The New York herald., 1921-10-02
BREMEN SH|PYARDS
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
North German Lloyd Will
Have Line to New York
Early Next Year.
SEEK SEA SUPREMACY
Drawbacks ClOuding Out
look for American Ship
Interests i'm Germany.

look for American Ship
Interests in Germany.
Special Correspondence. to THE NEW YORK
HERALb.
Copyright, 1891, 6y THE New York HExALD.
New York Herald Bureau,
London, Sept. e..
Bremen, dead during the war. and
stripped Of ships afterward, now rivals
Hamburg in rebuilding merchant ships
and in pushing again into outside
markets The North German Lloyd
early next year will have fourteen
ocean liners in service, and as many
more building. Bremen shippers re-
gard their agreements with American
lines more as a crutch to get back
into world trade than as a permanent
agency. connection. Trade keeps up
with shipping in Bremen. This port
still continues to be the cotton import
centre for Central Europe. With in
ferior port facilities to Hamburg,
Bremen seeks to offset these by build
ing up an extensive continental air
service.
Bremen has much American bustle
and Americans, too, are numerous
here. The first bulletin boards which
attract attention upon leaving the sta
ton are Of American shipping lines
and Of express companies.
The North German Lloyd, which
before the war proudly boasted Of
painting a blue line about the world
with fast postal ships. now draws a
very thin line under heavily under
lined American steamship announce
ment. Menus and prices too in the
large hotels have been Americanized.
The George Washington was to sail
ten days after my arrival, SO that all
the hotels were filed with American
tourists.
What was behind this Transformation
of Free Bremen City. the Kaiser's pride
as shipping centre, into semi-Amerf-
can port? Do the people here really
welcome American collaboration. and
have the Gerfnan-American arrange
ments real future?
Both Ports HIT Hard by Defeat.
Bremen shipping was as hard hit as
Hamburg by defeat. The North Ger
man Lloyd had a fifth Of Germany s
100000 tons. Practically all of the mill
lions were sunk or delivered over to the
Allies. There remained only few old
side wheelers. coast freighters, and tugs.
Reconstruction after an initial delay
when Bremen shippers wavered whether
to rebuild their fleet or merely to be-
come agents for foreign lines. has been
pushed steadily forward. The North
German Lloyd has now eight ships aver
aging between 5000 and 10000 tons. and
is building six more, of which four will
be IN service by spring. These latter
win be from eight to twelve thousand
tons. the ideal size for these scant
fredghtage times.
They have already two ships on the
South American service. They could
also begin with two on the North Amer
dean, II It would pay them along side of
the United States Mail Steamship Com
pany, for whom they act as agents. Now
that plans are being completed for start
ing Far Eastern service, the North
German Lloyd speaks openly of discon-
tinuing the agency arrangement they
have had until now with the Nippon
Yusen Line. They have third share In
the German-African Line. 1t Is also not
mere chance that, after the Hamburg
American Line received a privileged
position Ia Russian shipping concessions.
Capt. Koening Of Deutschland subma-
rine fame Is negotiating In Soviet Rus
sia for the company.
At present the North German Lloyd
has only eight small ships. Bremen,
therefore. lives largely off the traffic
and business Of the United States Mail
Steamship Company ships. many Of
which belonged formerly to the North
German Lloyd.
I could not get from the North Ger
rxx1 I'M AoffrftQ
sbout their future plans. Yes. they were
constructing "a little" But they were
not in favor of buying back old ships. so
they said. They were not utilizing the
charter purchase combination system
with Sweden. where ships pass under
German flags and crews but revert
later to the original owners.
In Fear of Outside Hostility.
Later I discovered that the reason in
Bremen was fear of arousing outside
hostility. and reason much more d.
rect-fear Of making the American
group with which they operate believe
that the Germans no longer had need Of
them.
l gathered the impression that while
the Bremen people would regard II as a
disaster to have the old German, now
American, ships taken off Of this service
before they have their own functioning
they none the less will drop the Ameri-
can connection the moment they feel
strong enough to shift for themselves.
Directors Of the German line. for ex-
ample. told me that they feel some un-
certainty over the development of their
arrangement with the United States
Mail Line beca..sa of the receivership
proceedings in America Should the
worst come, they told me. they could
shift for themselves already with a lin
tied American service. probably two
nisipS Of some 10000 to $4,000 tons.
harmed from a well informed source
that the German line has now eight
ships. Blk of these are of 5000 to 5000
IONS, returned from England. The other
TWO are newly built 10000 to 10000 ton
liners running I'm the South American
service.
six ships are In various stages of con-
struction. Four of these will be ready
in the spring and will be used probably
In the New York. Bremen service, while
the other two Will be ready in the course
OF the summer.
Although Director STUNNING of the
linn 70 n