SHIPPING BOOM

New Zealand Times, Volume XLII, Issue 9630, 10 April 1917, Page 6

SHIPPING BOOM

NORWEGIANS’ PERSISTENT HUNT FOR TONNAGE.

In connection with tho amount of shipbuilding that ;is going on in the United States at the present time an interesting article Entitled “The Bull Market in Shix>s” appeared in a December issue of the “Saturday Evening Post” (Philadelphia). It deals also with the many ships that have changed hands during tho last couple of years. “The ceremony of hauling down the American flag’ and replacing it with the Norwegian colours has been performed many times in our ports during the last year and a half,” observes tho author, Mr Will Payne. He points out that tho record of ship sales shows that about half the items are marked “Sold to Norwegians” or “Bought by Norwegian interests.” Apparently, he adds, they have bought more shipping than all other peoples put together; where tb e sales have involved a change' of flag. *As to how the shipping boom has affected the building end, ho points out that in the fiscal year 1913 243,000 tons of steam 1 vessels were built in tho United States and 224,000 tons in tho fiscal year 1914, while on October Ist, 1916, 454,000 tons were building, or under contract. Formerly, ho says, “British yards built seven to ten tons of merchant ships to our one; but at present we are running neck and neck with them.

“In the midst of the boom,” he goes on, “these eager Norwegians have come Into our own shipyards and taken half their capacity. Every expedient is being used to rush work on ships. It was reported in Canada not long ago that Norwegians had been trying to place contracts there which would keep every yard in the Dominion busy for four years to come; but the yards could take on very little of the business.”

“Everybody in Norway is interested in ships, and nearly everybody bas a direct interest," he says. In the old days it might bo one-sixteenth, one-thirty-second, or one-sixty-fourth interest in a barque or brigantine but since corporations have become popular everywhere the interest ig usually expressed in shares of stock in some shipping company. In this way an important part of the country’s savings hag long gone into marine enterprise. And of late, with amazing freight rates and dazzling snip profits, Norway has simply gone in look, stock, and barrel, man, woman, and childsomething like the population of a Western town goes in on a real estate boom. A great many million dollars have been involved in Norwegian shipping transactions in the United States.

The writer deals with the point as to where all thin money comes from, and scouts the “unsubstantiated rumour which attributes it to German sources,” pointing out that Germany seems to “take a special pleasure m puncturing a Norwegian hull. . . . The best informed opinion is that Norway finances theso ship purchases out of her own capital. Two and a-half millions hardy and industrious people, even though they do not look at all plutocratic, can dig up a groat deal of money when they settle their minds to it.”

“At the beginning of the wair .Norway had two million tons of merchant shipping, and since then she has been increasing her tonnage by chartering, buying, and building. They have reaped enormous profits,- and quite often a ship has paid for herself on a single voyage. And the profits have gone towards tho purchase of more ships. One ship of sixteen hundred tons, thirty-four years old, which would have been looked at askance by a. junk dealer, was capitalised at eleven hundred thousand kroner. In addition to tho ships that have been bought, at least one hundred and fifty good vessels are building in American yards.” After touching on tho huge freight rates prevailing, the writer goes on to say; “Eschewing all the mere gossip of tho water front, and turning to that solemn publication, ‘Lloyd’s,’ you find a long list of sales of steamers in tho third quarter of 1916, with something of the bouts’ histories. Here is the Scottish Glens, sold in 1910 for 15,000 dollars, and sold this year for 235,000 dollars. Hero is the Alcides, twentyfour years old, costing 130,000 dollars when delivered by the builders, span and new sold in 1912 for 30,000 dollars, sold this summer for 340,000 dollars. Old sailing vessels, regarded as little better than junks three years ago, sold for one hundred dollars a ton. . . . The Department of Commerce reported at the beginning ot October, 1916, that they were building or had under contract 417 ships of almost ono million and a-half tons, or over six times the total output ot the year ended June 30th, 1914.”