TWO GIGANTIC STEAMERS

Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1930, Page 7

TWO GIGANTIC STEAMERS

CUNARD LINE’S PROJECT 'i WEEKLY SERVICE PLANS ' HIGH-SPEED IN ATLANTIC SIZE IMPORTANT FACTOR British Wireless. Rec. 5-5 pnn. ' Sept. 25> Sir Percy Bates, chairman oj the company, has issued a statement regarding the two giant Cunard liners which are to be built. He described the possible capture of the so-called “Blue Ribbon of the Atlantic” as merely incidental to the far bigger fact that for the first time in the history of naval architecture it is a practical proposition to run a weekly service from Southampton via Cherbourg to New York with two steamers which can pay. Hitherto such a service has required three steam-

The conditions which govern the construction of such a pair of steamers are speed and size, The speed is die tated by the time necessary to perform the journey in all seasons of the year and, iii both directions, plus consideration of the number of hours required in port on each side of the Atlantic. The size is dictated by the necessity to make money by providing sufficient saleable passenger accommodation to pay for the speed. Sir “Percy Bates expresses thanks to the Government for its help over the insurance of a vessel and recalls that even before the war a problem existed with regard to the insurance of the largest class of steamer. He hopes, hpwever, that when the question arises of expansion the ordinary marine insurance market may render the Government agreement redundant. z FIRST TIME ON RECORD. ■ INSURANCE PROBLEM SOLVED f 1 A message issued from Rugby last •Saturday stated: The Cunard Company has issued a statement to the effect that it has no knowledge of any insurance difficulties having arisen in regard to its projected giant liner to be .constructed by John Brown and Company at Clydebank. The company says' it has not yet begun to place any insurance on the new ship, that the terms of the contract still have to be settled with the builders/ and that the drydocking arrangements at Southampton still are under amicable discussion. It is understood that the new liner, which will exceed in speed and size-any other afloat, probably will require a special dry dock to be constructed or adapted for her. This construction or extension of an existing dock, of course, could .be undertaken while she is being bu.lt. The'insurance, on such a huge vessel naturally would involve a great sum, but a few weeks ago an announcement was made that the Board ■of Irade would undertake, at reasonable rates, any proportion of the insurance of-the vessel which could not be accommodated by the market in the ordinary manner. A formal agreement was said to have been in the process of being drafted and would be attached to a bill to be submitted to Parliament in the forthcoming session. The most important announcement in the. history of British shipbuilding was made by the Cunard Company from its head offices here this evening, said the Liverpool correspondent of the Daily Mail on August 1, when it was revealed that to enable the company to build the largest and fastest liner in the world the Government had undertaken such part .of the insurance of the vessel as the ordinary market cannot accommodate. An official of the Cunard Company ■said: “This is the first time a British Government • has taken slich a step to lenable a shipping Company to meet foreign competition. We. were determined to build the finest liner in the world, both for speed and size, but we could not send a ship worth £6,000,000 carrying thousands of lives and laden with valuable freight out to sea uninsured. “The new liner will be of such a character that it will be impossible to insure ,it fully through the ordinary channels. The fact that we intend to build one such steamer and are con--templating another shows pur confidence in British shipping. This will be an effective reply to the intense American and German competition we have had to meet.” The Government’s action will make it a party to one of the largest insurance deals in the world. If -two liners are built it is estimated that they will be insured for at least £14,000,000.