BRITAIN LEADS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 57, 4 September 1937, Page 24

BRITAIN LEADS

CARGO VESSELS

Analysts of the latest returns. of the world's mercantile tonnage f completed and under construction, corrected to the end- of last month, shows the present; position of the British merchant nayy1 in "a less unfavourable light than that in which it is usually represented ,(writes Hector C. Bywater in the "Daily Telegraph"). It is true that United Kingdom seagoing steam and motor tonnage aggregates 17,200,000 tons, as against 18,900,000! in 1914, and that in this peribd'our ; percentage of world tonnage has dropped from 44 to 28 per cent. On -the other hand, if vessels under 4000 tons and exceeding 25 years of age are omitted, the United Kingdom proportion is-nearer 37 per cent.

'If cargo and passenger vessels are bracketed together, it will be'found that Britain now has about 2000 ships fewer than in 1914. But if cargo vessels alone are considered, it will be found that we have lost considerablyless ground.'

From the point of view of defence the differentiation is important, since all authorities agree that cargo vessels represent the backbone of our system of supply in a national emergency.

Britain's strong lead in this category is shown by the world's -shipbuilding returns for the last seven years. In that period we have built more than 200 cargo vessels of about 950,000 tons, while the collective output abroad has been approximately 100 vessels of 440,000 tons.

. At the present time at least 45 per cent of the world's most modern cargo tonnage is owned in the United.Kingdom. If the comparison were restricted to thoroughly up-to-date vessels our proportion would be nearer 60 per* cent.

The tendency on the part of Britain to ' concentrate on ' cargo ships—as against the foreign preference for liners, largely built and operated by State subsidies—is reflected strongly in last month's return of British shipyard work.

That the shrinkage in British merchant navy strength since 1914 is serious cannot be denied, and authorities who maintain .that our present carrying fleet would be inadequate in a national emergency on the scale of the last war are certainly right.

It remains true, however, thkkt the foreign subsidised competition, *which is mainly responsible for this shrinkage, has been principally in the direction of liner tonnage, which, although of great importance in war, 'must yield place as a war asset to thai genuine cargo vessel or humble tramp.