SURPLUS SHIPS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 104, 29 October 1935, Page 9

SURPLUS SHIPS

BRITAIN'S NEW PLANS

■Further details oi the,new scheme prepared by British organisations lor the rationalisation of the world's shipping industry" have been announced by the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom, says the "Daily Telegraph." , The new plan provides for a direct agreement to lay up or scrap tonnage voluntarily, in place of the former proposal to induce owners to reduce tonnage by payments from a contributory fund. The original scheme, which was prepared at the preliminary International Conference in Germany, was circulated to the various countries. While all the countries who replied accepted the principle of rationalisation, most of them criticised the scheme, and two — Britain and Japan—suggested alternatives. America did not reply. It is now pointed out that in January it was hardly thought practicable to secure a direct agreement to lay up or scrap surplus tonnage: Experience in the intervening months has suggested that a more direct approach is possible. . The success of the Minimum Freight Schemes, in which the ship owners of all countries have co-operat-ed, has given rise to the hope that a voluntary non-contributory scheme of international rationalisation, providing directly for laying up of redundant tonnage, would now be practicable. Among the disadvantages apprehended in a contributory scheme! were:— The necessity for prior legislation. The doubt as to how far it would be effective as regards especially liner "tonnage. It was generally' assumed .that tramp tonnage and open market rates of freight would both react in a measure corresponding to the amount of. compensation from time to time offering, but there was considerable doubt of the extent to which liner tonnage could benefit. The present proposal is that the ship owners of the world, through the na"tional organisation and the International Shipping Conference, should directly undertake to keep laid up a certain percentage of their tonnage as owned-on a date to be agreed. This would be called the datum tonnage. >The agreed figure would be subject to subsequent increase or decrease as circumstances required. Owners would undertake to operate only such percentage of their datum tonnage and no more. In fixing the percentage account would be taken of the amount of redundant tonnage as indicated by tonnage'laid up and freight space unoccupied, and the prevailing: rates of freight as compared with the cost of operation. . Some owners have already rationalised by scrapping redundant tonnage, while conditions in different trades vary and the needs of owners are not the same. Factors such as these must necessarily be taken into account. This will be done partly in the selection df the date on which the datum tonnage is to be ascertained and partly by the terms.of the agreement. It would be open to owners to sell and purchase quota. The tonnage would be ascertained on the basis of cargo-carrying capacity. The passenger-carrying trade would be left wholly to the passenger conferences and owners concerned. The scheme is intended to apply to international trade only, coasting voyages being: excludedi ,