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\ 580 Belge will place four passenger vessels in the Brazil and River Plate trade. Lampolt & Holt have started a new monthly freight service from New York to Bahia and return, the ships calling at Para and Pernambuco. This line will in the future include Trinidad in its itinerary. The WKoninklijke Hollandsche Lloyd will discontinue its passenger service to Bahia and Pernambuco, but will continue its freight services. Declining freights still feature the tie, .acilic. charter situation on Pacific The market is weak, particularly Posi with reference to steamers. Sail- oe ing vessels continue in better de- Decline mand but the general tendency is toward a-lower level.. On. the Oriental route, business is slow and the movement of cargo lighter than in months. Operators to the Far East do not anticipate any improvement for several months. Vessels are ar- riving from China and Japan in ballast or with light cargoes. The.movement to the Orient is heavier, but space in that direction is still a drug on the market. In retaliation on Japanese tramps, which are Gees, §fo)6(ave cut the fate: on: lumber to Japan and China, the shipping board recently re- duced this tariff from $25 to $17.50 per thousand feet. This action since has been duplicated by the conference lines. It is likely the rate shortly will be $15, as there is a disposition on the part of some transient lines to cut further. However, the reduction has not stimulated the movement of 'lumber, as the Orient is not buying. Other com- modities are being carried to the Orient on con- ference rates, the basis for steel remaining at $11. Pacific operators are alarmed at the. reduction in the cotton rate from gulf ports to the Orient. This and the increased rail charges have practically eliminated the trans- pacific lines from the cotton busi- ness, which previously has always provided a. heavy . movement through Pacific terminals during the winter. The shipping board, after a brief experiment with a $20 rate on flour and wheat to United Kingdom, has raised to a $23 level which now 'is in effect. It is understood, however, that some foreign vessels still are booking this cargo at $20. The shipping board also has increased the tariff on railroad ties from north Pacific to United Kingdom from $45 to $55, effective in December. The former 'rate has been in effect for about a year and vessels are still being chartered on that basis. There is a consider- able movement of ties to Great Britain. Lumber ig moving in that direction only in parcel lots on which the conference rate is $60. acer (the ~uew faiizoad - rates, North Coast lumbermen have been See End Of Trade in Cotton Railroad practically eliminated from markets east of the Mississippi and naturally Rates A are turning to the water route. Barrier Several lines are now operating regularly from coast-to-coast and are getting offerings. of cargoes in excess of the space available. The rate on wood ties 1s $22.50 and on lumber $24 to New York and other adjacent ports. It is significant that, upon the advent of the higher rail rates, the railroads which had contracts for ties on the west coast immediately ordered them moved by water. Although the ship- THE MARINE REVIEW November, 1920 ping board has increased its water rates from coast to coast, traffic is increasing on this route. Opera- tors are giving preference to other cargo than lum- ber, but the latter is offering in the largest quan- tities. There is a demand for vessels to carry lumber to Cuba at from $22 to $23 and a call for steamers to load railroad ties for India at $50. Lumber charters to Peru and Chile and to Sydney, Aus- tralia, are being done on a basis of $30. A large Swedish motorship recently left with about 4000 tons of British Columbia coal for Scandinavian ports, a movement heretofore unprecedented. Japanese owners are greatly concerned about the decline in freights and many large carriers are idle in home waters. The refusal of President Wii- son to abrogate foreign treaties in conflict with the uew merchant marine bill has reassured foreign operators but it has complicated the issue as far as American operators are concerned. Although two new services were put in opera- tion during the past month out of the port of Bos- ton, shipping generally has been quiet. Trade with Mediterranean ports from Boston seems to have suffered more severely than that of other routes and vessels on recent sailings for this market have had to put in at Canadian ports in order to com- plete cargoes. The Scandinavian trade has been sufficient to fill the regular vessels loading at Bos- ton, and return cargoes, while not as heavy as out- going have held up to the level established earlier in the year. The North-Atlantic & Westerr Steamship Co. has inaugurated a Invades service fron: Boston to Liverpool Enclich and Glasgow, and Gilmontin & a Co. have established another direct Territory service to Glasgow. The Istera which sailed recently in the former service carried a cargo of 7000 tons of iron and steel scrap for Scottish shipbuilding firms. The coal trade which caused the coastwise traffic out of Boston to jump into activity earlier in the season when the priority ruling went into effect has now slowed down considerably through reluctance of consumers to purchase at present prices. This has had the effect of switching some of the bottoms from Boston to the export trade out of southern ports. The service established some months ago from Boston to Pacific coast ports has proved decidedly successful and another vessel, the 8000-ton M. C. Brusn, has just been purchased from the United States shipping board by the North-Atlantic & Western Steamship Co. to add to the fleet engaged in this trade. This will make nine vessels operating between Boston and San Francisco with regular sailings every two weeks. Western grain is commencing to appear at Bos- ton for export and unusually large tonnages of this commodity are looked for later in the season. . Portland, Me., is commencing to feel its usual fail impetus due to northwestern grain and also to the gradual transferring of business from ~ Canadian ports. Iron and steel products in a semifinished state have figured largely in the exports to Scan- dinavia. Recent shipments of wire from Wor- cester, Mass., to a Denmark mill have been in tlic thousands of tons. Exports of automobiles and machine tools have fallen off as well as manu- factured products such as shoes, boots, rubbers and many classes of machinery.