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6 - tion of tonnage, - official Rate Decreases rouble British | Declines in Ocean Freights Increase Difficulties of HE task of the shipping re- ] viewer is rendered less pleasant in these days by reason of the fact that he has to deal with generally declining rates of freight, involving reduced earnings. Nevertheless, such declines as have been occurring always were foreseen by those who knew that, sooner or later, the law of supply and 'demand must assert itself and that, in consequence of very large produc- : the high freights realized during the period when ton- nage was scarce could not be indefi- nitely maintained. There is nothing to be gained by not fairly facing the facts, and I propose at once to con- sider the conditions affecting British shipping during the past three months under the headings set out in the August issue of THE Marine Review. The division of British shipping then made, which seems to me the most sat- isfactory one, was threefold, namely: (1) Ordinary cargo steamers, in the past colloquially known as "tramps;" (2) cargo liners; and (3) passenger and mail liners. Governmental Control Lifted First, we must notice the freedom from government control which has come about in two stages. Early in July, the British shipping controller announced that, although it would still be necessary, under the defense of the realm acts, to apply for licenses for ships' voyages, all applications then made for ships to proceed on any voyage whatsoever would be granted, unless unforeseen circumstances arose. The shipping controller announced fur- ther that he intended to withdraw all limitation rates of freight, as from Guly 15. At the end of August, the. shipping controller made a further announcement that as from Sept. 1 all British vessels would be authorized _ to proceed on any voyage whatsoever. In order to give effect to this decision a general license was published in the London Gazette of Aug. 31. It stated that the shipping controller, in pursuance of powers conferred upon him by the defense of the realm regulations, "hereby licenses until fur- ther order any British ship to which the said regulation applies to proceed to sea on any voyage whatsoever." Now, as long as shipping control was rigidly enforced, shipping man- BY CUTHBERT MAUGHAN Shipping Editor, The Times, London agers were accustomed to look for- ward to the time when the so-called shackles on their industry would be removed. State control for enterpris- ing managements naturally is in many ways galling 'since, by telling them precisely what they must do and must fot do, i kills mitiative: Still, as events have developed, many owners probably were far better off financial- ly under control than they have been during the brief period in which they have had their freedom. This has been not because there has been any merit in control which should be preserved 'in peace time, but because the ordi- nary commercial considerations have had freedom to come into play. When shipping was under control it was rationed, and the only justification for rationing would seem to be an inadequate supply of any particular commodity. But for such rationing, supplies would go to the highest bid- der and those who could not afford to enter into such a competition would suffer. Control must, in any case, if it had not been removed, have been rendered absurd by the state of the freight market. For instance, the official July announcement stated that all limitation rates of freight would. be withdrawn. To the ordinary reader, provided with no explanation, this might have seemed that rates would climb at once. As it happened, lower rates of freight were then ruling in the open market than those which had been fixed early in the year for some government cargoes. It will be seen that in the accompany- ing table the highest rate for grain from the River Plate to the United Kingdom is given as £5 7s 6d. This was the government rate of freight rul- ing down to July 15. But at that time tonnage could be secured in the open market at £3 10s 6d, or less by £1 17s than the government rate. With freights generally so much lower the government rates of freight could not well be justified. After the rates had been below £5 for some time, a strong demand for tonnage to load maize in the River Plate for Europe has again brought quotations to about £5 7s 6d a ton. Reference to the cessation ° of gOv- ernment control is made under the heading of ordinary cargo steamers, because it was really these which were 590 Ship Operators--Cargo Liners in Better Position mainly affected by the. continuance of some form of state control. The sys- tem of requisition, in which all the liners were included, came to an end last year, and from that time onward licenses were granted for all the ves- sels in a liner fleet to carry on a num- ber of services. The government thus knew exactly where the vessels were if, in any emergency, they were re- quired. It was necessary, however, to secure permission for each _indi- vidual voyage of the ordinary cargo steamer as it was arranged, in accord- -ance with the market conditions rul- ing in the freight markets. Time Charter Rates Drop One of the chief indices of the state of the freight market is the time-char- ter rate, that is, the monthly rate of hire for which ordinary cargo steam- ers can be secured, the owners pro- viding and paying the wages of the oficers and crew, and the cost. of stores, and the firm which obtains the use of the vessel paying. for the coals, port dues, ete. At the end of the last quarter the rate was declining and in the table inserted in the last review article the highest rate was given as £1 4s and the lowest rate 17 shillings 6 pence per ton. Since then the rate has been reduced grad- ually to about 12 shillings a ton, at which it is believed vessels could free- ly be secured for periods of six months. It happens that the demand for tonnage on time charter has shown a great falling off. As is generally known, there was, following the armis- tice, a large demand on the part of the north Atlantic shipping companies for tonnage on a time-charter basis to supplement the vessels remaining in their ordinary fleets. Then, when the exchange difficulty was accentu- ated, this demand fell away and the liner companies began to find diffi- culty in filling their ordinary steamers. On the other hand, the delays in port while vessels were waiting for bunker coal, together with uncertainties in the labor situation, inclined many owners to charter their-vessels if they could do so and be relieved of further responsibilities of management. When it is remembered that, at the begin- ning of the year, similar ships were being chartered at 30 shillings a ton, the present drop to 12 shillings iS a tll al ea ca eh i: Sad ; j i z