ÆäÀÌÁö À̹ÌÁö
PDF
ePub

SALE, CHARTER, AND OPERATION OF VESSELS

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1949

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,

COMMITTEE ON THE MERCHANT MARINE AND FISHERIES,

Washington, D. C. The committee met at 10 a. m., the Honorable Schuyler Otis Bland (chairman) presiding.

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will come to order, please. Gentlemen, the first thing this morning is that I recognize Mr. Bonner, to offer an amendment and to make a statement.

Mr. BONNER. Mr. Chairman, before I offer this amendment. A week ago today or tomorrow I called on the Maritime Commission to give me certain information. I talked to Mr. Paul Sullivan over the telephone and asked him to give me a memorandum showing the number of ships that the Army was operating under charter or subcharter and the authority for such operation. As yet I have not received a memorandum.

Naturally I could have called on some of the staff of the Merchant Marine Committee but I thought that the Maritime Commission would have paid some attention to a request of this committee.

The CHAIRMAN. Admiral Smith, I want to know when this information will be supplied. When will it be in Mr. Bonner's hands?

Mr. ACKERSON. Mr. Chairman, the letter was prepared last week. I saw it on Friday. For some reason or other perhaps it has not gotten up here, but it was in draft form last Friday. I will check immediately to see where it is.

The CHAIRMAN. Will you give a copy of it to Mr. Bonner?
Mr. ACKERSON. It is addressed to Mr. Bonner.

Mr. BONNER. Mr. Chairman, that has bearing on the ship charter business. If we cannot get information faster than that, then we had better recess the committee until we get the information. It has a good deal of bearing on this ship charter.

The CHAIRMAN. I am very glad to have the suggestion of Mr. Bonner. His suggestion is always valuable. But at the same time I do not see how we can recess. We are under pressure of time. I want to get 92 acted on, or a substitute to it, as quickly as possible. I would like to go into executive session just as quickly as we finish our sessions here.

If Mr. Bonner is prepared to offer an amendment or a substitute I will be glad to hear him now. If not, it will be put into the record later. Mr. BONNER. You are on the ship charter bill now?

The CHAIRMAN. I am on both right now. That is, we are in a hearing now to determine what we shall do with respect to these bills. My first purpose this morning was to allow Mr. Bonner to offer his amendment and make his statement. The next is to file certain letters

85414- -49

-17

251

in the record. I received one from Stevenson & Co., Inc., and another from Dichmann, Wright & Pugh, which is very edifying.

Mr. BONNER. Will the clerk pass these amendments to the members, please, in fairness to the gentlemen who are interested in it.

The CHAIRMAN. That is perfectly all right. I will be glad to hear Mr. Bonner.

Mr. BONNER. Will the clerk read it, please?

The CHAIRMAN. Will one of you gentlemen read it?

Mr. MEADE. This is an amendment to House Joint Resolution 92 [reading]:

SECTION 1. One page 1, line 9, strike out the words "March 1, 1950" and insert in lieu thereof the words "January 1, 1950."

SEC. 2. Any charter entered into by the Commission on or after February 28, 1949, pursuant to section 5 of the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946, as amended, shall contain a provision that no voyage may be commenced by any vessel under such charter after December 31, 1949, and any existing charter continued in effect subsequent to February 28, 1949, pursuant to the provisions of this Joint Resolution, shall be amended so as to include such a limitation, or be terminated by the Commission at the earliest time on or after February 28, 1949, that such termination can be accomplished under the terms of the charter.

SEC. 3. (a) On and after February 28, 1949, no charter may be entered into under section 5 of the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946, as amended, nor shall any existing charter be continued in effect beyond the earliest date on which such charter may be terminated under the terms thereof with respect to any vessel which is in excess of the number of ocean-going vessels documented under the laws of the United States and owned by the applicant or the charterer, as the case may be. For the purposes of this Resolution, any citizen who, on or before June 30, 1949, enters into an unconditional contract with the Commission for the purchase of one or more ocean-going vessels, shall from the date of the execution of such contract, be deemed to own such vessel or vessels whether they have been delivered or not.

(b) In the case of any charter in effect on February 28, 1949, under section 5 of the Merchant Ship Sales Act of 1946, as amended (which is not required to be terminated by subsection (a) hereof), such charter shall either (1) be amended so as to provide that the vessels chartered thereunder shall not, at the election of the charterer, be redelivered to the Commission prior to September 1, 1949, or within less than six months from the date of delivery of each such vessel to the charterer, whichever is the latest; or (2) if the charterer will not consent to such amendment, be terminated at the earliest possible time on or after February 28, 1949, that such termination can be accomplished under the terms of the charter. In the case of a charter made on or after February 28, 1949, such charter shall provide that any vessel chartered thereunder shall not, at the election of the charterer, be redelivered to the Commission before January 1, 1950, or prior to the expiration of six months from the date of delivery of such vessel to the charterer, whichever is the earlier.

(c) For the purposes of this resolution, the term "ocean-going vessel" means a dry-cargo vessel or combination passenger and dry-cargo vessel documented under the laws of the United States and of not less than 2,000 gross-registered tons.

I understand, Mr. Bonner, you have an amendment to be added to that. [Reading:]

Insert at the end of paragraph (b) of section 3 of the amendments conforming with Mr. Garner's testimony, the following:

"Nothing in this section shall apply with respect to charters of vessels to be used exclusively in the transportation of coal or coke from the United States to foreign countries under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1948."

