HALF THE WORLD’S SHIPS

Taranaki Daily News, 19 July 1929, Page 9

HALF THE WORLD’S SHIPS

BRITISH BUILDING RECORD MORE VESSELS AND TONNAGE LLOYD’S QUARTER RETURN I — British Official Wireless. Rugby, July 17. More than half the shipping now under construction in the world is being built in British yards. The quarterly returns prepared by Lloyds’ Register show that at the end of last month the total tonnage under construction in all countries amounted to 2,838,225 tons, of which 1,455,906 tons, equivalent to 5'1.2 per cent., are being produced in the British Isles. The improvement in the British shipbuilding position is shown by the fact that there are now 365 vessels being built in British yards, an increase of 37 vessels and nearly 100,000 tons over the previous month and an increase of 93 vessels for the of 251,000 tons over the figures for the corresponding month last year. Of the shipping now under construction in this country about 66,000 tons are intended for British Dominions, and about 208,000 tons are for sale or for foreign shipowners in Great Britain and Ireland. Work was started during last quarter and involves 428,000 tons, an increase of about 66,000 tons as compared with the previous three months, and there were launched 393,000 tons, an increase of 101,000 tons. The satisfactory feature of the figures is that the tonnage on which the work was started exceeded that launched by 36,000. In other countries shipping under construction on June 30 amounted to 1,384,000 tons, which was less by 96,000 than the work in hand at the end of March.

In six countries other than Great Britain there were more than 100,000 tons under construction on June -30, namely, Germany, with 272,000 tons; Japan, 180,000 tons; Holland, 172,000 tons; France, 139,000 tons; Russia 125,000 tons; and the United States, 119,000 tons.