Tankers on Tyne

From shipyards along the lower Tyne and Glasgow's narrow Clyde came forth the proud ships that once ruled the waves. Until World War II, Great Britain built nearly half of the world's vessels. But for at least a decade the British shipbuilding industry has been badly ailing: last year it launched 1,000,000 tons of merchant ships, less than in 1947, while the Japanese alone produced six times that amount, carving out 47% of the total world production.

There are signs that the tide may be turning now, thanks in part to a $103.5 million government loan fund for modernization and $600 million in easy credit for British shipowners to buy British. Lloyd's Register of Shipping reported last week that as of Sept. 30, some 1,300,000 tons, representing 10% of world total, were under construction in British yards v. Japan's 4,200,000 tons, or 31.6%. While that is still a rather wide gap, Sir John Hunter, 55, head of the Swan Hunter Group of shipbuilders on the Tyne, says: "We are beginning to see some daylight."

Supertankers for Survival. Net earnings of Swan Hunter are expected to reach $2,800,000 this year, $1,000,000 more than in 1966. By Jan. 1, the firm will merge with three other Tyneside firms to form Swan, Hunter & Tyne Shipbuilders and become one of the few British shipbuilders able to handle the mammoth tankers that are becoming a key to the industry's survival. Two Esso tankers, 240,000 tons each, bigger than any ship ever built in Britain, will go up in their yards. Belfast's Harland & Wolff will build two more, at a price of $73 million for the four.

While industry mergers, possibly into four regional groups, will probably cut costs and afford greater efficiency, Sir John admits that things wouldn't be looking up "if the oil companies had not been held to ransom by Mr. Nasser." The shutdown of the Suez Canal came as a boon for shipbuilders. The Japanese, who got their first boost with the 1956 closing of the canal, underbid the European builders by about 10% and soon had their order books bulging, with delivery dates stretching through 1971. Swan, Hunter & Tyne promised faster delivery, contracted to finish its first Esso supertanker by August 1969.

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