SHIPBUILDERS' POSITION.
The plight of the shipping industry, which has led ship- owners to ask the Government for a renewed subsidy, is also reflected in the latest returns of the shipbuilding industry. Lloyd's Register Shipbuilding returns for the December quarter show that 241,627 gross tons was launched during the three months and only 87,632 gross tons of new building started in Great Britain. Thus the shipbuilding orders placed in 1936 and 1937, when freights were rising, are being worked off, and there is little new business coming forward to replace them. The figures, however, exclude warship construction which is doing a good deal to keep the yards employed. The rest of the world seems to be faring better than Great Britain. The world total of new tonnage started was 574,956 gross tons, and the tonnage launched 705,496. The world total of tonnage under construction is 2,668,864, of which only 779,762 tons or 29.2 p.c. is in Great Britain.
(Continued on page 112)
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