New-York tribune., 1920-09-16
Shipping Board
Expecting 6 Large
Sale of Vessels
Inquiries Received Said to
Indicate the Market To
Be Strong Potentially;
Whole Fleet Available

That the Shipping Board expects to
sell a substantial volume of its tom
mage at the fixed scale of $3.50 to s185
deadweight ton Is indicated by a
statement issued by the National Mcr-
chant Marine Association.
During the last week." states the
bulletin, "fve Hog Island vessels of
10 deadweight tons each have been
sol,' to the American Fuel Oil and
Transportation Company at $1S5 a ton
for total OF $6.937 500. Other neRotia-
tions are now under way, and IL is ex-
pected that greater activity will be
shown in the purchasing Of vessels.
"The large number Of inquiries re-
ceived on September is said by off,
cials Of the board to indicate strong
potential market. The fact that no
bids were obtained at that time is at
tributed to lack of information as to
the vessels available for sale without
disturbance to existing services.
Notices have been sent out to
steamship companies who have OBJ
tanned ALLEGATION Of vessels with the
option of purchase, pending the adopt
tion of the sales policy, that the board
is now ready to receive their bids. It
is reported that satisfactory responses
are coming in.
"Ex- German liners chartered to the
United States Mail Steamship Company
and other passenger vessels are not in
cluded in the list for sale at present,
Admiral Benson has said, chiefly be-
cause they are either chartered for q
definite period or will be maintained in
regular services by Shipping Board op-
orators. The former German vessels
are chartered for five years. The new
combination cargo and passenger ships
now under construction will be allo-
Gated under the agency agreement.
"If the companies operating the ships
wish to purchase them the board is
ready to receive offers, according to the
chairman, who said the entire govern
ment feet will be disposed OF under
proper restrictions"
In addition to the sales to the Amer
ican Fuel Oil and transportation Com
pany, the Slipping Board has an
ncunced that four cargo vessels have
been sold to the Pensacola Shipbuild-
ing Company for s17o deadweight
ton. making a total Of $5,916, 900. These
arc the City of Vernon, the City of
Weatherford, the Hasting and the
Batou Chico, each $500 deadweight
The Lake Ennis, 1885 deadweight
tons, has been sold to the Baltimore
Transatlantic Steamship Company for
sl1S40 a ton, or a total Of 1923 600.
Some wooden vessels have also been
sole.
The Pensacola Shipbulding Com
pany is to convert the five freighterss
bought by the American Fuel Oil and
TRANSFORMATION Company into tankers,
and it is thought that they will also
convert the four cargo vessels now
bought for their own account.
The attitude OF the Shipping Board
IN regard to the coal export trade is
outlined by the National Merchant
Marine Association as follows:
be tied up by the Shipping Board at
Norfolk until the coal export trade
justifies their return to this traffic,
After Withdrawing its tonnage from
the expectation Of coal for more than
a month, because Of Improbable char
ter rates, the board is now placing a
considerable number Of ships in the
trade Rates have advanced an aver
age of So to IS a ton and have reached
q figure at which vessels can be op-
Grated at small profit.
because Of the practice Of foreign
competitors in the past in undercut-
ting the rates set by the board, it is
understood that in the future no
definite rates will be fixed, and officials
will wait for prospective charterers to
make offers for the vessels With a
heavy movement of grain and cotton
in the next few weeks, the Shipping
BOARD believes that large proportion
of it's idle tonnage will be occupied"