New-York tribune., 1921-02-28
Hamburg Line
Ships Go Off
New York Run
German Withdrawal Is Only
Temporary, However; 10
Replace Cargo Boats Will,
Liners in Steerage Trade
Building Larger Vessels
Withdrawn Ones Are Being
Placed in South American
Trade; Competition Keen

The Hamburg-American Line has
vithdrawn the tonnage it has been op-
eating between Germany and the
United States.
Although the line at present has no
.sips in the North Atlantic service.
tis condition is only temporary one.
,pd ether vessels now building will he
vut into the trade to this country in a
few months.
The Meta Jensen and the Borga, me-
DUN sized cargo vessels, which have
teer operated on the North Atlantic
roata for the last few months, have
been transferred to the South Ameri-
az trade. running from Hamburg. For
sane time past the United American
Lines nave been operating in this serv-
re. Recently, however, because Of the
arge amount of tonnage put into this
service by other companies, they have
withdrawn two vessels, and these viii
5s replaced by the Hamburg American
sh:5s which have been on the New York
nn The ships withdrawn by the Har-
1mah interests have been tied up tenn
perariiy.
Competition Grows keener
The North German Lloyd Line, in
eoujunction with another German line,
tbe Hansa, is opening 6 regular cargo
service between Buenos Ayres and
Hamburg and Bremen, and this brings
,he number Of companies operating in
this service up to dozen. The Ship
ping Board recently aIlocated one of
lis vessels TO the .oute,
In place of the Meta Jensen and the
Borga the Hamburg American interests
viii place two steamers of 1900 tons
deadweight each in the Hamburg New
York trade. These boats will be fitted
for the carriage Of third class passen-
rers as well as of cargo and they will
be the first ships of this kind under
the German flag to reach here since the
var They viii be known as the Bayern
and the Nuerttemberg. Sailing dates
have already been fixed by the Ham
burg-American Line, the Bayern being
scheduled to leave Hamburg on June
10 fud the Wuerttemb berg on August 4.
While these ships represent only
small fraction of the tonnage formerly
fmploved BY the Hamburg American
line in the New York route, they con
stitute O start t~ward the restoration
Of the company's ransatlantic passen-
GER service,
Many New Ships Planned
No details Of the Hamburg
Lines construction programme have
been made public. but 1T is understood
hat number of vessels are under
way in German shipyards, and that
mere are to be laid down within the
near future A third steamer, the
Hsnsa, of about % 1000 tons deadweight,
Is expected to be placed IN service late
this summer. and others will follow
irom time to time.
1t will probably be at least year
and g half however, before any good
sized ocean liners are placed in service,
the first probably being two of about
10000 gross tons each. SO far as
kaown no plans are in contemplation
for the construction of anything ap-
preaching N size the seized German
steamers Imperator, Leviathan and Bis
marck, ranging from $4,000 to $4,000
gross tons each, and the largest liners
IN the world.
The Hamburg-American transatlantic
dret Will IcbL II 10 titC cSeS lt VIC h'NNS
Of greater competition than has ever
prevailed in that trade, and this COM
petition is increasing almost daily.
The revival of the port activities of
Hamburg is well under way. AT the
beginning Of this year the foreign ship
ping lines established at Hamburg num-
tered nearly seventy, of which twenty
tFo were English companies and eleven
Dutch. American lines are also max
ing an active bid for share of this
trsde.
Hamburg Trade Reviving
The extent of the increase in ship
ping activity at Hamburg is indicated
BY the official figures of the tonnage
represented by the vessels arriving at
nat port last year in comparison with
During 1920 arrivals totaled 1856
g1 net tons, as against 100000 in
1913. Of the 1920 total 100000 tons
we're under the German flag, compared
glth only 1877. 900 tons during 1919. The
shipping movement is still far below
me prewar figures, however, for in
1913 the arrivals at Hamburg repre-
sented l4,242, 900 tons, of which $685.
700 tons were German.
How far Germany has to go to re-
gam her old prestige, however, is
shown by the fact that her ships repre-
sented only about a quarter of last
years total, whereas in 1913 more than
y per cent of the aggregate was un-