Maritime History of the Great Lakes

Marine Review (Cleveland, OH), March 1916, p. 96

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ne Nee Extracts From Report of Board of Directors, Executive Committee and Officers of Lake Carriers’ Association Presented at Detroit Ja an. 26 1916 HE record of the year 1915 ; proves that even the wisest man cannot look far into the future. The year 1914 was a dismal one for the lakes and it ended with- out. a solitary kick, final cargoes be- ing carried at summer prices. There were, however, some signs of revival of industry in general. The early months of 1915, however, were discouraging in the extreme. Few vessels put out upon the open- ing of navigation, and many remained in port without turning a wheel until the summer was well advanced. The price of ore was established on April 21 on the 1914 schedule, but the buy- ing movement, which started in April, was not long sustained. In sympa- thy with the 1914 price of ore, the freight rates on ore were also estab- lished on the 1914 basis which, as is well understood, hardly allows a profitable margin of operation to the ship. No vessel left Lake Erie on the open- ing of navigation, April 15, though weather conditions were quite favor- able. However, the steamer W. H. Donner cleared from Toledo with coal for. Lake Michigan April 16. The oil tanker RENown passed down through the Straits of Mackinac on April 17, and the steamer CHARLES HeEparp, with grain from Duluth, locked down through the Davis Lock on April 18, having ex- perienced but very little trouble in the ice. The Canadian Sault opened for business on April 16, locking through the Canadian steamer J. A. McKee, up- bound. It was not, however, until April 2C that navigation was officially opened from Fort William. How the Grain Season Opened When navigation opened the. accumu- lated stocks of grain at all elevators at the head of the lakes was 17,000,000 bushels. Forty-two vessels cleared -be- tween April 20 and April 24 from Fort William with 3,500,000 bushels of grain, somewhat less than the movement for the preceding year for the correspond- ing time. Advices, however, were for a large crop during 1915, the acreage un- der cultivation being estimated 25 per cent over that of 1913. By May 15 a number of carriers were ordered to -dock owing to scarcity of cargoes at both ends of. the route. Ship- pers were having difficulty in having their own boats employed in the ore trade. Moreover, there was not:a suf- ficient grain movement to take care of tonnage even at rock bottom rates. While the grain rate opened at 1% and 1% cents for April loading at the head of the lakes, tonnage was chartered for Buffalo on April. 29 at 1 cent. Char- tering was lifeless. on account of the high price of grain and indications were for a very quiet summer. By July 18, the’ change in the ore trade had become.quite marked. Car- Modifications Necessary | The seamen’s act has been modi- . fied in many respects by department rulings insofar as it affects deep sea sailing; but such provisions as can be construed as applicable to the lakes have undergone no modifica- tion by any ruling. It is so confus- ing a measure that the practical thing would be to exempt the lakes from its provisions altogether and devise a new measure exclusively applicable to the lakes. There is no question but that this association 1s willing to meet the government more than half way on any reason- able proposition. The business of the lakes is seasonable, being lim- ited to eight months of the year and provisions applicable to all-year service cannot with success or jus- tice be applied to it. Our expert- ence with it during November was sufficient to prove its impractical character. goes were offered freely and vessels went back light to get them. Owners began fitting. out additional ships for commission and under the pressure for ore tonnage the grain rates began to advance sharply. Furnace interests, which had been indifferent as to their ore requirements, came into the market in force in July and evinced the liveliest concern in the replenishment of their stock piles. The whole situation sud- denly shifted all around and_ shippers soon sold all the ore they could prom- ise to deliver during 1915. Up to Aug. 1 the ore movement was 5,604,155 tons behind that of 1913, and everyone ap- parently was beginning to feel the pinch at once. Shortly after Aug. 1 the pres- sure upon vessel capacity began to in- crease until it became actually tremend- ous. August, 1915, established itself as the first August in which the movement of ore exceeded 8,000,000 tons. From that time on every month of 1915 was a record breaker, the fleet moving alto- 96 kes gether 27,593,501 tons after the first oe August. This is a better movement than was achieved during the corre- sponding month of 1912 and 1913. The total movement for the season of 1915 — was 46,318,804 gross tons. This is only 2,781,674 tons less than the movement of 1913, but it is a far more significant performance than 1913, as the move- ment for 1913 was quite evenly dis- tributed over the entire season, whereas the 1915 movement was congested into a few months. During August grain shippers began offering 234 cents from the head of the lakes to Buffalo for the last half of September. This was the best rate of- fered during the year up to this date, but it did not last long. The rate shot up rapidly, 3% cents being offered for the last ten days of September and 3% cents for the last half of October. These rates did not bring out much tonnage, as vessel owners were not in position to take much grain. By Sept. 30 the grain market had become absolutely a runaway one, the rate changing several times on the same day; 5 cents was paid for storage capacity and later the rate went to 6 cents. The daily rate varied from 7% cents on May 12 to 5% cents on Oct. 1, working out at an aver- age for the entire season at 2%4 cents from the head of the lakes. Higher rates were paid in October than in No- vember, when the rate declined to 4 ~ cents, final cargoes being carried in December at 5% cents. No such rates had been freely paid on the lakes since the days of small ships. This condition was brought about by the great pressure of the ore trade and by the congestion of grain at upper lake ports, 105,000,000 bushels more grain being shipped through Lake Superior elevators during 1915 than 1914, the increase being largely thrown into the last half of the ship- ping season. An Interview in Washington Your president, acting under your in- structions, sent a committee in Febru- ary, last, to confer with the steamboat inspection service concerning certain rul- ings and to endeavor to get additional inspectors for the lakes during the early spring months. Little encourage- ment for additional inspectors was given the committee and members were urged ~ to lessen the delay of inspection as much as possible by fitting out their boats earlier than usual. This practice

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