Evening star., 1955-01-23
Coast Shippers Seek
Answer 10 FaItering
Maritime Business
By Jack Jonas

~ JUN SVHoS
Coastal shippers. alarmed over
the decline In their business.
may decide once and for all this
week to Join their competitors
In an effort to revive their once
thriving trade.
They gather in Washington
Tuesday at the invitation Of the
Maritime Administration, which
also Is concerned over a prob
lem that has existed nearly 10
years without solution.
Getting goods, particularly dry
cargoes, between North and
South along the coasts, and TAX
ing it cross-country. has been
taken over by the truckers and
the railroads.
Many shippers feel that the
only solution is to build special
facilities-docks and ships-to
load and carry railroad cars and
trailer trucks along and between
the coasts. The high cost Of
the changeover is holding them
back.
Started in World War II.
The trouble IN which the
coastal and intercoastal shippers
find themselves stems from
World War II. That was when
the Government called into serv-
ice for carrying military supplies
nearly all ocean-going vessels.
In 1899 there were SAB ships
totaling 4.360,000 tons in the
coastal trade, east and west.
Last year. there were 283 ships
In this trade, only So Of them
dry-cargo freighters.
There were 165 ships plying
between the east and west
coasts with a total Of 1.640.914
deadweight tons in 1899. Last
year 1t had shrunk to 81 and a
total Of 667,000 tons.
The American Merchant Ma
rine Institute. a private organ
ization Of shipowners, says that
a healthy coastal passenger trade
before the war is nonexistent
today.
With the ships on to war,
people with cargoes to send
north or south, or cross-country,
turned naturally to other means
the trucks and the railroads.
Costs Climb.
When the war ended and the
ocean shippers were ready to 60
back into business. again, they
faced q difficult task. Costs
especially for loading and un-
loading at the piers-had risen
phenomenally. The cost of
building a ship had gone up
from between SIS and 50 mil
lion to between "a and So million.
Some American shippers-the
coastal and intercoastal trade is
limited to American-fiag ships
bought war surplus vessels and
converted them to peacetime
cargo uses. But they found that
the high lading costs made it
virtually impossible for them to
compete with the railroads and
truckers for most cargoes.
Tanker owners are in a some
what better position. It still is
more economical to ship bulk
liquid cargoes. such as oil and
chemicals, by ship along the
coasts. There are no coastal
pipelines to compete.
Shippers say there will have
to be drastic changes In cargo
handling before coastal shipping
regains its feet. Here again the
cost problem arises, because spe-
cial facilities would have to be
built.
The shippers call this "roll-on,
roll-off" lading. Ships would pull
into the piers. tractor-trailers
would drive on and be trans
ported to a distant coastal port
and drive of again. The same
would be done with railroad cars.
Extensive Study.
The Maritime AdYninistration
and the Department Of Com
merce have for the past two
years been deep in studies Of the
problem. Shipowners, too, have
made independent surveys, and
are pessimistic about the results.
Maritime Administrator Louis
o. Rothschild has invited dry
cargo operators to meet here
Tuesday to explore the problem
and try to find q solution. The
tanker operators, with o lesser
problem. will meet with Mar
itime Administration ofiicials q
week later.
Mr.. Rothschild has invited
representatives Of "a companies
Id the deep-water coastal and In.
tercoastal trade. each operating
one or more ships larger than
1000 tons. He also has invited
representatives Of associations Of
shipowners. whose members may
be engaged In domestic trade.
Preliminary results OF the
Governments surveys may be
disclosed at these meetings. But
the shipowners, already dig
couraged by their own surveys,
can see no solution except in the
roll-on. roll-off facilities. And
even that, they say. may prove
too costly a solution.