New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-06-24
New Vessels
Sell at Half
Cost TO Build
Depressed Tonnage Market
Abroad Makes Disposal
of Shipping Board Boats
One of Great Difficulty
no British, Orders i'm Year
eards Can't Get Contracts
: for Cargo Ships; u. S. Can
3 Bald as Low as England

sgith new ships selling in the omen
q. ssket abroad at less than one-half
: s present cost of building similar
y sels. the outlook for any orders be-
N placed with shipyards for some
,e to come is a slim one. A British
T.phGilder is quoted as having stated
tesently that, so far as he knew. no
contracts had been placed with British
tsF1s for cargo vessels for nearly a
year and that none were in prospect.
sfhe Shipping Board, with 1I,soe, 900
tsns Of vessels to dispose of cannot
expect to market its vessels at more
than small fraction of their cost.
The position of the sale and purchase
market and the shipbuilding trade at
the present time is unique in the his
terry Of shipping, says a British marine
paper.
Slump Hits Shipyards Hard
"There have, OF course, been times"
it is added, when ready boats were
worth much more than it would cost to
contract, owing to the fact that deliv-
cry would be long way ahead, and
many owners have in the past been
tempted to dispose of their boats at the
high prices current and place orders at
lower prices to replace them.
"But never has the cost of shipbuild-
ing been such that some builder was
not prepared to take an order at about
market values, although less than the
cost of building, hoping for something
to turn up to enable him eiAer to
cstch profit or save himself from
loss, while in some cases orders have
been taken at a loss and profit made
on financing the owner.
To-day, however, with the market
value of $500 ton boat only en-
6s Cd per ton, and the actual cost of
building such boat $50 per ton or
more, no builder could even think Of
discussing the placing of an order, as
IL would be insulting the intelligence
OF an owner to imagine that he would
pay anything like price that would
cover expenses
Can Build Low AS Britain
Reports that further reductions are
to be made in the wages paid in
American shipyards are of essential
interest In view of the fact that Amer
lean shipbuilders now claim that yes-
seis can be built as cheaply in this
country as in Great Britain, with the
added advantage of speedier delivery
mere. These circum stances, however,
are not bringing any new orders to the
American yards, for no one at the
present time is in haste to increase
tonnage holdings. In fact, it is claimed
that many shipowners are finding it
less expensive to lay up ships than to
operate them, even when cargoes are
obtainable.
With any marked increase in the
volume of world trade, however, a COM
piete change in the shipbuilding situa-
ton IS expected. Sir Joseph Isher-
wood, who has just arrived here from
England, points out that while the
Werid's tonnage is considerably in ex-
cess OF the pre-war figures, there are
&C least 3,0oo,G0o gross tons of vessels
which are obsolete. The scrapping of
these and their replacement with mod
ern tonnage will provide employment
Tor large section of the worlds ship
building industry.
a revival in world trade will also
greatly enhance the prospects for the
disposal of the Shipping Boards tom
mage to private interests. The Board,
however, does not anticipate that it will
pc possible to transfer any considera-
pie portion Of its holdings in the near
future.