TRANSPORT OF PASSENGERS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27047, 23 May 1953, Page 2

TRANSPORT OF PASSENGERS

Day Of Big Ships “Numbered”

EFFECT OF COMPETITION OF AIRCRAFT (Special Correspondent N.Z-P.A.) (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, May 20. Addressing * Liverpool luncheon meeting. Captain Anthony Cayzer, a director of the Clan Line of steamers, expressed the view that the days of large passengerships were numbered because of the development of highspeed jet-engined aircraft. “Tlie greatest competition which ship owners have to face will undoubtedly be with the airlines,” he said. "With the advent of deltawinged aircraft, aeroplanes, in five to 10 years’ time, will be able to carry passengers at fares very much less than today. I have no doubt that in the near future the majority of passengers will want to go by air. "I am also sorry to say I think that, in the not too far distant future, aircraft will begin to take away highgrade cargo from the ships. Shipping companies, therefore, should be allowed to retain a greater proportion of their .earnings in order to build fast and modern ships.” He added that as the railways carried such a very small proportion of the nation’s goods—ls per cent, of imports—at such huge losses, they should be scrapped, leaving room for super roads for more lorries and buses.

Discussing ship loading, Captain Cayzer said: “It has always astonished me that we still have to load or discharge a ship .by picking up the cargo by a crane and lowering it into the ship through a hole in the top. It would be far easier and quicker to load or unload if the sides would let down. Then the cargo could be driven in and out by truck, or carried on a conveyor belt.”