On the Lowlands Run

The 10,000-ton Continental is an ancient tub that served in two world wars, changed hands and names five times. Last week, as she headed from Antwerp to New York, her latest owner had high hopes that she would lead the way to a bright new future. Hard-bitten Operator Arnold Bernstein had twice built up a thriving transatlantic shipping business, both times had been swept off the sea.

As a prewar German shipping tycoon, he had wedged his way into the Atlantic traffic with simple, serviceable ships, the lowest tourist rates of any line, and an inexpensive elevator system for carrying automobiles uncrated. A Jew, the Nazis jailed him and confiscated his ships. Released, he went to the U.S., built up a new Bernstein line that ran from New York to Antwerp and the Dutch ports. His ships were sunk during the war. Now, at 58, he is at it again.

With German ports not yet back to normal, Bernstein's prewar route to Belgium and The Netherlands has become one of the U.S.'s main arteries to Europe. Each week, four or five ships of half a dozen lines leave U.S. ports for Antwerp and Rotterdam. Some carry only a tenth of their cargo capacity, and many lose money on the run. But all the lines have the same idea: to entrench themselves for the day when the U.S.-Lowlands route may carry as much as 3,000,000 tons of freight a year between the U.S. and a restored Western Europe.

With just the Continental as a starter, Bernstein must get more bottoms if he is to hold his own. He is trying to buy two ships from the U.S. Maritime Commission. This week, in Washington, the Maritime Commission will hold hearings to see whether Bernstein should get federal subsidies to buy or build new ships.

The competition is tough. Black Diamond Steamship Corp., a veteran on the Lowlands run, is also out for subsidies, and U.S. Lines and Waterman Steamship Corp. are opposing federal aid to their competitors. But Bernstein is in a fighting mood. His maxim, coined long ago: "All business is a kind of war and you stand a fair chance of winning if you stick to your guns."

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