348 
several of these vessels will have a capacity of 1400 20-foot container 
equivalents. In contrast, the U.S. privately owned intermodal fleet’ 
totaled 148 ships on April 30, 1975 including 110 full containership 
vessels.” 
There are several indications that a steadily increasing share of 
U.S. liner cargo is moving on non-national flag crosstrading vessels 
Operating in our trades. Legislation has been proposed to remedy 
this situation and it is now before the Congress. Senate bill 868 
would have as its objective the prevention of “dumping” of excess 
ship capacity in U.S. sea lanes by these third-flag carriers. The bill 
offers a criteria under which non-national flag operators would be 
required to demonstrate that their freight rates are compensatory on 
a commercial cost basis. Under the provisions of the bill these carriers 
would be prohibited from charging a rate lower than the lowest cor- 
responding rate of the carriers of the national flag fleets operating 
in that U.S. trade unless it could be justified that a lower rate covered 
their fully distributed costs on a commercial basis. 
The intended purpose of S. 868 is to provide the necessary machin- 
ery to cope with these third-flag operators through regulation of their 
rate-setting practices. Some opposition to the legislation centers 
around fears that the bill will result in a loss of the competitive 
balance to the shipping conferences by opening up the possibility 
of higher freight rates and that it may be in violation of U.S. treaties. 
The conference system itself could be endangered by following a 
-““do-nothing” policy about these third-flag operators. If one accepts 
the widely held premise that the conferences fulfill a useful purpose 
in providing stability of rates and services, it would seem to be to 
our advantage to offer reasonable protection for the conference system 
in our trades. While S. 868 has not been universally well received, 
and while it is a matter of debate whether, in its present form, it 
can deal effectively with the problems of third-flag carriers, a persua- 
sive argument can be made that measures need to be taken, legislative 
or otherwise, to assure that U.S. foreign trades continue to enjoy 
stable and efficient service at reasonable rates. 
SOVIET CARRIERS IN UNITED STATES LINER TRADES 
The Soviet merchant marine consists of 16 steamship companies, 
but relatively few have become direct participants in United States 
foreign commerce. The companies that participate in United States 
foreign commerce and the liner services they operate by trade areas 
are: 
A. Murmansk Steamship Company: The ‘Arctic Line’ which 
links United States Great Lakes ports and ports in Europe. 
B. Black Sea Steamship Company doing business as Black Sea 
Canada Line serves U.S. Great Lakes, Mediterranean, East 
African, Gulf of Aden, Red Sea, and Persian Gulf ports.This 
line also serves between U.S. Atlantic ports and Black Sea ports 
in the U.S.S.R., and some Mediterranean ports. 
C. Baltic Steamship Company, also doing business as Balt-Atlan- 
tic Line, serves U.S. Atlantic and Gulf ports and ports in Europe, 
2 Maritime Administration. 
