Crisis a catalyst?

Press, 19 April 1980, Page 7

Crisis a catalyst?

The black cloud hovering over the oil-rich Middle East; could have a silver lining,; according to the chairman of Lloyd’s Register of Shipping) (Mr R. A. Huskisson). In Lloyd’s annual report he said he was optimistic about the future of the shipping industry, but developments in the Middle East had to be regarded with the utmost gravity. “I take the view that the outcome of these devel-) opments may even have one; good result and that is to alert the Western economies to their vulnerability and to! the sharpness of the competition now being presented by the socialist States,” Mr Huskisson said. “The Middle East situation could have yet another positive result - if it finally brings home to consumers the continuingly urgent need for energy conservation and the need to seek alternatives. It is true that in this field some progress is being made, but it is miniscule in comparison with the problem.

“Perhaps the developed nations will only realise its magnitude when prices reach double their present value, a prospect which could be

nearer than the public imagines,” he said. In the shipping industry over the last year there was continuing hardship in most sectors, said Mr Huskisscn, but most companies seemed to be weathering the storm "and we have not seen the wholesale closing of companies that many feared.” Regarding the build-up of the Soviet merchant fleet, Mr- Huskisson said: “There,

can be no question about the damaging effect which the reduction in freight rates, as the result of the Soviet Government’s support and political policies, is having on Western fleets, which have been declining concurrently in an alarming fashion.” He said that the traditionally great cross-trading fleets had suffered particularly during 1979, and he considered that shipowners had not protested strongly enough to their governments “for this is a matter with which only governments can deal.” The other big threat to the shipping industry and the world economy was the rise in oil prices. Increased prices would not halt the world economy but they would continue to feed inflation. Emphasising the fact that oil supplies were finite, Mr Huskisson urged the need for continuing energy conservation and welcomed the attitudes of governments towards nuclear-powered ships and generating plants. “Linked with the increased use of coal, it is the one realistic road out of future difficulties and the economic tensions which arise from them,” he said.