OCEAN TRANSPORT

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 85, 4 January 1930, Page 7

OCEAN TRANSPORT

RIVAL FUEL SYSTEMS REDISCOVERED COAL There are now afloat 8246 motor ships of 6,628,102 tons, and month by month the number is increasing (states Sir Archibald Hurd, the well-known naval writer). British shipowners have been slow to abandon the well-tried steam engine which has served them so well in the past, but shipowners are showing less reluctance. Thus it happens that the steamers now building in British yards amount to 793,485 tons and the motor ships to only 651,875 tons, while in foreign shipyards the motor ship is making much greater headway, vessels in hand which will have internal combustion engines, amounting to 879,878 tons, as compared with steamers of 481,534 tons. It is conceded that on some trade routes where oil, which is bunkered with a minimum of labour in a very short time, is to be obtained cheaply, the motor ship has, at present, advantages over the steamship, but vessels of the largest size are still being fitted with steam engines. There are only 26 motor ships of upwards 15,000 tons, and, though the new White Star liner Britannic, of 28,840 tons, is to have internal combustion engines, the Canadian Pacific Company’s new Empress of - Britain, the largest vessel to be placed on the Liverpool-Quebec route, will have geared turbine machinery, and so will the same company’s Empress of Japan, of 25’000 tons. The Orient Company’s newest ship, the Orontes, is also a steamer and at present neither the Cunard nor the P. and 0. Company has motor ships. The Motor Champions. The progress which the internal combustion engine has made during the last few years base, nevertheless, been due in some measure to the' forceful advocacy of the late Viscount Pirrie, who, when chairman of the great Belfast shipyard of Harland and Wolff, acquired control of the firm of Burmeister and Wain, the producers in their Copenhagen workshops of the first successful internal combustion engine for marine purposes. » ( When Lord Pirrie died, he was succeeded by Lord Kylsant, who is also chairman of the White Star Line, the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company, the Union Castle Line, and several other shipping lines —in fact, controls more tonnage than anyone else in the world. By reason of his association with the shipbuilding business of Harland and Wolff and the engineering firm of Burmeister and Wain, he now exercises great influence in ship design and equipment. Sir Frederick Lewis, the chairman of Furness, Withy and Company _ and upwards of a dozen other shipping companies, was also an early convert to the motor ship, and Sir Walter Runciman, though being upwards of 80 years of age, he might have been thought inclined to oppose any radical change in propulsion, has built a number of motor ships since the war.

Progress of the Steam Engine. But, in the opinion of Sir Charles Parsons, the conservatism which has been exhibited by the majority of British shipowners, especially those associated with the cargo-carrying trades, will be justified by events. The competition of the motor-ship has been responsible for a revival of engineering research, conducted with a view to increasing the efficiency of the steam engine. Remarkable progress has been made in the last tew vears, and in this development the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, which has spent £20,000,000 upon new passenger ships has taken a leading part under Mr? John Johnson, its marine engine superintendent, who is regarded as one of the most able and enterprising marine engineers of the day. The general■ of British shipowners are by no means satisfied that the motor-ship will dnie the steam ship off the seas, but are convinced that the two types will continue to exist, the one complementary to the other, and that thus a healthy rivalry will be" maintained, leading to higher speeds being attained without any considprable addition to running costs. Goods will be transported by sea more rapidly than has hitherto been the case, with the result that they will b e Placed on the market sooner and all financial of the carriage of goods by

Possibilities of Pulverised Fuel.

In this connection enterprising shipowners in the British Isles as well as m Germany and the United States, are watching with increasing hopefulness the performances of steamers, using ised fuel, which are steaming faster than vessels using raw coal, with a considerable saving of bunkering costs as much in some cases as 30 per cent. Coal nas been rediscovered. Sir George Buchanan, the well-known engineer, , ha ®. that he is a firm believer in the future use of powdered fuel in ships. It is redded as especially encouraging that r£ centlv Mr. A. V. Alexander, the First the Admiralty, should have said that he would be glad to see an impetus given to the coal industry through the greater use of powdered coal in ships. He has given a pledge that the Admiralty will watch with interest the experiments undertaken in that direction. The Direc tor of Naval Construction at the Admir alty has prophesied that coal will probably again supersede oil as the fuel for the merchant fleet but that it would be a different kind of coal, as it would be ground to a fine P°. wd .® r in as in the case of oil fuel. Sir Geor„e Buchanan is satisfied that the day is at hand when there will be powdered fuel bunkering stations alongside oil bunkerin" stations throughout the world, and a vessel requiring powdered fuel bunkering will have the material pumped into her bunkers as in the case of oil. Apart from expectations as to the eventual use of powdered fuel, the engine is becoming much more efficient. Hie combination of a low-pressure steam turbine connected to the main shaftti » of steam reciprocating v engines throuji reduction gearing and hydraulic clutch, thus permitting the independent use of the reciprocating engines during manoeuvring, is regarded as an important development in the progress of marine engineering. The trials of vessels in commission fitted in this way have, proved very satisfactory. Though coal is challenged by oil, there is confidence that coal is once more going to become the most economical, as well as a very efficient medium for the propulsion of vessels.