The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1912-02-16
THE WORLDS CONSUMPTION OF
BUNKER COAL

re the Panama canal may render feas
ps Die the establishment of a gres
m American station for supplying Goa
r. from the mines of the United State
l. to vessels of the world lends interes
1t to an estimate prepared by the Blu
g reau of Statistics, Department O
o Commerce and Labor, of the coal con
It sumption on the oceans of the world
/ The statement estimates the coal con
sumed on the oceans of the world a,
d approximately rs million tons per an.
mum, valued at over $50 million dol.
S lars.
An exact statement of the quanti-
ty of coal consumed by the merchant
: marine and navies of the world can
not be made owing to the fact that
comparatively few countries state in
separate terms the quantity of coal
supplied to vessels for their own use.
or for "bunkering" process. The
united States staff tics show about 9
million long tons supplied to vessels
at ocean ports to be placed in their
ounkers for their own use, and the
British reports show about 20 million
long tons supplied to vessels in the
foreign trade and 2k million tons
TO vessels in the coastwise trade. This
would make for the two great coal
producing countries of the world
the United States and the United
klngdom-a total of over 80 million
tons supplied directly to vessels for
numbering" purposes. In addition to |
this, however, very considerable
percentage of the coal sent out of
Great Britain as exports" passes to
ports and stations in various parts
OF the world from which it is fin
ally supplied to ocean vessels for fuel
purposes. A paper presented before
the Royal Statistical Society of Eng
land by D. A. Thomas, M. p, stated
that:
The great bulk of our export of
coal Is for the use of steamships and
1t is within the mark to say that over
MALI OF our exports are for navigation
purposes. *Cardiff alone sbins
over million tons annually to Port
Said, over half million to Malta and
Gibraltar, about the same quantity
to Cape Verde and the Canaries, over
$1,000 to Colombo, and large ouan-
lilies to Alden, practically the whole
II which goes to bunker steam vessels
alllng to coal at those depots."
AS the British exports of coal from
nat recorded as supplied to vessels
or fueling purposes amo nted in
slo to over 81 million long tons,
ne above quoted estimate would =
eem to justify adding to the 80 mil =
ON tons recorded as bunker coal by .
ne United Kingdom and the United
tates another 30 million as the Io5
lare of British exports which final 3
becomes bunker coal through pur- 15
lase for bunkering purposes at ports | ,
stations to which it was originally y
ported. While the Bureau of Sta :
SUES is unable to state the share 2
American coal exports which be- (eA
me vessel supplies (aside from .
at actually reported as bunker coal -
d not included in the export state a,
emit 1t is quite probable that a con- Ia
lerable percentage of the coal from y
United States which passes to the y
est Indian islands and the coast of leA
'xlco is used for vessel fueling. Add T"
this the more tl-an 2 million tons IoA
opl1ed by the Japanese mines to =,
'sels engaged in the foreign trade, H.
more than l million tons supplied sA
the Japanese mines to vessels en- ~
'ed in the foreign trade, the rS>ore 81
n L million tons supplied from ~
la, plus the estimated consump- ~
OF about 3 million tons by the %
les OF the world, and the Bureau cSE
statistics estimate of an average -
Is million tons consumed on the -
ans of the world seems conserva 4 !.
one. AS the valuation Of the W.
exported for steaming purposes w
ages about $3.50 per ton, the
her estimate of the value of the -
used on the oceans of the world
yer ESQ million dollars per annum
rs also a conservative one.
ne United States is by far the
est coal producer of the world.
production in 1910 being 441K
ION metric tons against 264k
on by the United Kingdom, 222
on by Germany, 80 million each
Japan, IAN million by China.
lillion by Canada, and IL million ~
by Australia and India, the
total of prod ction in 1910 for
ountries for which statistics are
able being liftIog o,o- -,