Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-09-08
SHIPPING 6WKTERFRONT News
OCEAN CARRIERS NOW BUILDING
PACIFIC COAST WILL INCREASE
SHIPPING TONNAGE BY ITO

by the citation Of the following fig.
ures:
According TO the figures given by
the Bureau or Navigation of tie
United States Department OF Com
merce. not less than 1,42S,000 tons OF
steel ships alone mad been ordered
from American shipyards on December
l. 1916. and in the United Kingdom.
according to the figures of Lloyd's
Register. approximately 100000 tons
Of shipping are in various stages of
completion and could be put into serv-
ice within a few months should the
cessation of hostilities permit en-
ployment Of sufficient labor to push
work on these ships.
Figures are lacking as to the
amount of tonnage under way in
Germany, France, Italy, Japan and
Holland. But it is known this ton
mage is considerable and amounts to
at least as much as has been ordered
in this country, so that there is every
reason to believe that should hostili-
ties terminate this year the merCan-
tile marine of the world after another
year would show a net loss less than
anticipated.
PROFESSIONALLY correct as were the
above statistics on December /, 1916,
the fact should not be lost sight Of
that since America entered the war
the national government has adopted
a definite policy with regard to the
building up of a merchant marine,
and that contracts calling for the con-
struction of an enormous but undis-
coverable tonnage Of ocean freighters
have been placed with shipbuilding
yards on both sides of the continent
by the Emergency Fleet Corporation
and the United States Shipping Board
At this writing rather more than
578,170 tonnage of ocean carriers are
in process of construction on the
Pacific Coast for individual ship
owners and shipping corporations,
according to a careful calculation
made by the writer.
This fact alone should tend to show
how thoroughly. alive the shipping in
terests of the Pacific are to the dearth
of deep-water freighters.
OF this total of 57S170 tons, thir.
teen of the largest vessels are under
construction at the shipyards around
San Francisco bay, including the
Union Iron Works, ]. Robertson OF
Benicia, Moore & Scott and the Union
Iron Works of Alameda.
Five of these large vessels are
tankers and ten of them are intended
by their owners to fly the American
flag. s-:.. 49, ...
Few Ships, High Freight.
While the work of constructing this
new commercial navy is being rushed
to completion, the merchants and
of America-especiaIly
those of the Pacific Coast-are called
upon to grapple with transportation
problem as yexatious as it is I'M
AS a consequence of the enormous
advance in steel, vessels which could
be built before the war for $57 ton,
lightweight, now cost $3.50 ton, and
interest on the increased cost of con-
struction is, naturally enough, tackled
on to the, freight rates even Of car
riers built generation ago.
Again insurance, supplies, LABOR, oil,
coal, tonnage dues and the like have
all risen commensurately. The au-
thor of the pamphlet neatly summar-
ICES the existing situation as follows:
The exports of the United States to
Europe have vastly increased and
have overtaxed the transportation
facilities. Rates first sharply in
creased, then doubled, trebled, and in
some instances have become from five
to seven times as large as before the
war. To other parts of the world