336 
TABLE 4.—U.S.S.R. Merchant fleet composition, Dec. 31, 1974 
Million Percentage 
deadweight tons of total 
Tankers and combination carriers ____________________ 4.84 34.1 
ny cargo, ships) *! 1°. oo. BN. ee 9.38 65.9 
General purpose’ (liners) --_ = 93 2 2 eee | 6.12 43.0 
Tiniber carrier set ~~ Saar a. a eeigre Veet wee eee 1.82 12.8 
Bulk carrier (5,000-plus deadweight tons) ___________ ist .80 5.6 
Pullicontaimership)2 of. 20 42 eat ees ee eh ean ae .06 4 
Miscellaneous: 21s... 238 _ Sees Rend > SSP ee ee 58 4.1 
Totaltilect’ . .13 .--w Sie. < Spay hee. ORs» 5 14.22 100.0 
Another important aspect of Soviet export trade is the delivery 
of manufactured goods to Communist client countries such as Cuba 
and Vietnam and developing countries such as Egypt, Iraq, and India. 
The benefits to the fleet from participation in trade with these coun- 
tries are more political than economic. Most of these cargoes move 
in Soviet liners or ships of trading partners. 
Soviet imports by sea include a high proportion of industrial 
goods from developed countries carried on Soviet cargo liners or 
liners of trading partners’ steamship companies with which Soviet 
companies operate joint services. The only bulk cargo imported by 
the U.S.S.R. in sizable quantities is grain. In those years when Soviet 
grain imports are heavy—as in the 1963-64, 1965-66, and 1972-73 
crop years—the U.S.S.R. has to supplement its modest fleet of dry 
bulk carriers with chartered foreign vessels. Hard currency chartering 
expenditures for such ships can exceed $150 million a year. 
THE SOVIET MERCHANT FLEET AS A CROSS TRADER AND A 
COMPETITOR 
Soviet carriage of cross trade cargoes between foreign ports 
has been on the increase since the mid-1960’s. Tonnages grew from 
7.5 million tons in 1965 to 15 million tons in 1970, and more than 
22 million tons in 1974. Initially Soviet ships carried cross trade 
cargoes under only two circumstances—when they were returning to 
the U.S.S.R. after the delivery of exports or when they were chartered 
out to foreign shippers for the winter months when the icing of 
northern ports reduces Soviet shipping needs. Now some Soviet ships 
spend full time cross trading. Much of the cargo consists of bulk 
commodities carried for Communist and LDC trading partners with 
payment in soft currency. Examples of this include Canadian flour 
moving to Cuba and Middle Eastern oil moving to Eastern Europe. 
With the expansion of Soviet linér services, the fleet has been 
carrying increasing quantities of manufactured goods between non- 
Communist industrial countries to earn hard currency. The first Soviet 
lines in the cross trades were initiated in 1965. As of mid-1964, 
the U.S.S.R. had 31 international cargo lines, all predominantly in 
Soviet trade. By mid-1975, the total number of lines had risen to 
58—20 of them largely or entirely in cross trades. 
