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HOW CAN AMERICAN SHIPS COMPETE 



a loss of 3 cents per deadweight ton; while the American ship at the same date is making a 

 loss of 33 cents per deadweight ton, on a valuation of $20 per deadweight ton. 



Table III. — Comparative Cost of Operation of 8,8oo-Ton Deadweight Steamer Based on 

 a Value of $20 per Deadweight Ton, November 15, 1921. 



♦Includes periodical surveys, local inspection, etc. 



By referring to Table III, dated November 15, 1921, when the charter rate was Ss. 6d., 

 but the exchange was $3.95 per £ sterling, the profit for the British steamer is 2 cents per 

 deadweight ton, and for the American steamer there is a loss of 25 cents per deadweight ton. 

 These two statements prove that the British steamship owner with a ship on a valuation of 

 $20 per ton is just breaking even, while the American is losing $0,264 per deadweight ton 

 per month, showing a loss at the end of twelve months of $27,878.40 or a loss per year 

 per deadweight ton of $3.17. Assuming that the United States has 10,000,000 tons dead- 

 weight in steamers and it has been proposed that the Government should pay the difference 

 in cost of operation, this would mean that there would be a yearly subsidy of $31,680,000 

 to overcome the difference in the cost of operation between an American vessel and a for- 

 eign one. It will be interesting to you to check up these figures from another point of view, 

 shown on Table IV, where the time-charter rates and the owners' expenses in 1913 and 

 1921 for a British steamer are shown. It is there shown that the time-charter rate in 1913 

 was 84 cents and the owners' expenses were 75 cents, leaving a margin of profit of 9 cents 

 per deadweight ton per month, which was quite a reasonable profit after paying all over- 

 head. In 1921 a time-charter rate is taken at 6s., at $4.00 per £ sterling, and is therefore 

 $1.20 per deadweight ton per month; the owners' expenses at the present time are $1.11, 



