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EES eee Trend of Trade and Shipping in British Isles Five months ended May 31 Total entrances of cargo ships into British ports: March April May 1934 1933 INAITID ED Ole VESSELS. ccsvsckacsuccecisschegeienosenetsjeverssaeteastouscssacuestouyvssnvecuscessesonens 8,830 3,869 4,346 18,871 17,723 CS Bay Rea Pea Bee Ey SET E NT PEE EEETT ENS CPST RL PERETTI er EG eR en 4,994,688 4,974,226 5,300,264 24,335,732 23,079,744 Tonnage from Atlantic coast of North America o....cccceeeeeeeee 798,962 823,258 935,935 3,918,696 3,950,228 (16%) (16.6%) (17.7%) (16.1%) (17.1%) Total clearances from British ports: INT DOTS OL VESHEIS ca crsdastscsevcessuceligeyusstsaleucvscseassonsavussus cesgusshovsusscacsteriedsonceses 4,057 3,867 4,259 19,950 19,589 FY MPa a ep SES eva SCPE ECT ry ren eR Eu ha TNT yan Oars ue MSENT ate ples 4,553,658 4,251,519 4,758,680 22,198,470 21,904,487 Tonnage going to Atlantic coast of North America... 669,150 731,061 877,550 3,490,487 3,666,581 (14.7%) (17.2%) (18.5%) (15.7%) (16.7%) Total value of goods: PUR DOMLECI ica vitacecesselc uriths vase tceatended euanticwsssurainnescentesurn scabies coestasevacedeacryeyenss £38,699,957 £35,118,812 £37,545,767 £182,315,878 £166,818,220 Ibeabslormncele eee ONE RUE oe hE PO a OD OTe Nee £61,969,627 £56,330,4838 £61,726,970 £301,248,781 £267,062,810 Exports of coal: BFF eR RT TET SEL CEES EPS LEE EE Ro ae ne Mee 2,942,686 2,930,765 3,647,927 15,891,306 15,862,341 A CALE [tere pS SERS Piet area GS NpeP US a OR NNT Er eciarEPTEE TYME SPLEEN ee PLOT £2,296,353 £2,346,717 £2,905,056 £12,658,640 £12,783,854 Tonnage shipped for use Of St€CAMELS .......ccecceceesesensecetteseerseceetnesesteeeees anes 1,056,293 1,038,207 1,156,238 5,561,905 5,450.993 ee —————————————————————————————————————oooooooooooooooooeeaeaeaes«®o cas S500 O0000O0SaS$05050555>———“—_———— is said to be considering the placing of the order for a second EMPRESS OF Brirain. This was part of the orig- inal plan, for the company fully ap- preciates the fact that a single snip service is at a definite disadvantage on the North Atlantic. but it has wisely been waiting unti] trade pros- pects seem propitious. If indications are needed as to the present trend, and naturally they are eagerly sought for in all directions, the deal which the P. & O, line has just completed may be cited. It was one of the good ideas of the late Lord Incheape to acquire a large in- terest in Corys, the big coal people, and he purchased shares carefully un- til the company had acquired well over 1,500,000, and through them made a number of exceedingly use- ful business connections. Some 1,- 500,000 of these shares have now been sold to Barings, the merchant bankers, for over £5,250,000 in cash and are to be resold to the public. It is announced that the P. & O. is to use this money for new ship con- struction and considering that the shares have been paying 15 per cent for a good many years past the Inch- cape group must see some really good opportunity of using the money to justify the sacrifice of such a divi- dend coming in steadily year after year without effort on its part. Nat- urally enough the details of the ship- building plans are a matter of in- finite speculation, Part of the new program may have to do with the British India line, which for some time past has been rumored to be carefully considering the construction of new motorships for various services. Although it built a number of very fine medium- sized ships immediately after the war it is some time since the company has added any new unit to its fleet, so that it is not at all unlikely that this rumor will prove correct. Another rumor which has recently been current concerning the P. & O. group is that the New Zealand Ship- ping Co. intends to re-engine the three 17,000-ton motor passenger liners of the RANGITATA class built about 1929 in order to bring their speed, which was satisfactory enough when they were built, up to the mod- ern standards of the New Zealand meat trade in which the company takes such a prominent part. Rebuilding Diesel Engines It is uncertain whether, should the report prove to be correct, the com- pany intends to install new engines altogether or whether it will adapt the old ones. It must be remem- bered that great progress has recent- ly been made in the improvement of diesel engines. The old argument of the steam engineer that once a diesel was built it remained incapable of very much improvement is now quite Paes ae “STATIST” INDEX OF BRITISH SHIPPING FREIGHTS Ht INDEX OF FREIGHTS BETWEEN U. S. A. AND WESTERN EUROPE--~— Ht ~ AVERAGE OF 1920 RATES TAKEN AS 100 Ht tt 4 BEES e sO eaeene eee gopanem> se bay ectecsacesenaes (resccseetaits Riese meme. < Same Sea Eee aaa scacwanaseae ci Beas eae cathe Siawac sane = hae Sc ni meees PECECPEEE EE ee cee anne | : an a thing of the past. The Scandinav- ian engineers in particular have been making considerable progress in this direction, one of their systems being the conversion of air injection en- gines to airless which has been suc- cessfully carried out in a number of cases at a comparatively small cost. British motorship owners have not yet tried this experiment but it is quite likely that they will do so in the immediate future, Another British concern of which reports have been current recently is the Blue Star line, said to be consid- ering motorships for its River Plate and North Pacific trades. Since the war this company has built a num- ber of first-class cargo liners but un- til recently only one of these was diesel-engined. After being em- ployed on both the Plate and North Pacific services she was transferred to the new run to New Zealand and three other big motorships are being built for the same service. It will be very interesting indeed if the com- pany turns to the diesel engine for its other business as well. The Blue Star’s latest venture into the New Zealand and Australian trade is concerned with the carriage of chilled meat instead of frozen, a promising business in which experi- ments still continue. The meat is landed in England in first class con- dition after its long voyage but when (Continued on Page 386) Diagram showing fluctuations of ocean freight rates for four years and five months MARINE REvIEw—August, 1934 ds