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1933.10.04.De Scandinavian Shipping Gazette.Article
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France
French News
(From our special correspondent)
Paris, September 30th, 1933.
Serious Plight of Shipbuilding Industry
As briefly mentioned in last week’s message, the Worms yards, at Le Trait, launched on Saturday, the oceanic research vessel "Président Théodore Tissier". A special train took the party, including your representative, to Le Trait, a place well-known enough in social technical circles, as the firm’s organisation, as regards the housing and other requirements of their workpeople has often been mentioned and set as an example.
In his speech, M. Hippolyte [sic] Worms called the attention of public powers to the shipbuilding crisis. The only job which the yard now had consisted of one 600-ton submarine and one small cargo ship which Ihey were building on their own account to provide employment. The pretty town which they had created for their workmen in 1917, was in danger of being empty. The shipping and shipbuilding crisis was a worldwide one and its effects could not be avoided, but some attenuation could be achieved. Unemployment evils could be minimized if the various State departments coordinated their orders so as to have them conveniently spread as regards both time and geographical distribution. The building programme of the subsidised lines could, without much increase of the financial charges, be re-distributed over some years and have the first orders advanced and placed shortly. The State had to do something, as the protectionist policy, involving a high cost of living, largely accounted for the higher production cost of French industry.
The best remedy consisted of enabling French owners to place orders. Nothing had been done for the non-subsidised — by far the greater — part of the merchant fleet. A comprehensive policy, involving a generalisation of the credit maritime system, coupled with some scrapping scheme as had been going abroad, would likely serve the purpose. An adequate commercial policy would also bring relief. Steps in that sense had hitherto always proved at the expense of shipping and some compensation was overdue.
The Importance of Coasters
M. Worms especially emphasized the fact that in considering remedies to the shipping crisis one was wont to overlook the coastwise trade. It was not true that the flag monopoly afforded it shelter against any competition; they were suffering from rate cutting by the railways, the deficit of which was faced by the community. The vital importance of the coastwise trade could not be overestimated. As a ship-owner in the overseas trades, he fully realized the part played by coasters as very useful feeders. Chambers of Commerce and Port Authorities well knew that their accounts would never be properly balanced, failing the dues paid by coastwise shipping, which also considerably helped in keeping harbour business going.