SHIPPING NEWS

Greymouth Evening Star, 7 December 1911, Page 7

SHIPPING NEWS

ARRIVED. December 7.-—Nil. BAILED. December' 7.—Nil. IN PORT-THia DAI. Kaiapoi', To Anau, Kaituna, rutiki Inga (steam), Lily (sail). ... _ EXPECTED ARRIVALS. Ngatoro, Wellington, to-night. Alexander, New Plymouth, to-morrow. Holmdale, Gisborne, to-morrow. Poherua, Wellington., to-morrow. Mapourika, Wellington, Nelson, Westport, to-morrow. • • . . <■ Karori, Lyttelton; to-morrow. Koonya, Bluff, to-morrow. Kennedy, Wellington, Nelson, Westport, Friday. Kini, Lytelton, Friday. Pukaki, -Dunedin, Friday. Kittawa, Wellington, Saturday. Flora, Wellington, Saturday. Kittawa, 'Onehunga, ! Saturday. PROJECTED DEPARTURES. Putiki, Westport, Wanganui, to-night. Te Anau, Bluff, Dunedin, to-night. Ngatoro, Wellington, to-morrow. Alexander; Nelson, Wanganui, to-mor-10W. Ittga, Sydney, to-morrow. Kaituna, Lyttelton, to-morrow. Poherua, Wellington, to-morrow. Mapourika, Westport, Nelson, Wellington, to-morrow. - Kaiapoi, Sydney, to-morrow. Koonya,' Dunedin, Saturday. Kennedy, Westport, Wanganui, Friday. Pukaki," Onehunga, Auckland, Friday. Kittawa, Wellington, Saturday. Flora, Napier, Saturday. The Ennerdale is due from Lyttelton on Mondav, the 18th. She will take n full load of timber from here for Sydney. The Lauderdale is due from Napier on January Bth. She loads timber for Australian ports.

The Holmdale, with a cargo of live -stuck, is sheltering' in one of the bays. On arrival she loads timber for Welling-" ton. The schooner Annie Hill is now three weeks out from Lyttelton. The schooner Lily will complete loading her cargo of timber on Monday, and will then sail tor Lyttelton. A Napier telegram states that the Wairoa Harbour Board has accepted the tender of Mr C. F. Pulley for the construction of works opening the. river mouth and clearing it at £79.000. The Mapourika is waiting at Westport, ar.d if the weather here shows signs of improving to-night she will leave Westport and arrive here to-morrow morning, and sail for Wellington, via way ports, at one o'clock to-morrow afternoon. The Te Anau will leave for Bluff and Dunedin as soon as the weather mode-' iates. The Koonya is due to-morrow night from southern ports, and loads coal for Dunedin.

The Pukaki is still in' port waiting ciders. ...

It has been stated that the new' San Francisco mail- service, ' which ,is. to be; conducted by, the 'Spreckels's liners, will; riut include Auckland as a port of call.. Mr Percy Hunter, director of the New South 'Wales Immigration, and Tourist Bureau, who is a through passenger from Vancouver to Sydney on the Zealandia, is. however, of the opinion that the ste.a-l mors will call at Auckland. "While in San Francisco," said Mr Hunter to a. Herald reporter, "I saw the John D. Spreckels. people with reference to the project of re-establishing their line from ban J Francisco to Sydney. There is every prospect of .the line being put on again. I should think the steamers will call at Auckland; in spite of what has been said to the. contrary, and do the trip from San Francisco to Sydney-, in twenty days. I know. the Spreckels people are anxious to include Auckland." The Clyde, a small sailing vessel belonging to Mr. Joseph Hatch, of Invercargill, which left. Wellington on 23rd September for the Macquarie Islands, is two weeks overdue. That fact, Mr Hatch, informs the Southland Times, need occasion no alarm, as to the vessel's'safety, as she is well found and equipped, and had a greater distance to' travel than had ether-vessels previously engaged on the service. Mr Hatch recently visited Hohart at the request, of Dr, Mawson, leadev of the Australian Antarctic expedition, in connection,, with a suggestion made that Mr Hatch would supervise the. transport of stores to", the island, ns he was one of the few men who knew the island well. Dr Mawson and Mr Hatch were unable to come to terms, however. Should the Clyde no* put in an appearance in the meantime, news. as to her movements at the island should be forthcoming about the middle of next month, wnen the Aurora's tender will ,|pturn.

