SHIPPING BOOM IN AUSTRALIA.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16404, 26 December 1918, Page 9

SHIPPING BOOM IN AUSTRALIA.

MANY SHIPS. EXPECTED.

(FBOit OUR OWN 1 COMBSFOKDSNT.) SYDNEY", Dumber 13. Australia, having eufteted fbr years A limine in shipping, is about to lmo* sdmothmfr that may be d«Mribed aft » boom. Information received from th» British Government ehowi that fa. gntt fleet of British merchant ahip» it booked for Australia, to - bring carjo and patM»Rtrs ,*nd take back Australia a pilM>up preface '4nd paaaebiers. lfctween noyf atld tho end of April no fewer than Si largo vessels aro bddked to atrive iu Australian ports, a* follows:-— 18,006 '10,000 tAHk tons Under, and . and 10,000 over. 1 over, to us. January — , 8 ' 3- ■ February .. — <— , 4 March ... 1 8 38 April ... • 1 7 liS The April bookings are not complete. In the four months enuuierkted, no fewer tbfcn 700,060:. tonp..of overseas tonnage is booked to Australian ports. In March,it. ia ' calculated thero will be over 50 roprescntins nearly half a million • tons, in Sydney Harbour. In addition, there Will bo the ordinary Auitralaai&n and Pacific trade, together with iU&Ay shSpi frdto the Pacifio coast- of America. 1 Sydiiby,* in •common with other Australian porta, is looking forward ,to a phoaomeiiil in .-shipping, and sees no reason to fear, for fcdthe time yet at least, the financial .and commercial depression, that is expected* to follow •Iho war. ■ "• . New' Zealand, of .course, will • benefit in. this rush of trade cqutdly with Australia. K is not yet known what proportion of 'these vessels "will go to the Dominion, but shipping'people eacpcct that in ""comparison Zealand ports will benefit even - more' than the Australian. All thfebig and 0., Orient, Aberdeen, Blue Funnel, C. and D., Federal, Clan—are hard -at work. organising their Bervices, and all' announce . early sailings. . Thousands of people are neeking passages, and there are* long w4it,ing lists. Nest y«ar, in . shipping,. premiMs to , be devoted to yrorkil® ~jpS