New-York tribune., 1920-09-18
Great Bulk of
Ships Building
Will Burn Oil
Less Than 8 Per Cent of
Freighters Under Way for
Private Account i'm q. S.
to Use Coal Exclusively
Radical Change i'm Fuel
American Shipping Bureau
Reports 400, 900 TonsAre
Being Constructed for Oil

sov rapidly oil is supplanting coal
:. f,:el for American ships is indicated
Nv figures just compiled, giving an
,,alvsis of the types of tonnage under
.ocstruction for private account in the
,,,nyards OF the United States. Out of
mor. than half a million gross tons
~ f-eishters now building, 100000
,ons represent ships that will burn oil
exclusively.
Figures prepared by J. B. Crowley,
s.atistician for the American Bureau
II Shipping, show that Of the freighter
tonnage now building no less than 78.1
ser cent is being equipped exclusively
;or oil burning. Cargo carriers fitted
"a burn botn oil and coal form las per
.ent of the total, while those con-
structed to burn coal represent only
"a per cent OF the aggregate.
II is also Interesting TO note that
,be snins burning only oil and both oil
anf coal are nucn larger .nan those
.cuipoed simply for coal burning. The
nj; ouy.r-rs a"eraGe almost 1910 gross
tons each and the cunll nation oil and
coal ships almost 5000 gros~ tons,
while the coal burners are of an Il ~er-
age Of less than 1000 tons, or less than
half the size ot the other types.
Oil Burners Predominate
The number Of freighters Of the
various types and their aggregate gross
tonnage are as follows:
Oil burners. ....... 101 400,455
Coal burners. ...... 20 38,171
Combination ..... 13 74567
Total. .......... 134 513,193
All the fuel consuming tankers under
construction are oil burners. There
are 12i of these, aggregating 83O,964
gross toUs, an average or almost 1000
tons per tanker. Non-p propelled tank
er5 aggregate 10. of 11,.'gl gross tons,
as compared with 102 propelled
eargo-carriers of $3.50 tons.
According to Mr. C:'pwley's compila-
t 4, there were buil ding for private
accouns on September /, total of 3S3
vessels, aggregating 1,43S,498 gross
tons
Classification OF Ships
The division, according to classical
ton by tire Ar, rican Bureau Of Ship
Ping and LGoyd's Register OF Shipping.
those casseI by bot! these societies
ald fourth group, composed o. ves-
sells classified by other societies or be-
iEg built without classification, was as
follows:
American Bureau Freighters, At of
2oI,S6o gross tons; tankers, "a of 1861
255 gross tors; total, II vssels of
212,6l5 tons.
Lioyd's Resister-Freighters, As Of
lS',5-S tons; tankers, 10 of 5lS.504
tons; total. le5 vessels Of 6SS,026 tons.
Classed 81 both ocieties-Freighter
"a OF ll0,45o tons; tankers, is of 122,-
-1S tons; total. II vessels of 237,6S8.
Other classification. or unclassed-
fre!ghters. 10 Of 3,211 tons; tank
ers' :! OF 3f,35S tons; total, 146 yes-
sells of l+o,i59 tons.
Distribution of Work
= will be noticed that while the
ameFican Bureau exceeds Lloyd's Reg
.sser IN the number and tonnage Of
Helghters under construction, the lat
yer society has a cons iderably larger
.e&q N the number and tonnage of
'ahEers beng classified, while the non
Pfope!-ed vessels are chiefly with the
emaiier socletles or are not receivino
any classification.
Mr Crowey's figures also show that
81 the total tonnage under con struction
40. private account, 25.9 per cent is
VITA tae American Bureau, 47.9 per
Ssht sem, with Lloyd's, 165 per cent is
aaa'4y c-ass!..ed, and the remaining e.5
per cent ls either with other classifca-
"'A societies or is not beir1 classed.