci caigo as jiemp and tow, ana casks or t.-ulow, pelts and other by-products ot the meat' business. We can't get wool awav nearly fast enough, and meantime*, while you go on running meat works and liaxmilis, tlieso other products keep piling up. »c estimate mat t hero ure in .New from i3ojovX) to -IO.OUO bales of hemp and tow awaiting sfiipmcnt, and not less than 15,iHX) casks of meat by-products. "We don't know where to turn. Iho position is getting worse instead of better. There are ships to carry our frozen products away, but the ships coming hero from Australia to load refrigerated cargo have all their general cargo space hiied in Australia, where tbo congestion of general cargo is at least as bad as it is in Now Zealand. I don't know how, or when, tho Australian wheat can l>o carried to England. Matters have been made worso by tho fact that in several ships permanently engaged in the New Zealand trade, tnc refrigerated space has been enlarged to meet the requirements of New Zealand shippers of meat arid dairy produce. Naturally, these 6hip3 hare now less space for general cargo. Six other steamers have been chartered to load general cargo for London, and three are now loading, chiefly with wool for tho east coast of America.

"The position may, of course, change suddenly, but personally I can see no prospect of it until the Admiralty can release ships from war transport work, and that cannot happen until the end of the war. One ship which should have carried wool is now to take only a little wool and a lot of horses. More horses —a largo number —are to go, and that means less ships for wool in future. I can't possibly tell when we shall have the last of this season's wool clip out of the stores, but in my opinion, we shall, still bo loading wool five months' later than that. In normal times we used to reckon on getting the lqat of the wool into the shins in March. You can't possibly make things ,out worse than they are; Shippers are crying out to us for space—they imagine, apparently, that we can conjure up ships for them somehow—hut I assure you that the ships are not available, and I don't' see any prospect of more being available for a long time."