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Show U. S. to Have Big Surplus After War; Demands Will Be Great. j WASHINGTON. The United States will have built 50,000,000 deadweight tons of merchant ships by the end of 1944, and will come out of the war with a tremendous surplus of shipping to be disposed of by international agreement, Rear Admiral Emory S. Land, chairman of the maritime commission, reports. re-ports. Admiral Land envisaged an American Amer-ican merchant fleet after the war of 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 tons, compared com-pared with 10,500,000 tons before the war. Maritime commission officials said that between 30,000,000 and 40,-000,000 40,-000,000 tons of shipping are expected to survive enemy action, but that the surplus would be hardly more than enough to meet the immediate postwar post-war needs of other nations, which have been unable to build their own ships during the war. Five ways to dispose of the surplus sur-plus ships were suggested by Admiral Ad-miral Land. The United States, he said, might give them away, charter them, sell them, scrap them, or hold them in reserve, keeping them in 1 good repair for immediate use in case of another war or similar sud- den demand for ships. Expansion Anticipated. Officials explained that it was much less costly in the long run to keep ships in good repair than to let them fall to pieces, as so many did after World War I, only to build a lot more a few years later. However, American shipping companies com-panies are already looking ahead to the possibilities of a great expansion expan-sion after the war, it was said. The Liberty ships would be excellent for "tramp" service, a type of shipping which has been one of England's great industries,' but has never been undertaken on a large scale by the United States. American companies may also expand their regular lines, opening up new routes between foreign for-eign countries and creating new markets for American goods by providing pro-viding delivery service. In addition, the first few years after aft-er the war will require a great ex- pansion in world shipping, because the processes of reconstruction, relief re-lief and demobilization will require vast shipments of men and goods all over the world. Industry Celebrates. Appropriately, "Victory Fleet Day" was celebrated on the second anniversary of the launching of the first Liberty ship, the Patrick Henry. Since that time the industry has grown from. 21 shipyards employing 200,000 men and turning out seven ships a month to 100 yards employing employ-ing 750,000 men and women and turning out five ships a day. He praised labor for its part in creating and operating the United Nations' merchant fleet and said the commission had met with "remarkable "remark-able success" in its dealings with labor. Admiral Land said Germany still has about 300 submarines and that it has been rumored that some of them have been reconditioned to fight on the surface. . "I hope they do," be commented. |
