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British Shipyard Orders (Continued from Page 37) water-tight bulkheads are provided, and the double bottom, which extends the whole length of the ship, is ar- ranged for the carriage of water ballast, fresh water and oil fuel. The vessel has an electrical installation consisting of four diesel driven gen- erators, each having an output of 200 kilowatts at 220 volts. The White Star liner BRITANNIC is also under construction at Belfast and work is being expedited so that this 27,000-ton motorship may replace as soon as possible the CELTIC on the Liverpool-New York service. On Oct. 16, Workman, Clark (1928) Ltd., launched from the north yard a twin- screw sludge steamer, built to the order of the Belfast City corporation. The firm received from Andrew Wen & Co. Ltd., an order for two addi- tional motorships of 10,000 tons for the Bank line. As the, year drew to a close, con- ditions in the shipping industry also improved, as can be seen from the accompanying chart of index num- bers, compiled from The Statist, Lon- don, the November figure being the highest for the year to date. Sir William Seager, president of the chamber of shipping, has written in the Shipping World that the freight markets at present are healthy, but rates are not really remunerative, leaving probably under 5 per cent profit on the capital invested. On the other hand, Sir William H. Rae- burn, at Glasgow, a prominent tramp owner, recently stated that the trades of the world are improving and that remunerative rates may be hoped for with regard to cargo steamers of modern design. There still is a con- siderable tonnage laid idle in British ports. The last figures available were for Oct. 1, giving 207 ships of 415,399 tons, as against 233 ships of 495,866 tons on July 1, 234 ships of 363,355 tons on April 1, and 212 ships of 371,674 tons on Jan. 1. The figure for Oct. 1, 1928, is, however, 142,600 tons or 52.3 per cent higher than on Oct. 1, 1927: For the eleven months ending Nov. 30, 1928, exports of British coal were 45,870,791 tons, as compared with 47,262,788 tons in the corresponding period of 1927 and 18,987,802 tons in 1926, the year of the coal stoppage. Coal shipped for the use of steamers engaged in foreign trade in the eleven months of 1928 totaled 15,377,498 tons, as against 15,420,224 tons in 1927 and 6,891,139 tons in 1926. The total value of exports of British goods, exclusive of bullion and specie, 60 for the first eleven months of 1928 was £774,306,299 ($38,750,000,000), as compared with £763,024,402 ($3,700,000,000) in the corresponding period of 1927 and £716,249,655 ($3,460,000,000) for 1926. As com- pared with 1927, there was a de- crease of £6,582,346 ($31,850,000) in the value of coal exports, a decrease of £3,293,527 ($16,000,000) for non- ferrous metals and manufactures, a decrease of £2,879,651 ($14,000,000) for cotton yarns and manufactures, and a decrease of £2,667,182 ($12,950,000) for iron and steel. The most noteworthy increases in value were: £9,727,848 ($47,200,000) for vehicles, including locomotives, ships, and aircraft, ‘and £3,492,025 ($16,950,000) for machinery. Board Sells Nine Ships (Continued from Page 32) largest vessels in the shipping board laidup fleet. The TreRRE HAUTE is a steel cargo vessel of 8758 dead- weight tons. As a part of the contract of sale the purchaser agrees to replace the present propelling machinery of the three vessels with either reciprocat- ing engines or diesel engines. New propellers will also be placed on the vessels. At its meeting Jan. 17, the board sold the steamers CAPITAL OF NE- BRASKA, ATLANTA OF TEXAS and ‘OK- LAHOMA City, of 5200 deadweight tons each to the New Orleans and South America Steamship Co., New Orleans for the sum of $25,666.66 each, terms cash. The vessels will be put in service over the company’s route between Gulf ports and ports of the West Coast of South America. An offer of the Charles R. Mc- Cormack Lumber Co. San Francisco to buy the §. S. HuTcHINSON, 5200 deadweight tons for the sum of $45,- 000, terms 25 per cent cash and the balance in five equal annual install- ments was accepted. The purchaser of this ship agrees to perform cer- tain repairs and betterments to fit her for lumber and general merchan- dise trade on the Pacific Coast. An offer of the Gulf Pacific line, New Orleans, for the MINOOKA and Houston, 5200 deadweight tons each, was also accepted. The price to be paid is $25,100, terms 25 per cent cash and the balance in five equal an- nual installments. The purchaser agrees to perform betterments_ to the ships at a cost of $35,000 each. The vessels will be put in service over the purchaser’s route between New Orleans and the Pacific Coast. MARINE REVIEW—February, 1929 Plan Mississippi Bar g e Line Extension Tentative plans for the extension by the government of the Mississippi barge line service to the [Illinois river in 1931, when the state water- way is to be completed, call for an expenditure of $3,000,000, of the ap- proved $10,000,000 allotment to the Inland Waterways Corp., for barge and towboat equipment for the Illinois Details of the government’s ten- tative program are disclosed in min- utes of a recent meeting of the war department appropriation subcom- mittee of the house of representa- tives in Washington, it is said. An- other $3,000,000 of the same allow- ance would be used to equip similarly the Missouri river line in 1930, and $4,000,000 would be used during the remainder of the. current fiscal year and the coming year for expansion of the Mississippi and Warrior river Testifying before the subcommittee, Maj. Gen. T. Q. Ashburn, chairman of the waterways corporation, said: “It is my present intention to build for the Missouri river four towboats at $350,000 each and forty-five 1000- ton barges at $40,000 each, making a total of $3,600,000. For the Illinois river I would build four towboats at $400,000 each, or a total of $1,600,000, and thirty-five 1000-ton barges at $4000 each, or a total of $1,400,000. Waterfront Project What promises to be one of the great- est waterfront projects of recent years is that being undertaken by the Penn- sylvania railroad in the building of its ship and rail terminal in Jersey City. An expenditure of $50,000,000 is under contemplation by the company. The new project provides dead- ending streets near the present Ex- change Place terminal of the Pennsyl- vania lines, exchange of the city’s Bergen street pier for the Pennsyl- vania’s pier B at the foot of Grand street and for the city’s own devel- opment of a marine terminal adjacent to the Pennsylvania project. The terminal will be located be- tween the Erie railroad terminal and the Morris canal basin, Jersey City and includes construction of twelve 1000- foot piers, with modern terminal build- ings, to include trackage facilities, di- rectly served by trunk line railroads, consisting of the Pennsylvania, Jer- sey Central, Lehigh Valley, Erie, D. L. & W. and West Shore. Three piers, each 200 feet wide and 1000 feet long, with a width of 300 feet between slips comprise the first unit, which includes a terminal build- ing covering two blocks.