PRODUCTION OF BRITISH STEAMERS.

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 101, 28 April 1917, Page 10

PRODUCTION OF BRITISH STEAMERS.

In the annual report of Lloyd's Shipping Register it is stated :. "In the United Kingdom merchant shipbuilding is still seriously restricted by the necessity for the production of >var vessels of various kinds, and, although there has recently been some acceleration in, the rate of progress in the construction of vessels, the output remains far below that of normal times. _ In neutral countries, and particularly in the United States of America, every effort has;beon, and is being, made by means of the extension of existing plants and the creation of new establishments to cope with the increasing demand for tonnage. That a large measure of success has attended these efforts ia evident from the fact that there is now being built, under the inspection of Lloyd's Register of Shipping, with a view of classification, a larger amount of shipping than has ever been recorded in the history of the society—namoly, 620 vessels, of 2,282,709 tons. At the close of the year ended 30th June, 10,032 merchant vessels, registering 23 million tons grosß, held classes assigned by the committee of Lloyd's Register.' These figures, large as they are, show a falling off from the highwater mark of the previous year, thus reflecting the heavy losses which have been occasioned by the war."