SHIPPING MERGER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LI, Issue 209, 5 August 1931, Page 7

SHIPPING MERGER.

UNION LINE AND C.P.R. REPLY TO MATSON CHALLENGE. AVELLINGTON, Aug. 5. A bold bid for maritime supremacy on the trans-Pacific mail and passenger routes between North America and New Zealand and Australia is foreshadowed by the announcement of a merger arranged between the Union Steam Ship Company, Ltd., and the Canadian Pacific Railway Company to operate the dicl-establislied Vancouver service. The Union Company officially stated yesterday that a company has been incorporated under the name CanadianAustralasian Line, Limited, to take over the Pacific liners Aorangi and Niagara, operating between Vancouver, New Zealand, and Australia. The company will bo jointly owned and operated by the Canadian Pacific Railway Company and the Union Steam Ship Company of New Zealand, and will receive the traffic support of both companies. Mr J. C. Irons, who lias represented the Union Company’s interests in Canada for many years, lias been appointed general manager of the company with its head office in V ancouver. The merger was hinted at in a Vancouver message on Saturday, which said:—“There are persistent rumours that the Canadian-Australian Royal Mail Line will be operated by or merged with the Canadian Pacific Railways’ fleet. Local officials are uncommunicative, but it is understood that negotiations are proceeding at Montreal.”

The Union liner Aorangi, which is at present the largest ship sailing between America and New Zealand, is a luxurious quadruple-screw motor vessel of 17,491 tons gross register and 20,000 horse-power, built about five or six years ago. The Niagara is a triplescrew steamer of 13,415 tons gross register, and 14,500 horse-power . which lias been continuously' employed in the Vancouver service for about 18 years. Up to this year the Union Company has received a subsidy from the New Zealand Government of £20,000 a year for tho carriage of mails by its Vancouver service. ' The Post Office estimates presented i to Parliament last week provide for a subsidy this year of £IB,OO0 —a reduction of £2OOO. POAVERFUL NEAV BACKING. The advantages of the new merger are obvious, since the Vancouver service will now bo additionally backed by the powerful resources of the Canadian Pacific Railway Company, which, besides its wonderfully efficient transcontinental railway system connecting the Pacific and Atlantic seaboards of Canada, operates fast, and luxurious steamships on the Atlantic as well as between Vancouver and the Far East.

Since the war the C.P.R. has spent something like £25,000,000 in building new ships and modernising others of its fleet in British shipyards. The company’s new ships are outstanding In every way. The latest is the Empress of Britain, of 42,350 tons gross register, probably the most efficient and most luxurious steamer afloat. She makes the passage from Southampton to Quebec in five days. At the beginning of the year the C.P.R. placed in the Vancouver-Orient service the new Empress of Japan, 22,000 tons, anoQier superb ship which is the fastest vessel on the Pacific. In the trans-Atlan-tic service, too, are the four 20,000ton “Duchesses,” which have made a great name for themselves. No doubt is entertained in shipping circles that the “All Red Route” under the new regime will enhance the prestige of British shipping on the Pacific. It is obviously a reply to the challenge of the Matson Line, which will during the next twelve months to two years place its heavily-subsidised new 20,000-ton liners Mariposa, Monetary, and Lurline on the service from San Francisco to Auckland and Sydney. Inquiries were made yesterday as to whether the Union-C.P.R. combination foreshadowed the building of new tonnage for the Vancouver service, but no official statement was vouchsafed. It is understood that the Union Company prepared plans a year or two ago for a new liner somewhat larger than the Aorangi, but the ship exists only on paper. That the present sta*o of trade warrants the building of large and expensive new ships for the service, is doubtful. EXPORTERS KEENLY INTERESTED. Received August 5, 11 a.m. VANCOUVER, Aug. 3. Exporters, particularly lumbermen, are keenly interested in tlie shipping merger. The latter hope that the demands for the quick delivery of smaller shipments to Australia are to be realised by the more frequent sailings. It is reported unofficially that the Niagara and the Aorangi are to run between San Rrancisco and Australia only.