NEW LINERS.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XIII, Issue 21, 8 January 1923, Page 7

NEW LINERS.

FOR AUSTRALIAN TRADE. INCREASED TONNAGE. Despite the present shipping depression, unprecedented at least, in the commercial history of Australia, there is evidence on every hand of preparations on the part of large shipping interests to cope with an increase in trade .betwden Australia and other parts of the world The amount of tonnage coming to these shores is at present too great for the quantity offering of both inward and outward cargoes, but despite this it has been realised by most of the big shipping lines that when a revival takes place competition will be so keen that only the most efficient tonnage will be able to compete successfully. The feature of oversea, shipping visiting Australian waters during the present year has been the great influx of new vessels. Much new tonnage has been laid down to replace the huge losses sustained during the war. but the desire to maintain and improve Australian services has led to the construction of many vessels which might not have been built had the only purpose been th© replacement of war losses. During the past 12 months some of the largest passenger lines coming to Australia have given orders for vessels greater than any which have previously entered Australian waters. The P. and O. Steam Naviga tion Co. has two liners of 20,000 tons under construction in England for the Australian mail service. The Orient Steam Navigation Co., Ltd., has ordered two liners of 20,000 tons each for the same service, and these have been followed by the Union Steam Ship Company having laid the keel of a 22,000-ton motor ship capable of a speed hitherto not attained on the Australian run by any line. These vessels are far and awav greater than any vessels now engaged in our trade. Prior to the war the largest steamer to enter Port Jackson was the German mail steamer Grosser Kurfurst, of 13,102 tons gross register. During the war the White Star line added tne new liner Ceramic to its Australian fleet, and her tonnage of 18,495 tons has not yet been exceeded, although many vessels larger than the Grosser Kurfurst are now engaged m regular services to Australia. Among these may be mentioned the three latest P. and O. liners, the R.M.S. Moldavia (16,267 tons), Narkunda (16.227). and Naldera (15,825), the Orient liner Ormonde (14,853), the Aberdeen liner Euripedes (14,947), the Blue Funnel liners Nostar (14.547) and Ulysses (14,265), and the Union Company’s trans-Pacific mail liner Niagara (13,415). Two other important additions to the Australian services have been two fleets of five liners, each built for the Commonwealth Government line, and the P. and O. branch service respectively. The five ‘‘Bay” liners, of the Commonwealth Government line aro about .13.850 tons each, and the five P. and O. Branch .service liners are rather more than 13,000 tons each. Not only in dimensions has considerable progress been made during the past eight years but the special requirements of the Australian trade have received careful consideration. The special arrangements of passenger accommodation and the attention given to Australian produce are the two cardinal points of modern ship designs for the Australian services. In the latest mail liners single-berth cabins are appearing in’ greater num ber, and the large immigration traffic from England has drawn more attention to the third-class accommoda- , tion. Large cargo' holders, with up-to-date cargo handling appliances, are now regarded as indispensable, and there is a tendency even on mail liners to increase the cargo space. It is now generally accepted by the big lines that a vessel unless fitted for carrying refrigerated cargo is of no avail. The Australian meat trade is at a disadvantage compared with that of other pastoral countries in-' that it has a greater distance to .send its product, but in the past it hag lacked sufficemt means of regularly maintaining supplies of first quality to oversea markets. Since the war the cargo lines have been supplemented in ever increasing numbers with new vessels in which a large amount of refrigerator space has been provided. ’ However, it is considered probable in some shipping quarters that ’.vb.h the completion of present shipbuilding programmes the limit in size of oversea liners will have been reached for some years to come. The feature cn which attention will next have to be focussed is that of providing faster means of transit between Europe and Australia. At present the great hindrance is the high price of coal and the large quantity required to be consumed to produce the high-speed performed by liners on the trans-Atlantic services.