334 
As of December 31, 1974, the U.S.S.R. had only 15 full con- 
tainerships with a total capacity of 60,000 dwt and 3,350 20-foot 
containers. In contrast, the U.S. fleet of full containerships—largest 
in the world—included 75 ships of 1.5 million dwt with space for 
85,000 containers. The largest Soviet containership was a 6,400-dwt 
vessel with a speed of only 17 knots and a container capacity of 
358 while some Western containership fleets included ships as large 
as 49,000 dwt. Some of these have space for almost 3,000 containers 
and can move at speeds as high as 33 knots. 
The Soviet fleet has been even slower in adopting two other 
ship types devised to facilitate the movement of liner cargoes—the 
roll-on/roll-off (ro/ro) ship and the barge carrier. Ro/ro ships, first 
acquired by the U.S.S.R. in 1974, have the ability to load and 
discharge wheeled vehicles and cargoes loaded on trailers faster than 
either conventional cargo liners or full container ships. Their greatest 
successes to date have been in the short-haul trades between the 
United Kingdom and the Continent and the United States and Puerto 
Rico and on such long-haul routes as Western Europe—U.S. East 
Coast and Western Europe—Australia. The largest ro/ros acquired 
through the end of 1974 by the U.S.S.R. were 6,000 dwt units with 
speeds of 17 knots; the best West European ro/ros are 22-knot vessels 
exceeding 20,000 dwt. 
The U.SS. R., which possesses a highly developed system of inland 
water transportation linked at many points with the sea, probably” 
has more potential uses for barge carriers than any other country. 
Like the containership and the ro/ro, the barge carrier spends very 
little time in port. It carries small shallow-draft barges loaded with 
general cargo and drops them off at a foreign port where tugs can 
tow them to inland points by waterway or to shallow coastal ports. 
Most of the 30 barge carriers currently operating in world trade 
are U.S.-flag vessels operating out of U.S. ports. The heaviest traffic 
is between New Orleans, which interfaces with the Mississippi System, 
and Rotterdam at the mouth of the Rhine. The U.S.S.R. ordered 
construction of its first barge carriers in 1975—one series from 
Poland? and a second? in Finland. 
EMPLOYMENT OF THE FLEET AND ITS ROLE IN THE NATIONAL 
ECONOMY 
- The chief mission of the Soviet merchant fleet is the carriage 
of Soviet cargo. Until 1956, the fleet’s role was more important in 
the country’s domestic than in its foreign trade. In that year, for 
the first time, the ton-mile performance of the fleet in foreign trade 
exceeded that in coastal trade. In 1966, the tonnage of cargo carried 
by the fleet in foreign trade surpassed that in domestic trade for 
the first time. Data on fleet performance in 1974 indicate the following 
allocation of fleet output and carriage: | 
? Based on U.S. LASH (Lighter aboard ship) technology. 
3 Based on the U.S.-designed ‘‘Seabee"’-class vessels of Lykes Bros. Steamship Co. 