PROFITABLE SHIPOWNING. Tramp shipowners at the present time have (according to English files) no reason for complaint, for there lb a decided boom in freights so far as the great majority of the cargo curving trades are concerned. A. variety of circumstances have contributed to produce this result. For one ti.l'itg, tonnage seems to be well distributed over the face of the globe. For another, there is the fact that, vast as has been the output of new ships in recent months, the proportion of bra np steamers has by nO means excessive. Then there is the Tnrco-Italian War, with the uncertainties and tlie'i:sks which it has brought in its train, to ■say nothing of the dislocation of Italia.!, Greek, and other maritime interests which' it was bound to involve. Uncertainty and risk have to be paid for, and the consequence is that freights in many of the recognised trades have risen to figures which -are 1 admittedly very high and must leave a handsome margin of profit. - It is reasonable to suppose that the present state of affairs will not be indefinitely maintained. There are indications, nevertheless, of a good deal of confidence in the immediate future of* tramps shipping. One of them is the extraordinary demand for second-hand tonnage. A little while back this < lahs of vessel was difficult of sale, even at discouraging prices. Now any boat that is in the market is readily bought, up. Indeed, owners who have vessels with which they 1 had no intention of parting are being frequently pestered with tempting offers. Such incidents certainly suggest a belief that there is still gilt on the gingerbread. When, too, second-hand tonnage is- caught up at enhanced prices it must tend to exercise a steadying influence upon the shipbuilding industry, as to whose p' aspects for next year doubts were beginning to be entertained. THE DOCK PROBLEM.

The advent of the Olympic and Titantic marked another step in tho.'.progro?s of shipbuilding, these ships, being, as far in advance of the Lusitania and Mauretania class as those vessels wore of the Adriatic and Baltic, which,- in their turn, exceeded the Carmania and the Caronia, and the rivalry of tho two great British steamship Companies is continued by the laying t own of another ship which will exceed in size everything that has gone before, while the Hamburg-American Line is building the Imperator, with a.length of 910 feet. It does not follow that the size limit will even ho then reaehod and naturally the question must irisei —what dock accommodation exists for these huge vessels? The dimensions of the Olympic are given in Lloyd's Regis ter as 852 ft sin. in length and 92ft Oi. . in width, the Mauretania and Lusitania being 766 ft 2in by 88ft, while tho new "ship of the Hamburg-American Ling will be 910 ft. long with a ilbft. beam. Now, the biggest dry dock in England, or any other country, {Rowing both length and width, is the Trafalgar dock ax. Southhampton, which is b's7ft at top and 875 ft at bottom, and when the alterations are completed will bo 100 ft. wide, having a depth of water on tho sill at high water ordinary spring tides of 35ft. The new dry dock at Belfast can take in the Olympic, though it is a close fit, and there, are several others sufficient in length, but deficient in width. Possibly, however, the Avonmouth Graving Dock—879ft. long at top and 855 ft. at bottom, witli a. width of 100 ft—might do if, as the length measurements given of the ships are of the deck, all over, and net for the keel. The Canada Dock at Liverpool is 925 ft. 6in. long, but is only 94ft wide at the entrance but there is nothing in England or abroad which could take in the new Imperator. with its 910 ft. by 95ft. The U-iitcd Kingdom has almost a monopoly in docks of great length and breadth, for not one of the foreign docks could take in a ship of the Olympic class, and in connection with this it nay he asked, what would have been done bad a recent accident to that vessel occurred outside British water? Of crydocks abroad, there are only three which could accommodate a ship of the Lusitania class, viz., the French Government dock at Brest, the British Government dock at Gibraltar, and the United State J Government dock at Bremerton, Germany's biggest dock being the Kaiser dry dock act Bremern.iven, which is 754 ft 6in. extreme length, 746 ft 6in. in bottom, and 88ft 3in. wide.

HIGH WATER, DfcC. 7--10.28 a.m.; 10.51 p.m Dec. 8.—11.16 a.m.;. 11.42 p.m Dec. 9 ; 0.8 p.m. Dec. 10.— 0.35 a.m.; 1.2 p.m.