SHIPS OF TO-DAY

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17062, 21 September 1929, Page 7

SHIPS OF TO-DAY

TURBINES AND MOTORS INTERESTING FIGURES Speaking at the smoke concert of the combined shipping companies at Wellington, Mr. D. K. Blair, surveyor of Lloyd’s Register, quoted a number of the latest figures having a reference’ to the development of the shipping industry, anil to the changes that were being made in the methods of propulsion. The new edition of the Register Ba k issued by tho Committee of Lloyd's Register of Shipping had 15,486 vessels of 42.116,071 tons gross register under classification. The total tonnage o: f steam and motor ships owned in the world amounted to 66,407,393 tons, of which Great Britain and Ireland controlled 20,046,270 tons. Referring to sailing ships, Mr. Blair said that Great Britain had fallen completely out of Ihe picture, for she possessed a tonnage which was loss than that of the Majestic and Berepgaria combined. The reduction of sailing ton-

riage since pre-war times, say, June, 1914, amounted to 2,310,000 tons gross, and the present percentage of sailing vessels compared with the world’s total tonnage was under 2.5. The figures showing- tho great development which has taken place in the use of steam turbine engines and internal combustion engines were of particular interest. There were now 1456 steamers, totalling over 10,000,000 tons, fitted with turbine engines or a combination of steam turbines and reciprocating engines, and 3246 vessels, aggregating 6,628,102 tons, fitted with internal combustion engines, as compared with' 730,000 tons and 220,000 tons respectively in 1914. During the last 12 months there had been an increase of 1,196,C00 tons in the tonnage of motorslnpsiand of 563,000 tons in the tonnage of vessels fitted with steam engines. The tonnage of steamers fitted solelv with eeiprocating engines had actually deer wed by 311,000 tons. It would thus be seen that less than 59-1 per cent, of the tonnage oT the Merchant Marine doper ded entirely upon coal, while in 1914 the Percentage was nearly 89.—Post.