MOTOR SHIPS

Grey River Argus, 11 August 1925, Page 3

MOTOR SHIPS

GAINING ON STEAM TONNAGE.

Two points of interest stand promin ently out in Lloyd’s Register Shipbuilding Returns for the quarter end cd March 31. One is the relatively small amount of tonnage under con struction in British shipyards. Tht other is, the great development in the building of motorships, particularly in several Continental countries.

The question of motorship buildinf has been brought before public attention by the placing of orders for five motorships for British owners with n German company, the Deutsche Werft Lloyd’s Register returns show- that the motor tonnage under construction (taking the production of the world at a whole, equals 75 per cent of the amount of steam tonnage of 1,021,GM ons under construction in the worm The distribution of the building ot this class of vessels may be seen from the following table: — Gross Vessels. Tonnage. Great Britain .... 54 359.920 Germany 35 d?4.t00 Italy 15 84,137 Denmark 18 77,084 Holland 14 71 >0' S4 Sweden H 50,400 France ■' .->6,280 Japan • ■ * ’ 8,765 While 54 motorships of a gross tonnage of 359,920 are being built in thiscountry', 135 motorships of 661,711 gross tons are being built abroad. The returns for the quarter show that the tonnage under construction in Great Britain and 1re1and—1,165,468 tons—is about 132,000 tons less than at the end of December, 1924, and about 308.000 tons less than the tonnage building twelve months ago. It should however, be pointed out that the ton„nge on which work was suspended at the end of March, 1925, only amount! to 74,000 tons, as compared with 101,000 tons at the end of March, 1924. Tlie average tonnage building during the twelve months immediately preceding the war was 1,890,000 tons, i.e.. 725,000 tons more than the present total.

A memorandum attached to Lloyd’s Register Shipbuilding Retui s ela'i orates these points as follows:

A slight increase is shown in the tonnage commenced in Great Britain and Ireland during the quarter, name'v, 202.352 tons, as compared with 194 594 tons during the fourth quarter of 1924. The tonnagn launched during the quarter —339,120 tons—is 13,509 tons lower than that for the December quarter of 1924.

The total merchant tonnage building in other countries —1,231,442 tons—ls about 58,000 tons more than at the end of December, 1924. The figures for the leading countries abroad are: Germany 405,476 Franco 187.437 Italy 164,023 Holland 119,908 Denmark 83,794 During the quarter 192,618 tons were commenced abroad and 267,101 tons were launched, a decrease of 97,983 tons in the tonnage commenced and an increase of 72.745 tons in the tonnage launched. The total tonnage under construction. —2,396,910 tons —is 1,049,648 tons below the highest prewar record reached on June 30, 1913, viz., 3,446,558 tons. There are at the present time under construction in the world 31 .vessels of between 10,000 and 20,000 tons each and seven of 20,000 tons and upwards. Sixteen out of the 31, and five of the larger vessels, are building in Great Britain and Ireland. 1

There are at present 55 steamers and motorships, each of over 1000 tons, with a total tonnage of 352,143 tons, under construction in the world for the carriage of oil in bulk. Of these tankers, 20 of 122, 128 tons are under construction in Great Britain and Ireland, 14 of the 121,000 tons in Germany, and 15 of 79,930 tons in Holland. The tonnage of vessels now building in the world which are to be fitted with internal combustion engines amounts to 1,021,631 tons, while the tonnage of steam vessels under - construction is 1,357,834 tons. The motor tonnage thus equals over 75 per cent of the steam tonnage, showing the remarkable development which is taking place in the adoption of this system of propulsion. In Denmark, Germany, Holland, and Sweden the motor tonnage under construction greatly exceeds the steam tonnage; the combined totals for these countries being 142,564 tons of steamers and 522,944 tons of motorships. The world figures include 96 mororships each of between 5000 and 10.000 tons; Bof between 10,000 and 15,000 tons; and 6 of between 15,000 and 22,000 tons. Of the vessels under construction in the world 374 of 1,557,657 tons are under the inspection of Lloyd’s surveyors, with a view to classification in Lloyd’s Register Book,