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288 World Ship Construction Takes Drop , The decline in world shipbuilding has now reached new low levels, both in respect to orders placed and work actually under way, says a_ State- ment just issued by Lloyd’s Register of Shipping, giving returns for the quarter ended June 30. While a gain was shown in the first quarter of this year in the work on which construction was progressing, that gain was eliminated in the quar- ter just ended, and all the shipyards of the world have only about 2,500,000 gross tons of orders. Suspensions have been directed on some of this work, however, and the actual volume of work on hand is about 260,000 tons less. In the last quarter, Ger- many alone, of all the maritime na- tions, showed a gain in activity. Taking all orders into considera- tion, the ‘total shipbuilding at the be- ginning of July was 316,000 gross tons less than three months ago and 410,- 000 tons less than at the, beginning of the year. .The United States, which at the end of March was building 34,000 tons more of merchant ships than at the beginning of January, was building at the end of June, 40,000 tons less than at the end of March. Of the 316,000 tons decrease for all countries combined in: the last quar- ter, 154,000 tons was in the ship- yards of Great Britain and _ Ireland, so that the British decrease was al- most as. great. as that. for. ‘all. other nations together. The following table shows, in gross tons, the comparison between the two last quarters: June 30 March 31 Aatent -Dtitall oe. cases be ss 1,337,759 1,492,138 Nmited = States ys aks eos 133,660 173,762 Others countries: 4 cs 6 1,072,437 1,194,172 MU otld “totale wes. se Poo 2,543,856 2,860,072 These figures include orders. on which work has been suspended, these suspensions during the past quarter amounting to 130,000 gross tons in Great Britain and Ireland and 132,- 000 tons in other countries. Taking suspensions into account, the actual work under way during the past two quarters has compared as_ follows,’ in gross tons: June 30 March 31 Great Britain and Ireland. 1,207,759 1,311,000 Opler countries: .3s:66 sc 1,074,097 1,220,000 WVOridas totaleo ss. oes 2,281,856 2,531,000 The 262,000 tons of suspended work compares with 329,000 tons in the previous quarter and 564,000 tons in the last quarter of 1922. Returns from all countries of con- struction which is being done under comparisons during MARINE REVIEW the supervision of Lloyd’s Register and intended to be classed with that society show an aggregate of 1,318,- 505 gross tons, of which 1,016,490 tons are in Great Britain and _ Ireland. More than half of all the seagoing tonnage of 100 gross tons and up- ward being built, throughout the world, therefore, is being classed by Lloyd’s Register, and more than three- quarters of British construction. the first quarter of this the volume of new work be- gun aggregated about 90,000 tons more than the tonnage of ships launched, indicating that work on the stocks was actually being increased. In the quarter just ended, however, tonnage launched exceeded tonnage begun by 256,000 tons. As British launchings and new work were prac- tically equal in volume, the ground lost was in the other maritime coun- tries and indicates a marked falling off in the placing of new orders in the smaller marine nations. The fol- Icwing table shows in gross tons, the the quarter ended During year, June 30:, Begui Launched Great Britain and Ireland. 238,638 238,121 Other scountries:. 23.2505... 75,737 332,291 World total ...c....... 314,378 570,412 Further decreases are shown in the returns relative to the construction of tankers, the figures for the last quarter showing a decrease of about 30 per cent from the previous quar- ter. The distribution of tanker build- ing in the two quarters is shown in the following table, the figures repre- senting gross tons: : June 30 Mar. 31 Great Britain and Ireland 102,836 137,520 Wnited:sStates so. 0 19,800 33,800 Others countties 058.0052 57,144 76,473 World: totalt.c0 2 179,780 247,793 German shipyards, although far be- hind. the British output, continue to hold the second place in world pro- ‘duction, their total being more than double that of petitor, half times ‘that of the United States. France holds third place, Italy fourth, the United States fifth, Holland sixth, Japan: seventh and the British Do- minions eighth. The construction in the smaller foreign countries, as com- pared with three months ago, is as follows, in gross tons: their nearest com- June 30 March 31 Germany 3 ae 352,405: 343,027 Hrance®\. cucegie cose 170,866 209,581 Ttal yen fneitun aad: oes ees 141,543 185,001 Phollands) (cee, 99,821 121,321 Japan. Jas AE EAS hapa 72,767 83,357 British Dominions........ 45,201 45,035 British and German — shipbuilders have gained slightly in their propor- tion of total construction orders as and more than two and a: August, 1923 the following table of percentages shows: June 30 Mar. 31 ——Per cent—— Great Britain and Treland.... 52.6 52.2 United States «--+-ccereeees fee ce Germany .---:seeecr settee Pe ha Other countries .-.-+++++++++% A : Compared with a year ago, says Lloyd’s Register, the British ship- vards are building 581,000 tons less, American yards 17,000 tons less and those of other countries 93,000 tons less. As compared with ship con- struction immediately prior to the late war, American yards are build- ing about 15,000 tons less and British yards about 400,000 tons less. Chicago Obtains First Transatlantic Service According to advices received from William Hansen of Bergen, Norway, owner, a line of steamships known as the Lake & Ocean Steamship Co., with 16 steel ships, will inaugurate on Aug. 15, direct steamship service between Chicago and Great Britain and northern Europe. The vessels, it is stated, will be of 2000 tons. Local agents of Mr. Hansen have announced that a service will be maintained between Chicago and all leading lake ports and the Untied Kingdom and the countries bordering on the Baltic sea. The Chicago & North- western railway will issue through bills of lading to the United Kingdom with the beginning of the service. According to Mr. MHansen’s representative, sufh- cient cargoes have been booked for the westbound voyages. amen Dutch Make Offer for Steel Ships An offer is said to have been received -by the shipping board from Jacques Pierot Jr., president of the International Maritime Mortgage bank of Rotterdam, Holland, for the unserviceable govern- ment steel ships. The shipping board officials, with whom Mr. Pierot con- ferred, have ‘told him that to date no ships have been definitely placed in the unserviceable classification and that the | board had not yet considered the sale to foreigners for junking purposes. It was understood that it was the intention of the Dutch interests to purchase these vessels in order to break them up and ’ recover the steel. In the new British parliament, 27 members are actively engaged in the management of steamship companies, shipbuilding concerns or other mari- time enterprises. As in previous par- ~ liaments, they have organized a shipown- ers’ parliamentary committee to act to- gether on purely shipping questions.