New-York tribune., 1920-09-15
Transformed
Vessels to Aid
Sale of Ships
Skipping Board Freighsers
.Te Be Converted Into Oil
Carriers to Meet Demand
Wade for Tank Steamers
Nav Solve Board Problem
ezgplus of Cargo Vessels Is
Des--'ent ON Sales; New
Company Gets Tonnage

me growing demand for tankers may
,eve an important factor in enabling
.ss Shipping Board to dispose of con-
.a.rable amount of the tonnage it is
,x,ring for sale. This in spite Of the
1T that the board is not offering sny
,,ssels OF the tank steamer type AT
,,,sert and is not likely to do so in the
,.a, future. requiring all it has TO,
.,anlying rs own oil-burning ships
.,a carrying supplies to the oil fuel
.t..iors to be established around the
world
There arc practically nc tankers to be
,.eured in the open market, and to have
,s.n built would mean a delay OF
months. There IS. however, one way OF
,e,t;ns around tine situation. and that
< to buv freightcrs and have them con
r,r,ed into tankers. This taxes con
.derably less time than to have tank
srs built, and because OF the urgent de-
nsnd for oil-carrying ships at this
time. due to the rapidly increasing vol
ura of vessels using oil fuel, this STEP
is being taken.
The five freighters built at Hog
Island which have just been bought
from the Shipping Board by the Ameri-
an Fuel Oil and Transportation Com
any, Inc. will be made use of in this
way These FIVE ships, each Of 49,
.ons deadweight, are ready for deliv
ery. They Will be taken over by the'l
,sv owners at once and dispatched be-
fore the end of the week to Pensacola
fla. where they will be turned over &c
The Pensacola Dry Dock and Shipbulld-
nr Company FOR conversion into fue
al carriers. !. is expected that they
will be ready for overseas service
about the beginning of next year.
Freighter Surplus Problem
II other companies adopt the same
means Of securing tankcrs the task OF
the Shipping Board to sell its large
volume tonnage Will be greatly sim
aIifed. One of the problems with
Shich the board has been confronted
Is the possession OF too many freight
ers of comparatively few types. Gen
era!ly speaking. the world is at present
supplied with an excess OF cargo carry
ing vessels o. certain sizes, but tank
srs are far below the demand. 10 have
these surplus freighters converted into
oil carriers will, therefore, inject ar
clement into the situation that Will aid
both the Shipping Board and the pri-
yate shipowners. and, in addition, give
extra employment to shlpyards which
have not been securing much IN the
way Of rev orders lately.
As to the question Of price. it is
likely that the converted tankers will
rot compare unfavorably in this re-
spect with tank steamers built to
order at present rates for construc-
tor. The Hog Island freighters
Just sold by the Shipping Board were
disposed of at the rate Of sl85 PEI
dead weight ton. that being the price
hxed by the board for this size Of
eil-burning vessels. No officia
agures are available as TO the cost
Of conversion, but shipping men est
mate that th's will run to from SAC
10 $50 per ton. r'ahing the total cost
Of the former figure S2Z5 per ton.
Tankers ot the size OF the ones tc
be constructed ct Pensacola are
quoted al around S210 TO 1926 pei
ton, built TO order. The price dif-
ferential, therefore, is not regarded
as great one. and there ia also the
benefit ACQUIRING from quicker de-
livery in the case OF the converted
vessel.
New Company's Fleet
With the coming lnto service OF
ne FIVE rev tGnkcrs the American
tuel Oil AID Ts4nsportat!on Company
will have fee, OF eleven oil-carry
,,ag vessels. Three of these, The
Latham, Selma and Palo Alto. Of T.
S'0 tons deaGweight, each arc coz
crete tanker butlt BY the Shipping
Seard. The company a,so has If
service at present the Portola, Puma,
ana the Ctacarbon, each OF 10000
:eas M dead weight, chartered from The
saipp'rs Board, and the Santa RIA
pfe-uar ship. The fve new tank
ers will include the Cassem:r, Cas-
ana Carton, C4rpiaka and Mana
asHny. This Will give the company {
sest aggregatiag more than 75,0Ot
dead Weigh tors.
IT Is planned 70 use the vessel
Principally for carrying oil from tbs
sa!f Of Mexico to France and Italy
sshh which countries the American
iaei D.! and Transportation Compan.
sasouaces nat !. as extensive con
nsees; It 4 also stated that the com
PAY ?9aay has Z %ew Yorh terminal site o
.w .' acre. w-tn deep water frontage
S'.ested IN Staten Island.
@. .o.hcials of ne American Bureau o
S;Silppns state that two other Hos
sac sac Ees2H!a have already been con
a' 'ed into tarxers for carryin,
a''assea ana have made several sue
TaaHai TxSS'ai trips FOR the America,
-"0taSses Company.