Judging from the percentage of idle tonnage in different countries, it is apparent that the owners in some of them—who, it has been alleged in. certain statements published: in the shipping Press of late. should have advantages due to low operating casts—also have their worries and, in fact, have difficulties in finding sufficient employment for their vessels.
The quarterly returns for the last four years further prove that the supply of tonnage all the time has exceeded the demand. Consequently, there are also those who claim that it is not more vessels that are needed but more trade."
This final conclusion is undoubtedly the correct one, though. it should be added there is always a hard-core of tonnage unemployable except when rates are very favourable. Unfortunately, too, the present state of international politics loudly demands—and especially in the case of the United Kingdom—a surplus of tonnage over and above economic needs.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.