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Panama Pacific liner Virginia in Gaillard Cut, Panama Canal NAMA CANAL, Substantial Increase in Traffic is Noted ET tonnage (Panama _ canal N measurement) of commercial traffic through the Panama canal in the 12-month period ended Feb. 28, 1934, was 16.6 per cent greater than traffic in the 12 months ended Feb. 28, 1933. The following table shows the total traffic, by months, for the 12-month period ended Feb. 28, 1934, in comparison with the same months for the year ended Feb. 28, 1933: Tonnage Tonnage 1933-1934 1932-1933 March 1,989,044 1,864,986 April .. 1,839,597 1,863,692 May ....... 1,888,249 1,956,958 RENTING ea ciscn etacas ass e eo eeaas 1,901,117 1,743,150 TUN ee eee Jen ve Aco wrcces 2,051,128 1,676,492 A VERUIS Bhs sisesesvadecsscseesoncsei 2,159,995 1,658,112 ECGS ET Kis Sue i ae ea 11,824,130 10,768,300 MEDC DON c.55s5 cs csaciséesess 2,096,538 1,868,391 WMCEODERS os vecedstissosssnds cons 2,416,200 1,988,133 Wovember i303. 2,395,359 2,085,796 December .......ccssesccseeseee 2,617,656 2,080,069 VAMUAMY ,eccsicssieesctssccs 2,582,131 2,069,218 LEX of 6) UB ay aerate PEO 2,462,760 1,832,658 Ota ene kk 14,570,644 11,874,265 Grand Total: ’..;...:...; 26,394,774 22,637,565 From the above it is noted that there was an increase of 3,757,209 tons, or 16.6 per cent, in the year 1933-34 as compared with 1932-33. Each month in the period ended Feb. 28, 1934, with the exception of April and May, made an increase over the corresponding month in the preced- ing 12 months, and each six-month period in the two years made an in- The information contained in this article was prepared for the Governor of the Canal, under the direction of Seymour Paul, chief, Bureau of Statis- tics, Panama Canal. 12 crease over the preceding six-month period. The daily average net ton- nage in February 1934 was the high- est of any month of the two periods under discussion. The last six months Summary Canal Traffic Increase N THE year ending Feb. 28, 1934, total net tonnage increased 16.6 per cent over the preceding 12-month pe- riod. The greater part of the increase was in the period from July, 1933, to Kebruary, 1934, inclusive; the last six months showed an increase of 25 per cent over the first six months, Tonnage increased over all major routes except Europe-United States- Canada. This fell off 752,000 tons, about 13 per cent, but was not so much a general decrease as the ab- sence of a movement of wheat. On the five other major routes, in the order of actual net tonnage in- volved, the greatest increases were: United States intercoastal (2,370,000 tons gain), furope-South America (663,000), United States-South Amer- ica (562,000), Europe-Australasia (371,000), and United States-Far East (166,000), In the United States intercoastal trade, tankers made the greatest per- centage gain but general cargo car- riers gained more in actual net tons (1,256,000 gain as compared with 1,- 114,000). We find nothing that is particularly indicative with respect to the future. The general feeling of business im- provement suggests that traffic will keep up to about its present level but nothing in the data on various trade routes seems to warrant any specific prophecies. AALS MARINE REVIEW—May, 1934 of the 12-month period ended Feb. 28, 1934, made an increase in the daily average of 25.3 per cent over the preceding six months, and 22.7 per cent over the corresponding six months of the 12-month period ended Feb. 28, 1933. Traffic by Trade Routes In the table on page 14 the traffic (net tonnage, Panama canal measure- ment) is segregated by the six major trade routes, representing 87.4 per cent of the traffic in 1938-34, and lumping the balance under ‘‘miscel- laneous.’’ There are shown the total tonnage operating over these routes for the two periods, the per cent of the total tonnage each route com- prised, and the percentage gain which the 12-month period ended Feb. 28, 1934, made over the corresponding period in 1932-33: From the table on traffic by trade routes (Page 14) it is noted that the most marked increases were, in order: Between the east coast of the United States and the west coast of South America, 75.7 per cent; Be- tween Hurope and the west coast of South America, 37.1 per cent; Be- tween Europe and Australasia, 33.6 per cent; United States intercoastal trade, 32.8 per cent; in which tanker traffic increased 59.9 per cent, and that of general cargo carriers 23.4 per cent. It is also to be noted that the trade of second rank in the traffic through the canal, that between Europe and the west coast of the United States