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oD a aes ae . eg RI ee Fe mee Oe et Pe Oe a oe nm it, te a PT eee Pe ee ee a ae ON Ie ON PR I et RE eS ET te er ee eS CN RTE er — Pek Se a a eT Aa fe Se OO in ee Te ee eee SST en see Ss ee ee ee been paid, and it is a question whether the British people wish so much to eat American apples as to be willing to stand for the price. More than 100,000 tons of freight are said to be waiting in storage at the port of New. York alone, intended for the east coast of South America. A similar condition of congestion is understood to exist at all the Atlantic ports. -There is little won- der of this in view of the small amount of tonnage allocated to this trade. Only 80 steamers of 272,/00 gross tons were available during the past year, whereas 133 steamers of 481,178° gross tons have been allowed in trade with the west coast. More tonnage was provided for the New England coal trade; more had been provided for trading with the West Indies. Resignation of the shipping control committee raised the hope of shipping men that more tonnage would be released immediately for service. They had been told that this committee exercised juris- diction over more than 1350 ships, representing some 7,300,000 deadweight tons, and it was but natural to expect that some of these ships would get back into private trade with the passing of the committee. No such thing has happened although a gradual relinquishment of ships is expected. The shipping control committee did have charge generally of ad- Early vising the trades and routes into Rolo which ships should be divided, and it did advise with the war depart- Expected ment on the operation of that fleet of a thousand or more ships which were used to transport and provi- sion the American expeditionary forces in France. But the committee has highly systematized its work and when P. A. S. Franklin and his associates saw fit to resign, their office was almost self- running, and it was an easy matter to transfer all of the functions which had not become extinct to other officials of the shipping board. Antici- Service for Antwerp : pating much C Ban: ship lines have an- Sig yor ce Be nounced their intention of future, the serving the Belgian port of Ant- shipping people werp. The Lloyd Royal Belge will of. the bavorld have Antwerp as a home port. The Cunard line would make Antwerp have cause to hope that re- a port of call using the old German line docks. The Red Star line has re-established its service between Antwerp and New York, which was stopped by the outbreak of war in 1914, The Red Star line will place its freight vessels in the Antwerp serv- ice as rapidly as they are released by the government. Later the pas- senger liners LAPLAND, KROONLAND, Fintanp and SourHianp will be assigned to the New York-Antwerp service. lief is soon to be had. This is desired by RATES ADVANCE Embargo restrictions are discarded faster than ships are released— Foreign vessels give some relief sible. The tonnage released was a considerable help but was not nearly adequate. Had the im- port and export restrictions continued, a few thousand more tons of ships would have been a material aid, but import and export restrictions have been lightened and contracts demand the de- livery of a larger class of goods today than was possible one month ago. Other than preventing dealings with enemy citizens, the war trade board now permits the importation of many commodities which have been on the “conservation list.” In consequence of the elimination of the sub- marine danger, with the attendant discontinuance of the convoy and other naval regulations which . governed the movements of cargo vessels during American ship- | ping men as By the siip- ping interests of no” oO thier: country. They wish to ido business and would have restrictions re- moved as rap- idly as pos- 49 the war emergency, it has been decided to man all outgoing vessels, excepting for the present those steamers engaged in the transport of troops, with merchant sailors. The navy department is gradually turning back to the shipping board such vessels the use of which are no longer needed in the military service. The quartermaster of the army indicated that 800,000 deadweight tons had been marked for return. About the middle of December 100,000 tons were allocated to commercial trades. Four vessels were placed in the cotton trade and five others were sent to the east coast of South America. A number of foreign vessels under charter to the United States were also returned to the shipping board to be placed in commercial trades, but inas- much as the charters to many of these soon expire, not much relief is expected. Among the ships re- turned to the shipping board are 40 Dutch, 22 Japanese, 12 Norwegian, 3 Cuban, 1 Chinese, 1 Russian, and 20 American. Many of these are in foreign ports and preparations must first be made for their return to ports of the United States. In anticipation of the allocation of the vessels to private American Draw up ship lines, the shipping board has O 3 promulgated its form of operat- Pere Une ing agreement, fixing the per- Agreement centage of compensation on the freights that shall be allowed the operators of the vessels. This agreement is a modification of the one issued by the board last summer, to which the operators objected as not affording them just compensation for their services. _ Preparations for the return to normal conditions are therefore advancing but it may be several weeks and maybe a month or two before there is any conclusive indication of what conditions in the shipping field will be with the restoration of peace. be 7) ae eee ny ee ess 1 eee Se ae ee ee Ee” ere ks eames Experts in Uhis Country and Abroad