Ogden Daily Standard | 1918-04-10 | Page 3 | Great Increase in Ship Tonnage

GREAT INCREASE IN SHIP TONNAGE WASHINGTON. April 10 An increase in-crease of 20 per cent in the amount of tonnage shipped acros-; the Atlantic in March was gained through close, co-operation of the ship control committee, com-mittee, the shipping board and the war department ,in directing the move, ment of traffic. Officials confidently predicted today that the efficiency in handling was growing and would mean a gain of 30 per cent in tonnage during dur-ing April. The strength of the non-fighting fleet which the United States contributed con-tributed to the aid of the allies, became be-came known today for the first time. A total of 390 American vessels or vessels under American control are in the trans-Atlantic trade with a ton-, nage of 2,762.605. Of these 322 fly the American flags while OS are charterea bv shippers of n'Utr;il nations. The American -hips have a carrying capacity capac-ity of 2,365,344 tons. In addition to the present fleet, there are 471,000 tons of Dutch ships still to be put into service as toon as crews can be provided Ships built in America for tho thippms board will swell the total still further, as ihe building program begins to show cumulative results during the summer. "lic ! the ship control committee wat established January 30, to have supreme charge ol all ships entering American ports, i wa? hoped thai centralized cen-tralized control would mean in effect the addiiton of 1,000,000 tons to the Fhipnm:,- facilities available for the transportation of men. munitions and food to fichl the kaiser. Iii two months that object has been achieved by ha -ng one force to guide the American. allied and neutral ships trading in , American ports. -on