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BOR ee St ga ah DS Ca I 6 Cee PE ne Shea RS ete, 144 not lower than the rate ruling to Dec. 5. The differentials and other con- ditions as per resolution of July 22 continued. Looked at from a winter storage point of view the movement was the largest ever undertaken on the Great Lakes. In the main, the ves- sels reached their destinations, either at Buffalo or in ‘Georgian bay by Dec. 1, although a few ships cleared from the head of the lakes so late as Dec. 12, ‘The movement was char- acterized by many extremely large cargoes. To what extent the vessel managers of this association went in their efforts to aid our government and its allies in getting the grain down to points adjacent to the sea- board may be found in the fact that every vessel that it was possible to - press into the ‘service was diverted from the ore trade, indeed ships that never ‘before had carried a bushel of grain. participated in the movement. In view of the number of vessels engaged, and tthe vast amount of grain transported, it is astonishing that the proceedings were carried to completion with but a single loss—the CuHEstER A. Concpon— -and more so when it is considered that at times the vessels encountered severe weather. On April 10, vessel owners and coal shippers reached an agreement covering base rates on coal for the season of 1918 to fast docks at the leading ports. The rates were about equal to the average carrying charges of 1917 and were as follows: To ports at the head of Lake Superior, 48 cents; to Milwaukee, Sheboygan and Waukegan, 55 cents; to South Chicago and. Indiana Harbor, 60 cents; to ‘Chicago and ‘Racine, 65 cents. Having realized from the outset that difficulty might be encountered in meeting the Northwest’s meeds if confronted with a repetition of the delays that often interrupted the bituminous coal movements of the ‘preceding year, the well formulated plans for co-ordination between the vessel owners and the coal exchange were placed into action as quickly as ‘safe navigation would permit. Thus it was possible to have 600,000 tons afloat by April 27; moreover with 100 vessels at disposal 860,797 tons of coal constituted the iApril up- bound movement, whereas no. ore or grain was carried in the’ reverse movement at the precise period. The initiative. thus displayed foreshad- owed a better movement, month for month, than -occurred in the pre- ceding season and became clearly defined when the figures for May revealed a movement in excess of THE MARINE REVIEW Size of Lake Fleet S Bee additions to and subtrac- tions from the fleet in the past 24 months form some of the most interesting history of the Great Lakes’ trade covering a _ decade. Although the decline from year to year of the number of ships in . operation has been steady the im- creased size of new construction, on the other hand, has served to maintain the carrying capacity against the inroads made upon the flect. In 1917 there were 22 vessels lost from the fleet through all causes, as against 14 additions, yet in spite of the net loss of eight vessels the new construction. brought out a net gain of 80,700 tons of carrying capacity on a single trip. In the year just closed greater losses are recorded, yet the splendid margin recorded, yet the splendid margin of increase as created. in 1917 leaves the grand loss a matter of less than 13,000 tons from a carry- ing capacity point of view. For the first time in a great many years the number of ships in the fleet falls below 500, caused by -the sale of 18 steel steamers and four steel barges and the destruction of the steel steamer CHESTER A. Concpon; and through the loss to the fleet by destruction of two wooden steamers and one wooden barge. ve Combined, these vessels had total carrying capacity of 101,600 tons but with the gain of 80,700 tons from 1917 and the addition to our mem- bership of the bulk oil carrier Wi- LIAM P. Cowan, of about 8000 gross tons carrying capacity, the total loss is only 12,900 tons. There are now 497 vessels of 3,073,305 gross tons carrying capacity. ¢ 3,000,000 tons despite the usual de- lays characteristic of May maviga- tion due to ice and weather, together with the inability of the mines to provide cargoes for all available ton- nage, The mines and the railroads were unable to keep pace with the ships throughout the well, but the prompt handling of all the coal”in sight resulted in a movement of 3,363,000 tons and_to- tal shipments up to July of more CE ST Tron ore, Year gross tons TDS ie iia cbaseye sta sects iar Sea cee Oe ae es 49,070,478 BOT Be teigiercintalat coy Aov abot Mou Mae an ea 32,021,897 DOWD Saw aes copie oie a crane loeeere a earye a 46,318,804 TOL G earn aes caaty eRe Lee 64,734,198 YS yates Caen wees er hah apie aera reo 62,498,901 LORS siecle clips tae y ee as aaa Ste a 61,156,732 month of June as’ March, 1919 than 7,000,000 tons. This achieve- ment under adiverse conditions at once dispelled any apprehension that might have existed as to a possible fuel shortage. But the movement of coal to the loading ports was so little accelerated in the early part of July that on July 24 the United States fuel administration ordered district representatives to expedite shipments from the mines; further- more directing that lake coal have precedence over all excepting rail- road fuel. Under this influence the ships began to demonstrate their capacity for fulfilling all requirements, The first fair opportunity for han- dling all the coal possible to load developed in August, when the fleet disposed of 4,805,710 tons. In other words, the ships were taking cargoes at the rate of more. than 1,000,000 tons a week, and this rate continued through to November. A notable feature of the coal trans- portation occurred in October when the fleet took 4,855,069 tons, mak- ing the highest record ever attained on the Great Lakes. The season’s movement was now _ 2,870,000 tons ahead of the corresponding period of 1917, and 33,000 tons in excess of the government’s schedule. The systematic manner in which the coal situation had been met made it pos- sible for the fleet to turn to the government’s urgent demand for grain tonnage. The movement of soft coal, cover- ing 28,153,317 tons, was so cleanly executed as to excite the warmest ad- miration from the shippers, who pro- nounced it 100 per cent, and in con- nection’ with its completeness the actual cargo movement in comparison with the schedule of requirements as fixed by the United States fuel administration is appended: Government Monthly schedule shipments ADT arene eae} 1,500,000 860,797 VERVE Sats cic Neen ta tek eS 2,500,000 3,041,895 HLF Uy LORS oe Cal Beary Se 4,000,000 3,363,566 TUES ewe nyc Eko 4,500,000 4,039,737 AUSUSE Avoca ot veka 4,500,000 4,805,710 Sentember esi ota ee 4,500,000 4,666,545 October er eae eee oe 3,500,000 4,855,069 November Ge a ee 2,500,000 2,519,998 December wii scscns oa 5OOF000) ee ee ereerae 28,000,000 28,153,317 The appended table shows, in net tons, the iron ore, coal and grain movements during the past six years and the stone movement during the past three years; stone has _ been added to this record of Jake com- merce for the first time: Grain of Coal, various kinds, Stone, Total, net tons net tons net tons net tons 33,362,379 BOF, LOOe ceecets 100,018,464 27,281,228 O FOE 800s cee 72,939,603 26,220,000 11,098,815 8,854,106 93,049,981 28,440,483 10,555,975 5,553,927 117,052,686 31,192,613 7,161,716 6,748,801 115,100,399 32,102,022 6,548,680 7,467,776 114,614,018