TRENDS IN THE OUTPUT AND EXPORTS OF MERCHANT SHIPS
| Date | 01 October 1956 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9485.1956.tb01177.x |
| Author | J. R. Parkinson |
| Published date | 01 October 1956 |
TRENDS IN THE OUTPUT AND EXPORTS
OF
MERCHANT SHIPS
I
THE
fortunes of the United Kingdom shipbuilding industry depend
on
the amount of orders for new merchant and naval vessels that it
can
secure and execute and
on
the amount of repair work which
comes its way. These main groups fluctuate considerably both
in
absolute amount and in their proportions of gross output. Of the
three, repair work
is
least subject to variation
in
absolute amount,
and, depending on the value of other forms of output, generally
accounts for about one-quarter to one-third
of
the gross output of
the industry. Naval construction is highly variable
;
immediately
before the
1914-18
War it accounted for about one-quarter
of
the
output of the industry but it fell to
1
per cent.
in
1924
;
at the present
time
it
may amount to about one-tenth of output. Fluctuations
in
the
output
of
new merchant vessels are notoriously violent; in the
inter-war period output ranged from
2
m. gross tons to a little over
100,OOO
gross tons, but we may regard it as accounting for about
two-thirds
of
gross output
in
typical conditions.
In all these fields the United Kingdom competes in foreign
markets.
As
a warship builder she has supplied navies overseas
;
as
a repairer she competes with the Continental centres: and as a
builder of merchant vessels she is
in
competition with shipyards all
over the world. It is with this latter aspect
of
world competition that
we are concerned
in
this review of the statistical trends
of
the output
of merchant vessels
in
the United Kingdom and other countries.
Fig.
1
shows the changing proportion of United Kingdom output
in
the world market for ships. Over
60
per
cent.
of
the world's ships
wcrc produced
in
the years
1910-14.
After a temporary eclipse
in
the
shadow of the United States' post-war output, the United Kingdom's
share of the world market again rose to over
60
per cent. in
1924.
only
to fall again under the pressure
of
foreign compctition in
1925
and the General Strike
in
1926.
The comparatively stable years of
1937-30
heralded
a
violent decline when.
in
conditions of deep slump,
United Kingdom output declined to a little more than one-quarter of
world output. Recovery
in
1934
was not maintained
:
and the
tcmporary ascendancy
of
the United Kingdom at the end of the
1939-43
War was lost when Continental shipbuilders and Japan re-
established
their shipbuilding output.
2
34
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