Of the strictly cargo services, the largest private line is the American Export Lines which runs from North Atlantic ports of the United States to ports of the Mediterranean and Black Sea. Others are : The American West African Line, the American South African Line, the Pacific Argentine Brazil Line operated out of San Francisco to the east coast of South America, the Oregon Oriental Mail which runs from Portland, Oregon, to the Orient, and the Tacoma Oriental Line which runs from Tacoma, Washington, to the Orient.
A large group which also has interests in the domestic trade is formed by the American Hawaiian Line and Matson Navigation Company. This group maintains passenger and cargo services from Pacific coast ports to the Hawaiian islands and cargo services from these American ports to Australia, Philippine Islands and the Orient.
The shipping board cargo lines are operated for the govern ment's account through private shipping agencies, known as man aging operators. These companies act as agents in the securing of cargoes and general management of the ships.
The one remaining government passenger line, the United States Lines, is operated direct by the United States Shipping Board Merchant Fleet Corporation which is the shipping board's business corporation. This line is operated in the North Atlantic between New York, Southampton, Cherbourg and Bremen.
In United States shipping it should also be noted that there is a large volume of tonnage coming under the class of so-called industrial carriers. The Standard Oil Company, the United States Steel Corporation, the United Fruit Company and the Ford Motor Company all maintain substantial fleets primarily for the trans portation of their own traffic. (T. V. O'C.) Other Countries.—There are also several groups on the Continent, particularly in Germany and France. In the latter country the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, is intimately associated with the Fabre Line, the Chargeurs Reunis, the Com pagnie Sud Atlantique, the Transports Maritimes Line and the Fraissinet Company. This group shows every indication of further extensions. In 1928 the Compagnie Generale Transatlantique, the Sud Atlantique, and the Chargeurs Reunis formed a company known as the Union Francaise d'Armement, to deal with matters concerning the interests of the three lines, fuel, victualling, agen cies, and the like.
In Germany the policy of amalgamation has produced the keenest rivalry between the two big concerns, the Hamburg American Line and the Norddeutscher Lloyd, who between them own the greater part of the tonnage under the national flag.
The latter includes the Argo Line, the Roland Line, the Horn Line, the Hamburg-Bremen-Afrika Line, the Seefahrt Co., the Hanseatic Co., and the Hansa Line, in addition to smaller con cerns. The group also owns shipbuilding interests and in partner ship with the Hamburg American Line has interests in the Deutsche Levante Line, the Deutsche Ost Afrika Line and the Woermann Line.
In addition to these concerns in which they share an interest with the Norddeutscher Lloyd, the Hamburg American group has the Deutsche-Australische, Kosmos and Hugo Stinnes Companies, also the Hamburg South American Line.
The big Italian group is headed by the Cosulich Line and in cludes the Lloyd Triestino, which before the war was the Austrian Lloyd, the Adria Line, the Marittima Italiana, the San Marco and the Puglia Lines, with other less important connections and con siderable shipbuilding interests. There is also very close work ing between the various companies under State guidance quite apart from actual amalgamation. In northern Europe the prin cipal groups are the Dan Brostrom group in Sweden, and the Forenede group in Denmark.
The Japanese companies have followed the policy of total absorption more than amalgamation, the two principal concerns being the Nippon Yusen Kaisha and the Osaka Shosen Kaisha. Both maintain a network of services all over the globe.
The tendency towards amalgamation in shipping appears to increase rather than decrease, particularly in periods of shipping depression. Compared with the huge groups mentioned, the independent shipping firms appear small, although there are many important ones still in service. Under the British flag the most important are the Clan Line of cargo ships, Messrs. T. and J. Harrison, Andrew Weir's Bank Line, the Bibby Line, Runciman's and Reardon Smith's, while some of the tanker companies also aggregate a big tonnage.
In France there is the Messageries Maritimes, in Italy the Navigazione Generale Italiana, in Spain the Compania Trans atlantica, in the United States such concerns as the Dollar and Matson Lines, in Holland the Rotterdam Lloyd and Nederland companies, and in Denmark the East Asiatic Co., although the last-named has Swedish connections. (F. C. Bo.)