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November, 1920 a ton is remarkable. Fortunate were those owners who had the wisdom and the opportunity to charter their ships to strong firms in the early part of the year for 12 or more months, The statement has been published that the estimated cost to an owner of maintaining a cargo steamer at sea at the present time is 10 shillings a ton, and, although this estimate has been repeatedly given, it has not been challenged. It will be seen, therefore, that a time charter rate of 12 shillings a ton still leaves a margin of profit, although a very small one compared with the handsome margin which was left by the high time-charter rates of a few months ago. The present margin still may be satisfactory in the case of ships built many years ago at the lower prices then ruling. It is difficult to see, however, that it can be an attractive rate for owners who have bought tonnage on the high prices ruling during the past few years. Summer Months Quiet The months of July and "August comprised, in the years before the war, the quietest period in the whole coal from the United States to Europe from South Africa to the Mediter- fanean, and even from Australia to the Mediterranean and Scandinavian countries. Thus a new set of compara- tively long voyages was established, which would not have seemed possi- ble before the war. Ballast voyages, which years ago would have seemed quite uneconomic, have become com- mon. It stands to reason that when these are necessary, the whole cost of the British Shipping Index PRICES OF REPRESENTATIVE SHIPPING SECURITIES IN THIRD QUARTER Securities Highest Lowest Date £6 <a oS 80 Cunard -- shares '2 caper ei ees 9 July 8 de 2 6 Sept. 38 Furness, Withy Shares, par £ 115 9 July 9 1-9. 0- Aug. 9 PrP. & O. de- ferred £100 stock) 225% 470 0 0 July 12 890 0 O Aug. 10 Royal Mail 8. P. Co. £100 Stock2 .)7.1207 0 0 July 12 105 0 0O Sept. 10 SHIP CONSTRUCTION FIGURES FOR UNITED THE MARINE REVIEW 591 more favorable position than the own- ers of ordinary cargo vessels because their rates are fixed for long periods. Che freights of the cargo liner com- panies never touch the extreme, either the highest or the lowest of the ordi- nary cargo vessels; they pursue the more or less even tenor of their way. Yet they have been feeling the effect of a falling off in the cargo offered, and the competition of tonnage owned in Scandinavia and elsewhere has been apparent. i Liner Trades Favorable An interesting little development recently has taken place on the con- tinent, where a Dutch line has inau- gurated a service competitive with that of the British lines to South Africa. The South African trade in - 'past years seemed almost to be the stormy petrel of shipping. There has been more than one rate war and there have been at times sharp differences of opinion between the shipping com- panies and the merchants. The Dutch line has recently quoted lower rates than those agreed upon last year. be- tween the British shipping companies : =a KINGDOM IN THIRD QUARTER eo of the 12 months. All the big crops and the merchants. The British com- P OF 1920 A had been moved, and the new crop No. Gross tons _ panies have replied not by an ordi- Tonnage launched .......... 144 483,057 ary f ; movement of the autumn had Tomas sonnel nary further cutting of rates, not begun. The past July and Tonnage building, Sept. 30.. 961 3,731,098 which twas the form a "rate August have been exceedingly SHIPPING MANAGEMENT FACTS THIRD QUARTER 1920 war" took in the past, but by quiet in the freight market, eal -- entering into an undertaking and for some weeks owners Time Charter Rate: Ordinary British cargo steamers of a special kind with the were buoyed up by the hope per ton D. W. per month........ Sees sat 1076 12 0 merchants. They have promised i Voyaye Rates: to carry goods shipped mer- eee vet ate demand plate, Ke arain,, per bh a 5 7 6* 310 6 y goods shipped. By would assume a much brighter Australia--U. K. grain, per ton............ 710 0* 5 15.0 chants in British ships one week - ik 4 5 0* 45-5 0 +1 - aspect. The autumnal demand Cubaz-U,. By SUM ss DER ON before or after. the sailing of has, however, been very slow ie ' oo foreign competitive vessels with . ' : 'elsh large at S. Wales, per ton...... se in developing. For some reas- | fi: per ton at Port Sold... -stresseescceses 15 0 0 15 0 0 | similar goods from the con- ons--probably partly financial Wales: A-scoeanet ni ie ae: is u a tinent, at rates of freight 20 oe oatswains per month.......:.....ee00- : a te and partly owing to a lateness Firemen per wont... 5.2. e et 12 10 0 shillings per ton less than of the crops--any revival of . those charged for the competi- ivi = *T the government rates for directed- voyages. : : . ; einen aeiy has been VELY. back- +thene me are mall subject to an additional "war bonus" of £3, a tive ship " ae . f 10 shill ward in showing itself. There month which is still maintained. They are fixed by = ec maritime low rate of freight o shill- a 7 ented. : : can be no question that the board on, which, hothy punters ane samen ay Se ings per ton. It is hoped that by such an arrangement the condition of the open freight markets would have been high- ly unsatisfactory but for the new trade movement in coal. The falling off in the Production of coal in the United King- dom and the consequent decline in ex- Ports has been a bad thing for the trade of the United Kingdom. Large coal exports before the war were of great Service to the British shipping indus- try, since they enabled British ships to make outward and homeward voyages with full. cargoes. They left the ports of the' United Kingdom laden with coal, and they came back laden with the grain and other crops grown in the great producing. countries. | When these outward cargoes of coal were No longer available, it was feared that British shipping would suffer severely. Then new factors came into play. Ships found employment in bringing round voyage has to be borne by the single voyage, instead of being dis- tributed over outward and home- ward voyages. This fact must tend to maintain the cost of importing food- stuffs into the United Kingdom. Freight rates are still substantially higher than they were before the war, but the costs are also higher, so that it does not follow that the net profit is or will be any more satisfactory than it was in some of the lean pre- "war years. Owners are frequently heard saying that the time is not far off when it would be better for them to lay up cargo tonnage than to attempt to operate it at the market rates of freight. Cargo liners have been in a rather 'between interests of British merchants 'will be adequately safeguarded, while the losses of the British shipping com- panies, on the other hand, will be satis- factorily limited. Another important development has been the conclusion of an agreement the Canadian Government Merchant Marine, Ltd., and British shipping companies for services from both the Atlantic and Pacific ports of Canada to the Far East. These agreements are of particular interest 'because they represent an alliance be- tween a government enterprise and a private undertaking, which various shipping authorities have maintained would be unworkable. Happily, the management of the Canadian Govern- ment Merchant Marine, Ltd. has adopted a policy of inaugurating new