CANAL DUES

Evening Star, Issue 22276, 29 February 1936, Page 23

CANAL DUES

SUEZ AND THE PANAMA BURDEN ON BRITISH SHIPPING The Sydney Harbour Trust Commissioners, in a report of the activities of the port of Sydney for the July-De-cemher period of last year, drew striking comparisons between the dues charged against shipping and freights through the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal. The Commissioners state that a matter of special interest to the shipping fraternity, and to the community generally; which came prominently under . notice last -year was that of the Suez Canal dues; ■ which were necessarily reflected in the freights and fares levied by the shipping companies trading to Australia.' The chairman of the P. and O. Company was reported to have said that the sum paid in Suez Canal dues in respect, of the vessels of that company (not including those of subsidiary companies) for the year 1933 was as much *as £687,000, and it was recently stated by the agents of the company in Sydney that in the voyage accounts of the Strathaird (gross tonnage 22,284).and Strathnaver, Suez Canal dues in respect of those vessels on a round trip amounted to £13,539 and £13,143 respectively. , . “ Those on whom the burden of the .canal dues fall,” the Commissioners state, “ cannot but feel the more aggrieved in the light of the knowledge that approximately three-fourths of" the takings of the canal company are distributed in profits; furthermore, although the initial cost of the Panama Canal was two and a-half times more than that of the Suez Canal, and the maintenance cost of the Panama is twice that of the Suez, the dues of the Suez Canal are nearly half as much again as those of the Panama; yet the Panama is still able to pay its way. “Figures recently furnished to the Commissioners by one of the shipping companies in respect of an average cargo vessel, with a gross tonnage of 10,893 and a net tonnage of 6,261 ? were approximately £3,600 sterling in respect of a single passage through the Suez Canal and approximately £2,500 sterling for that through the Panama Canal, “ An additional justification for. the strongest possible agitation on the part of British interests is that most of the shipping tonnage navigating, and the cargo carried through the Suez Canal is British. Owing to the peculiar charter of the Suez Canal Company, the British representatives on the board only number ten of a total of 32, although the British Government holds 44 per cent, of the total issued capital of the company.”