The CHAIRMAN. As I understand, this is an amendment that had been offered the first part of this is an amendment that had been offered by Mr. Bonner. Is that right?

Mr. BONNER. No, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. You offer the whole amendment, with the addition that he added?

Mr. BONNER. That part dealing with bulk carriers, coal, specifically for coal, is a part of the amendment. It is not separate at all. The intention of it, Mr. Chairman, is to recognize those operators who had purchased vessels.

If there is a necessity for the continuation of charter then recognition should be given and is given in this amendment to those who have come in under the Ship Sales Act and shown good faith by buying vessels, if we are going to continue chartering them.

The CHAIRMAN. I am not combating the amendment. I am just simply trying to get the situation clear.

Mr. BONNER. Of course, that explanation could be enlarged on. But that is the purpose of the amendment.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any further questions?

Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Chairman, may I ask one question?

The CHAIRMAN. Yes.

Mr. ALLEN. I understand there is a service on the Pacific that is carrying Army refrigerated cargoes, or Navy refrigerated cargoes, to the island of Guam. The service would be nonexistent as soon as the forces are taken out. I think there are five refrigerated ships in that use charter running in American ships.

Under this amendment, that being a separate service, in a sense, would the people who are operating those ships be deprived ofMr. BONNER. You mean it is a recharter?

Mr. ALLEN. No. As I understand the situation the Maritime Commission charters the five ships to the operators, who carry Army refrigerated cargo to these islands. The ships are owned by the Maritime Commission.

There is no service, never will be, to those islands except that supplied by the refrigerated cargo to the armed forces.

Mr. BONNER. Is that being operated by these 50-odd or 60, whatever the number is, ships now being operated by the Army, chartered or in some way secured by the Army through the Maritime Commission? Mr. ALLEN. No. It is being operated by the Pacific Far East Line who own certain ships for their established trade and charter other ships for this trade.

Mr. BONNER. They have these ships chartered?

Mr. ALLEN. Yes.

Mr. BONNER. They bought ships?

Mr. ALLEN. Yes, they bought ships.

Mr. BONNER. If they bought ships they can go ahead and charter ships if that is necessary.

Mr. ALLEN. If they own 1 ship they can charter 15. Is that it?

Mr. BONNER. The intent of this amendment is that the Maritime Commission shall make a survey to determine the necessity of further chartering if, in their opinion from their survey, they determine that charters are necessary to carry on the commerce.

Then those operators who have purchased one ship or more will be entitled to charter, one-for-one, and as the ratio goes up if there are sufficient ships to be chartered they can charter additional ships. Mr. ALLEN. It is that one-for-one business that I question.

Mr. BONNER. If they purchase at least one ship then they can charter a ship. Some companies purchase 8, 9, or 10 ships. They would not in all probability care to charter 10 ships. For instance, in your case, in the company you have in mind, how many ships have they bought under the Ship Sales Act?

Mr. ALLEN. I think they have 5 they purchased under the Ship Sales Act, and I think they operate 31.

Mr. BONNER. They could certainly charter five under this provision. Mr. ALLEN. The point is that this trade cannot be carried on sensibly except by chartered ships because no one is going to purchase five refrigerator ships for the trade in the Pacific because it folds up as soon as we withdraw the forces there.

Mr. BONNER. About how many ships has this company?

Mr. ALLEN. I think they had five C2R2's.

Mr. BONNER. Refrigerated ships?

Mr. ALLEN. Yes.

Mr. BONNER. If they purchase five ships they can charter five ships. I will say this one thing further. This amendment provides that a company can come in and show intent to buy and start negotiating, and then get credit for charter.

Mr. ALLEN. The point is that no sensible company, as I see it, will ever buy ships without-

The CHAIRMAN. In order to save time, and rather than discuss the merits of this amendment, I wonder if anybody connected with the Maritime Commission can now tell us specifically what the facts are? STATEMENTS OF VICE ADM. WILLIAM W. SMITH, CHAIRMAN; GRENVILLE MELLEN, COMMISSIONER; AND RAYMOND S. McKEOUGH, COMMISSIONER, UNITED STATES MARITIME COMMISSION

Admiral SMITH. Mr. Chairman, in the allocation of chartered ships by the Maritime Commission, in the notice we sent out to operators it applied to only dry-cargo vessels. The reefers are chartered to the Pacific Far East and carry refrigerated products under contract for the Army to the Marianas and also to Japan. The representative of the Pacific Far East is here.

The CHAIRMAN. Somebody in the Maritime Commission ought to know what the facts are.

Admiral SMITH. Yes, sir. I know what they are.
The CHAIRMAN. Give them to us.

Admiral SMITH. There are five reefer ships carrying refrigerated cargo. As Mr. Allen has just brought out, tha is not going to last forever. Nobody will buy ships for it. One company is doing it for the Army, and chartering the ships from us. We left those out. We did not consider those in our allocations. That is a separate deal.

They own a number of ships but I understand they bought up to their limit. They have not finances to buy any more. But they are a going concern and they are running a route to the Far East.

Mr. BONNER. Admiral, then there is nothing in this amendment that would prohibit or inconvenience them in their operation.

Admiral SMITH. I am not certain. I heard that read but I have not seen it.

Mr. BONNER. You say they purchased five or more ships.

« ÀÌÀü°è¼Ó »