USELESS SHIPPING.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18388, 2 May 1923, Page 9

USELESS SHIPPING.

AMERICA'S HUGE LOSS.

.VESSELS 'GOING ; BEGGING.

SENSATIONAL COLLAPSE.

Seventeen hundred American passenger and cargo vessels, aggregating .11,002.623 dead tonnage, .will. soon be placed on i the market, writes "the Now York correspondent of a London paper. , They are. the property of. the United States, acquired by the Pendraso requisition seizure ■- from tho :• enemy, and by construction since the. country went into tike world war. > The Bill for a subsidy, which President Harding supported with all his influence and prestige, has been talked to death its passage by the present Congress has been ' made impossible by a " fflibuste!:|' in the Senate. Of the great fleet, which was to compete with Britain's argosies in all thja seven seas, and is causing a loss of 30.000,000 dollars a year at the IvaSt, there are in actual operation in berth services onlv 359 ships. The majority of the others, including 690 steel vessels have . been land up since the war, i massed in rusting squadrons, and hidden from view as much aft possible in the ports all along the At- i lantic and Pacific coasts- i The star, or perhaps, to be more correct, j the champion white elephant of the fleet, is the huge Vaterland,' taken from tho Germans and renamed .the Leviathan,; which is being : reconditioned at an estimated cost of 7,000,000. dollars. : The liquidation plan, I understand, contemplates the selling of . the passenger ships and the best cargo bottoms to American lines at low prices on long terms of payments.!-';-; rr . " . • ■■ • .Shattered Hopes. ! " In-.the" long annals of industry, never has there been any collapse to compare with the ruin of the American mercan- i tile marine. ■-: .;'' , : " . '.■'!,".; : ! "■ * - It was, of course, in response to our-1 S.OS. that, in 1918, tho Americans be-! gan to build their merchant fleet. On that fleet they spent at least £600.000,000. | Of steel vessels. alone, they completed j more than 1400. with a displacement ex-! ceeding ; 10,000,000 tons. ;Vf ' < , Undoubtedly they ; intended this great j fleet to be a • permanent asset. In its favour the Hearst -Press carried on a i continuous ; crusade. ;: At the picture shows j there were daily cheers for the Stars and I Stripes, fluttering at the masthead, while President Wilson talked about the freedom of the seas. , See what has since happened. The con- j crete tonnage, as might have been expected, has cracked and crumbled to fragments. ;- : .-'-.■.•'-;;;:.'!!•:;' :■"■:■ .■. <-, The wooden vessels. 280 in: number, each I of which cost from : £60,000 t0,£100,000, j have proved uneconomic. :To cross the j Atlantic they required 700 tons of. coah"J and the insurance; of wood is double the ! insurance of steel. Put up; to y auction,' there was one bid for these vessels—£4so apiece! ■:.:-;'. . . . Total Loss of €570,000,000. ' ,v: A suggestion is ■:' that they bo used as", pontoon bridges across rivers like tho Hudson.,'.;' ' . -'''.•, Of the steel ships, a good proportionsay one out : of three—should also i be : con- ! demned for , hasty, construction. .; Such vessels, liko the wood and,the. concrete, are valueless. . _' ■-■!-■!;;;!-:■:■'■ '"WThe \ real phenomenon to be rioted baa been- the 1 failure of ) the United ; States to avoid a crushing loss, even on those yes-.' sels which were seaworthy and : honestly managedThe mere out-of-pocket losses ran for a long time to £3,500,000 a month, and is still a million.;!; Yet to-day ; only i; about a ■ quarter of tho ships—, 350—-are on the high, seas. . *■ ■: The ; investment of £600.000,000 " represented !( about £50 a ton y completed. .. ; -Ac:cording to figures received, Britain .is building for £5! to £6 a ton. !The steel .ships! of the.United States about v.: 10,000 '' tons — which ~ cost £600.000.000» are to-day' onlv worth £50,000,000 ■; less depreciation, which must be, J considering - their "rust." at least ; v 4O per cent. On their initial outlay, therefore, tho Americans v ! have ! lost, ■ say, £570,000,000. - !; ■■.-V.V !;■ .v !-'! . \<'/,::"