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Shipbuilding In U.S. Holds Own Tonnage Under Construction Remains at Good Level-- British Building Lags--Bunkering Opens New Problem tical division of the Atlantic Coast Shipbuilders association in November showed merchant ship con- struction for the account of private owners and the shipping board now to- tals approximately 1,000,000 gross tons less than the tonnage under construc- tion a year ago for the shipping board alone. In view of the present condi- tion of shipping, the prevailing high price for new vessels, and with private work today constituting the most inter- esting part of construction, this total, is encouraging. Reports show that dur- ing September last American shipyards were holding contracts for or had un- der construction, a 'total of 1,811,000 gross tons of ships. This declined to 1,638,000 in October and again de- clined to 1,265,000 gross tons in No- vember. From these figures, it is shown that American yards completed' something less than 200,000 gross tons of ships between September and October and completed nearly 400,000 gross tons the month past. It would appear that, de- spite the constantly reiterated reports of a depression in shipbuilding in the United States, American shipyards today are building new vessels at the rate of more than 3,000,000 gross tons a year. This is comparable with the output of the yards during the first year of the war emergency, when every energy was strained to bring forth new tonnage as quickly as possible and without re- gard to cost. Rise compiled by the statis- Many Under Contract Figures compiled by the commissioner of navigation, which are official, show that on Nov. 1 this vear, private Amer- ican shipyards were building or were under contract to build for private shipowners 334 steel vessels of 1,206,- 486 gross tons, which was but a minor reduction from the figure the month previous. At that time the larger num- ber of private contracts were held by the American Bridge Co., Ambridge, Pa.; Sun Shipbuilding Co., Chester, Pa.; American Shipbuilding Co., Cleve- land; Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp.; Chickasaw Shipbuilding & Car Co., Mo- bile, Ala.; Federal Shipbuilding Co., Newark, N. J.; George A. Fuller Co., Wilmington, N. C.; Merchant Shipbuild- ing Corp... New York; Moore Shipbuild- ing Co., Oakland, Cal.; Newport News BY V. G. IDEN Shipbuiiding & Dry Dock Co., Newport News, Va.; New York Shipbuilding Corp., Camden, N. J.; Northwest Iron & Bridge Co., Portland, Oreg.; South- western Shipbuilding Co. San Pedro, Cal.; Standard Shipbuilding Corp., New York; G. M. Standifer Construction Corp., Vancouver, Wash.; Submarine Boat Corp. Newark: -N. Jac Texas Steamship. Co. Bath, Me, and the Union Construction Co., Oakland, Cal. Will Construct Barges The. Nashville Bridge Co., Nashville, Tenn., has accepted contracts for four barges for foreign account which are to be delivered in January. The Sub- marine Boat Corp. has decided to build eight barges for builders' account. From Baltimore, word is received that the Kethlehem Shipbuilding Corp. has been trying to recruit 1000 more men for shipyard labor. ._ This com- pany now is employing 9000 men, but the additional labor is required to complete contracts in hand. It is learned also that the Baltimore Dry Docks & Shipbuilding Co. is now working on an open-shop basis. This is probably the only yard in the east that has been able to break away from the control of labor unions. Ac- cording to reports, the Cramps yard at Philadelphia will be the next to abro- gate the labor agreement known as the Atlantic Coast Shipbuilders agreement, in force during the past year. It is generally known that a turn for the better in ship construction awaits only lower prices on tonnage. Many establisned steamship lines have plans ready for new tonnage, but they refuse to let contracts for these so long as prices remain high. Today shipbuild- ing material is cheaper in the United States than in any other country. Meth- ods of shipbuilding in American yards have been greatly improved. But the labor expended in building a 'ship is a most important item and the new boom in shipbuilding awaits only a re- adjustment of wages. This, it is ex- vected, will be effected by the read- justment in industrial conditions now present in this country. Shipyard labor is probably the highest paid of any labor engaged in any industry. To bring the shipyard wage scale down to a parity with the wages paid in the or- dinary industrial undertaking will have a material effect in encouraging new 17 construction. Conferences to bring this about now are under way. ; Among the types of vessels especially in demand is the tanker. The tanker fleet of the world today is so short that some operators have purchased Hog Island ships and are spending froia $300,000 upward on each to convert them into tank ships. This kind of conversion, it is learned, now is being done on seven of the Hog Island vessels. The iisHACQUILLAS and _ the INSPECTOR already have been so _ con- verted and are said to be giving ex- -- cellent results in operations out of Gulf ports. Five others are undergo- ing conversion. These are the Mawna- TAWNY, CATAHOULA, CASTANA CARRA- BULLE and the Casstmir. The work is being done at the plant of the Globe Shipbuilding Co., Baltimore. When a number of the later Hog Island ships were being built for the government, certain structural changes were made by the builders with just this intent in mind. The shipping board found ready purchasers for these ships. They are compelled, however, to have longi- tudinal bulkheads installed and_ the necessary swash plates placed to en- able them to carry crude oil. English Building Declines. Consular reports from abroad indicate English shipbuilding has been declin- ing at a more rapid rate than in. the United States. English yards have re- ceived a number of cancellations from Norwegian owners. It is declared that the chief trouble in England is_ the high cost of labor and materials, which make it impossible for the British builders to compete with shipyards in other parts of the world. Dutch build- ers are reported to be obtaining some contracts and the German yards are try- ing hard to resume building. The Ger- man yards are buying shipbuilding ma- terial in the United States, but the quantity is not great. Plates are ex- tremely scarce in Germany and it may be a long time before the construc- tion program there becomes consider- able. It is reported that a large shipbuild- ing order has been placed with the Prince Rupert Dry Dock Co., Ottawa, Can., of which Newton Erb, New York, is president, for 37 steel vessels for the new government of Mexico. It is understood that the contract calls for .