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Build 125 Merchant Vessels in 1916, Having Aggregate Gross Tonnage of 108,235 ~ — __Vessels Now Under Construction—Bulk-Freight Carrying Capacity Increases yards built for American own- 125 merchant vessels of 108,235 gross tons. The yards on the Atlantic and gulf coasts built 610 merchant vessels of 312,426 gross tons. Pacific yards built 276 vessels of 93,318 gross tons, while.the yards on the western rivers built 152 vessels of 6,868 gross tons. American yards thus built 1,163 merchant vessels of 520,847 gross tons in 1916. During 1915, Great Lakes ship yards built. 159 merchant vessels of 23,320 gross tons. The Atlantic and gulf coast yards built 577 vessels of 164,677 gross tons. Pacific yards built 336 vessels of 24,580 gross tons and western river yards, 144 vessels of 3,025 gross tons. The 1915 total was 1,216 merchant vessels of Bee 1916, Great Lakes ship ers 215,602 gross tons. een pe i The foregoing fig- SC aaa ures have just been | j5yq20720220221. compiled by the Pee rap arog bureau of maviga- | qonal}2)20000000) tion, department of shes aie Une oa commerce. The Cage ee 1916 totals do not | ee include 50 vessels of 39,392 gross tons built here for for- eign owners. The increased importance of the lake yards during 1916 is clearly in- dicated by a comparison of the forego- ing figures. In 1915, for instance, lake yards built 159 out of 1,216 vessels com- pleted by all American ship builders, or 13 per cent. In 1916, they built only 125 out of 1,163 vessels, or 10.8 per cent. Taking tonnage figures, however, to se- cure a more accurate comparison, it is found that the lake yards turned out 23,320 tons of a total of 215,602 tons in 1915, or 10.8 per cent; and 108,235 tons of a total of 520,847 tons in 1916, or 20.8 per cent. While the country’s 1916 output showed an increase of 142 per cent of the 1915 production, the increase for the lake yards was 364 per cent of the 1915 production. The lake yards turned out for Amer- ican owners in 1916, 79 wooden vessels, of which 10 were designed to use steam, 34 to use gas, and 35 were unrigged. The aggregate tonnage of the wooden vessels was 6,035 gross tons. The metal vessels built on the lakes numbered 46 with an aggregate gross tonnage of 102,200. Of these one was a sailing vessel, 35 were designed to use steam, ed six to use gas, and four were unrigged. The opening of 1917 finds the lake yards facing another year of full activity. Table II, page 57, which gives the vessels under construction in Amer- ican ship yards on Jan. 1, 1917, shows that lake yards now have under con- struction 52 vessels of more than 200 gross tons. Included in these are 11 bulk freighters and 37 Welland canal size steamers for the coastwise trade and for foreign owners. These figures do not include Canadian yards. At the opening of 1916, lake yards were building 36 boats of more than 200 tons gross, including 10 bulk freight- ers, eight Welland canal size steamers 260,200 for the coastwise trade and seven canal- ers for foreign owners. At the opening of 1915, the new construction on hand included a passenger steamer, three tugs and two dump scows. Only one bulk freighter was built that year, the self- unloader W. F. Wuite. Bulk-Freighter Capacity The accompanying table shows that the total carrying capacity of all of the bulk freighters on the Great Lakes in- creased from 3,073,319 gross tons on Jan. 1, 1916, to 3,109,585 gross tons on Jan. 1, 1917: The net increase -was 36,266 gross tons. Seven bulk freighters for the lake trade were launched during the year, their total carrying capacity being 82,000 gross tons. During the same period, however, 13 vessels were lost to the lakes, three by foundering and 10 through sales to coast interests. These 13 vessels had an aggregate car- rying capacity of 45,734 gross tons. The bulk-freight-carrying capacity at the opening of this year is higher than at any time since Jan. 1, 1913, and has been exceeded only in the years 1912 and 1913. The highest carrying 62 114,374 capacity on record was on Jan. 1, 1912, when the bulk-freighter capacity totaled 3,135,953 gross tons. The number of bulk freighters at the opening of this year was 540, a decrease of six for the year and the smallest number in com- mission since Jan. 1, 1906. The increase in carrying capacity without any cor- responding increase in the total number of vessels merely reflects, of course, the increased capacity of the newer ships. The seven vessels for the lake trade launched in 1916 compare with one built in 1915; seven built in 1914; four in 1913 five-..in: 1912: five in 1911; 20 in 1910; 17 in 1909; 24 in 1908; 40 in 1907; 40 in 1906; 29 in 1905; 7 in 1904; 42 in $903, and = 32° 4n ° 1902. The carry- Great Lakes Bulk Freighters ae ing capacitres NUMBER AND CARRYING CAPACITY Oe ahese bate Sub- Carrying Carrying Total carry- : No. of Launch- trac- capacity,of capacity, ing capacity, freighters, based vessels ings, tions, new vessels, subtracted, one trip, on an average sea- Jan. 1. number. number. gross tons. gross tons. gross tons. ca of 20 trios oe 540 i S ik: ee 3,109,585 P*> Peg oe 7 13 82,000 45,734 3,073,319 are: 1916, 1,640,000 Bk. 46 1 1 10,000 3,104 3,066,423 i ae 548 7 9 61,000 26,166 3,031,589 tons; 1915, 200,000 vas 572 4 28 28,000 120,919 3,124,508 tons; 1914, 1,220,- Sees 589 5 22 49,500 60,945 3,135,953 000 - 4913 Boe: 392 5 8 55,000 29,477 3,108,330 tons ; , Doni 89 20 17 194,500 60,617 2,973,447 560.000 tons: 1912 ues 587 17 5 157,300 37,197 2,853,344 ; sae f uaa 567 24 2 101,400 14,837 2°766,781 990,000 tons; 1911, ie 42 40 6 368,000 46,973 2,442,754 : Ss 514 40 18 381,000 40,987 2:065,111 1,100,000 tons; 1910, 3,890,000 tons; 1909, 3,146,000 toris; 1908, 2,028,000 tons; 1907, 7,360,000 tons; 1906, 7,620,000 tons; 1905, 5,204,000 tons; 1904, 1,026,000 tons; 1903, 4,265,000 tons; 1902, 3,438,- 000 tons. All of the new vessels for the bulk freight trade on the lakes built since Wotvin came out in 1904, have been more than 400 feet in length with one exception. Since the appear- ance of Wo vin, 38 vessels of the 400- foot class, 114 vessels of the 500-foot class, and 38 vessels of the 600-foot class have been built. 1,919,285 Takes Over Dry Docks The dry dock and ship repair plant at Keyport, N. J., formerly owned by Rus- sel Post has been acquired by the Key- port Dry Dock Co., capitalized at $100,- 000. The plant has been idle for several months but will be enlarged and put in operation shortly. G. A. Williams, War- wick oN? YY ‘and “W:-S. Stuhr “and W. Vogt, Hoboken, N. J. control the new company. The steamer FrepertIcK De _ Bary, which had been used on the Delaware river during the summer has been sold.