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Revival in Shipping and Shipbuilding A, Marked Upturn is Now Evident | DISTINCTLY optimistic out- Ave for American shipping is reflected in a maritime survey by H. Gerrish Smith, president of the National Council of American Shipbuilders. His report was issued in connec- tion with the annual meeting of the council, held at the Whitehall club, New York on April 19. Mr. Smith’s announcement follows: “There has been a distinct revival in shipping, both foreign and domes- tic, during the past few months. This is an encouraging omen for those engaged in shipbuilding, ship- repairing and ship operation. “The value of unfinished ship con- struction has materially increased within the past year. Business on hand aggregated but $29,000,000 as of Jan: £1933... The beginning: of 1934 found this figure increased to $147,000;000. The bulk of the business, of course, is accounted for by contracts for 21 naval vessels awarded to seven private yards last August, Contracts involving the con- struction of fourteen vessels for the coast guard and one for the light- house service have also been award- ed. Number of Workers Doubled “The number of workers in ship construction has practically doubled during the past year. Employment in 20 representative yards reached a low level of 10,411 last July. On Sept. 30 this number had increased to 14,950 and by the end of the year stood at 17,000. “Shiprepair yards also report a substantial improvement during re- cent months, This applies to yards on the East and West coasts, in the Gulf and on the Great Lakes. The actual man hours per week in fifteen representative yards increased from 425,000 in November to 596,000 in February and to 757,000 in March. While these results are due partially to a normal seasonal increase, they are held to indicate also a consider- able uptrend in the shiprepairing in- dustry, especially as it applies to seagoing vessels. “The brighter outlook for ship- ping has already been reflected in a decrease in idle tonnage. The ton- nage of laid-up vessels decreased some 3,000,000 gross tons during 1933. In the United States, during this period, more than 700,000 tons were taken from lay-up. These ves- sels were replaced about evenly in the foreign and coastwise trades. “Panama canal records* also presage an improvement in shipping, especially in the intercoastal trade. The number of transits in 1933 was 13 per cent greater than in 1932, while cargo tonnage increased 16.9 per cent. Transits for March 1934 were the most impressive in years. “The improved outlook for vessels in foreign trade is shown by the vol- ume of exports and imports for the first quarter of 1934 as compared with the corresponding period last year. Exports for this year, by value, were 55 per cent greater, while im- ports had increased 47 per cent. Merchant Vessels Completed “The year 1933 marked the com- pletion of the first group of forty- two vessels constructed under pro- visions of the merchant marine act of 1928. Merchant shipbuilding in the United States as a result last June declined to four-tenths of one per cent of the world total, the low- est percentage on record. The United States stood in ninth place among the 10 maritime nations at the end of the year, although our percentage had increased 7.7 per cent of the world total. Merchant vessel contracts let during 1933 in- cluded two cargo vessels built for A. H. Bull Steamship Co.; two large and three small tankers built for the Standard Vacuum Transportation Co.; a small passenger and cargo vessel constructed for the Northland Transportation Co.; and a vessel of special type for the Seaboard Ship- ping Corp. “While merchant shipbuilding constitutes a very small volume of tonnage it is gratifying, none the less, to note the constructive sug- gestions for the maintenance and upbuilding of the merchant marine recently submitted to congress by the secretary of commerce and which are now awaiting action by congress. In working out the necessary legislation to effectuate these recommendations the most economical shipbuilding program would be one that provides for an approximately uniform vol- ume of annual merchant vessel construction, because it is upon such a uniform program that the shipyards can be maintained in efficient operation, “The shipbuilding and shiprepair- ing industry has been operating under a code of fair competition and trade practice approved by the *See article on Panama Canal traf- fic in this issue page 12. MARINE REVIEw—May, 1934 President on July 26, 19383, which established a much shorter work week than that prevailing in nearly all other industries. This provision, undoubtedly, has been a severe handi- cap to the industry and has in some instances actually decreased employ- ment by slowing down work on ves- sels for which contracts had recent- ly been let. “While there has been some slight increase in employment under the code on contracts that were already underway when the code went into effect, this is not true as regards the new “naval contracts entered into in August, This is due to the slowing down of the work on these 21 ves- sels in their early stages of progress, so that at the present time there are fewer men employed on these con- tracts than would have been the case had longer hours been worked during the past six months, “While employment on_ shipre- pairing has been limited to 40 hours per week, with an average of 36 over a six months period, the average employment per week has been far below 36 because of the intermittent and emergency character of shipre- pair work. <A greater number of hours during a work week is essen- tial in this department of the ship- building industry if employes there- in are to secure an average of 36 hours over any extended period. Handicapped by Lesser Hours “In the performance of work on naval vessels, private shipyards are in direct competition for skilled em- ployes with the government navy yards in which the hours of employ- ment are 40.a week. Effective as of April 7, the 32 hours of employment on naval vessels in private shipyards have been increased to 36 hours but notwithstanding these changes in their hours of employment’ the private shipyards continue to be operated under a handicap of four hours as compared with the 40 hours of employment now prevailing in government navy yards. “The Vinson bill which recently passed congress calls for the con- struction of one aircraft carrier, 99,200 tons of destroyers and 35,- 530 tons of submarines to replace over-age vessels, An annual program for the construction of these vessels, a substantial part of which will un- doubtedly go to private shipyards, will do much toward maintaining the activity and efficiency of our private shipyards.”’