Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1920-12-29
The Ocean Freight Slump

The Ocean Freight Slump
swould you believe there is an over
supply Of any useful thing in this old
world at the present moment? Well.
there is. There is too much avail
able tonnage to carry the ocean
freight which is~being shipped. There
are too many merchant ships. Fast
and furiously they were built here
and abroad during the war. in the
race with time against German
armies. and no one will presume to
say. that that race was in vain. But
now nations have them on their
hands, in quantities too large tor
economical and profitable operation.
even under normal conditions of com
merce. Ships are almost everywhere
'superahundant, but especially in. the
United States and insGreat Britain,
According to Lloyd's. register for
1a2o-21 the seagoing tonnage of the
United States has been increased
since 1914 by over 500 per cent. and
now amounts to 12,406.000 tons. The
United Kingdom leads the world with
13.110000 tons. having lost over
100000 since 1914 as a result Of the
war. In spite of the losses British
ships are a glut on the, market, find
ing no buyers to take them over out
right; and standing. their present
owners a loss for every trip that they
make. Our own shipping troubles
are in general well enough known
not to warrant recital here.
Why is shipping improbable just
now? Chiefly because nobody is do
ing much Of it. Foreign nations,
laboring under the depreciation Of
their currency and the desire to re-
habilitate their home industries, are
not importing anything except the
things they absolutely must have in
the line Of coal, raw materials and
foods. America, with her own mills
and factories shutting their doors for
lack Of orders from a non buying
public. 10 not importing heavily from
foreign manufacturers. The bottom
has fallen out of international COM
merce for the time being at least.
There is q measure of satisfaction
in knowing that more than so per
cent Of the foreign commerce of the
United States is now being carried in
American vessels and that for the
first time in sixty years we are no
longer dependent on foreign shipping
for the transportation of most of our
exports and imports, but even this
portion Of commercial independence
does not make up for the hard cold
facts in the present shipping situa-
ton.
The fleets Of Shipping Board YES
sells which found no buyers at the
wonderful Bargain prices quoted are
lying up. depreciating every day, and
are estimated to represent a loss to
the American people Of $4,000, 600, 900.
Ships, that are in operation are fire.
quently running at a loss. Tonnage
values are falling both here and in
Great Britain, and the fact that Brit
ish quotations are much lower than
American prices works to cause a de-
crease in the latter. In Great Britain
where conditions are not so bad as
our own, snip owners are deciding
that the only thing to do is to lay
their boats up for a time until the
atmosphere is clearer. And yet, they
say, it is no use to try to believe that
the present situation is likely to blow
over in week or two. The over
supply Of boats cannot be wiped out
in weeks: it may take months to ad =
just the relationship between supply
and demand of commercial carriers
The whole matter is bound up with
the demand for goods. both exports
and imports, with. the exchange value
of monies, with the labor situation
and with numerous other factors.
Only the sure and steady return to
normally which means the resump-
ton of the worlds customary activi-
ties and demands, will solve the