SHIPS AND CARGOES.

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 130, 29 November 1919, Page 13

SHIPS AND CARGOES.

While a number of people afPe** to think that the shipping boom will last, lor many years, there are others who consider that a tremendous skimp wil take place before-the end of next March, and they are confident that they are right. One prominent shipping man at Home stated that, in consequence of the number ol cargo boats built during the past two or three years and now building, there wa» just now very much more cargo tonnage in. tho water . than before the . war, that there were, -vastly more goods in __ngland than at any time in its history, inaKing it unnecessary for so large a fleet to be utilised in the future, that Russia was not in a position to trade, and that the requirements of Germany, Austria, and the other belligerents on the Continent, would not take so long to satisfy as some people imagined. The present shortage of-ton-nage was, he held, due to the tremendous delays in port, and, the moment the.working man put his back into his work and vessels received anything like normal despatch, there would hot be cargoes for them at anything like existing rates, as the output of the world was not inexhaustible, and there would not be enough stuff to go round. He instanced the recent experience in the Plate, where the freight had fallen from 230s- to 160s, as justifying his view that the prospects were not what some people imagined. Moreover, a number ot Labour leaders told him that they realised that it was their duty to do their utmost to induce the members of their unions to increase their output, and they hoped to have the ports cleared shortly. Whether these anticipations of the future were justified time only could show, but there was no doubt that if ships could only be turned round quickly and not kept waiting for a berth, the efficiency of the world's tonnage would bo increased by a large percentage, and the fact that 8.000.000- tons gross might be placed on the. water in the next twolve months must, have a serious effect on the freight market.