The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-03-24
Local Company Which Controls
Business Here IS Looking r =,
i For Bottoms g.. -
NO IMMEDIATE DANGER
.. -. OF SHORTAGE IN CITY
Fuel From Muroran Provided For
Several ,;Months-Wihdiam- -
mers May Be Carriers r

Scar ity Of bottoms may make II diff.
fcult for the Inter Island TO secure yes.
s. lS to trans Ort coal here from Japan
and Australia during the last months
Of the year. The cSIl business Of Hon
olulu, both city and tunkering steam
ers, Is in the hands of that company.
There is no Immediate danger Of
shortage for enough ssels have been
fixed to bring coal from Murofan for
several months. Officials of the Inter.
tsland expect to take care of the local
business, whatever may happens s.HE
More and more as the war progress
Ps aud vessels are sunk and taken over
Tor other uses, the Islands are being
hit harder. First it was the withdraw.
al of tho Pacific Mail, which, although
not rosul+ Of the wnr, might as we'll
rave heen so far as the effect wasfcon.
cCrnod. .,-
Severe Congestion ReSults .
This resulted in severe cong stion
of all eIasses Of freight from the
Orient, which the T. X. K, despite
its enlarged fleet, and the o. S. k, de-
spite its two vessels, Panama Maru aud
Seattle Maru, now on the run, have not
been allie to handle. Then came the
suspension Of the American Hawaiian.
the Panama Canal being closed and
the war rates making diversion 10
other trade very profitable. Conges.
tlon OF freight at San Franc SEQ and
Puget Sound foll wed this All suspen,
sion. Now comes the possible coal
sho'tnpe 80 q. y
Officials Of tn" Intpr-Island are work
ing hard to get bottoms and NAV be
able to obtain them by the time the
last Of the vessels now under charter
arrive. 1t Is possible that windtam
mers may bring coal from Newcastle,
as they are doing now to other Is
hand ports principally port Alien.
Prices Of Bunkers Increases
There has been an increase in the
price Of bnpker coal recently, caused
by the high freight rates. In spite Of
It's. vessels may continue to call here
for 'nnEer coal en- route be ween the
Panama Canal aud the Orient in both
directions. Last year the hi" business
was to Vla1ivOstok, the majority of the
tram"s having cargo for Russin. even
though same were for Japan and China
ports as well. The oNlv cOmr"titors
mr." San Francisco and Comax, with the
latter the more dangerous one. Homo
lulu may continue to get the business,
despite the increase in price, because
Of the qnick despatch the Inter-Is STAND
gives steamers, which compensntps in
large measure, and also because of the
quicker PASSAGES that may be made
q IL IIc"o'mlu the better weather to be
expected in the South ATTITUDES and
tn" 80 coal needed in the bunkers at
any one time, which is q consideration
Of Importance, because the more coal
tnken the less vessels can be loaded
with cargo at enormous rates.
How Owners Are Affected
How this affects shipowners is shown
v the T. K. K, which is expected to
take more bunker coal here than be-
fore, San Francisco supplying less, so
that greater rargoes can be loaded at
"a" Francisco for the Orient
Other lines may look at it the same
way. Several important British lines
aul the Nippon Yhsen Kaisha routed
vessels regularly from New York to the
Far East via the Canal and Honolulu
last year.