coal trade bulletin - Clpdigital.org

THE COAL TRADE BULLETIN. 47
CONDITIONS IN WORLD'S LEADING SHIPPING PORT
The year 1913 was one of extraordinary prosperity
throughout Hie Cardiff consular district,
yvrites Consul Lorin A. Lathrop of Cardiff, Wales.
All important industries established a record in
quantities, and nearly all a record in financial results.
The output of (oal from the South Wales
coal field exceeded by far the figures of all past
years, as did also the export. Coal prices were
steadily maintained at high figures and great
profits yvere made, notwithstanding increased cost
of production. It is understood that orders aggregating
some millions of tons yvere refused from
sheer inability to supply the coal.
Local interest is keen as to the effect the opening
of the Panama canal will have on South Wales
coal exports. A frank expression of opinion yvas
made by Mr. D. A. Thomas at the annual meeting,
in February, 1914, of the Consolidated Cambrian
(Ltd.), of whic-h company he is chairman. The
report in the Cardiff journals of his comments
follows:
He yvas much more alarmed at the threatened
competition of American coal than at that ol oil.
They had coal in Amerii a, there was no doubt,
which was very little short in quality to that of
South Wales. In West Virginia and in the Pocahontas
and the New River coal fields there were
large areas of coal which were very little inferior
to the best Admiralty coal, and when the Panama
(anal was open he confessed that he thought most
of tlie coal used out there would be American and
not Welsh. The cost of production in South
Wales had doubled in 25 years, while such cost
in the United States was less, and coal of good
quality could be put on rail in West Virginia at
one-third the cost in South Wales.
The production of coal during 1913 is estimated
at 54,000.000 to 55,000,000 tons, an increase of 4,-
000,000 to 5,000,000 tons over the preceding year.
Welsh coal is the most costly to mine in the
world, and the output per annum for each person
employed has remained for some years at 220 to
230 tons. The adoption of
MECHANICAL APPLIANCES,
such as coal cutters and conveyors, proceeds very
slowly.
So active and constant was the demand for
Welsh coal throughout the whole year that prices
were continually maintained at high levels, not
only- for the best Admiralty coals, but also for all
other grades. Of these listed Admiralty coals
the annual production is 10,000,000 to 12,000.000
tons. It yvas supplied in 1913 to practically ail
the navies of Europe, as well as to those of South
America, and never sold during the year below
$1.43 per long ton f. o. b. Cardiff, while the average
for the 12 months yvas $5. The average for
all classes of large coal, including Admiralties,
was $4.21; for small, $2.55; for black veins, f. o. b.
Newport, $4.41.
Shipments of coal by water from South Wales
ports exceeded 40,000,000 tons; those from the two
ports in the Cardiff consular distiict were as follows:
Coal From From
and products. Cardiff. Newport.
Long tons. Long tons.
Foreign 19,325,17S 4,654,781
Coastwise 2,994,305 710,382
Bunker 3,245,294 711,760
Coke 105.302 29,340
Briquets 669,933 130,750
Total 26,340,012 6,22 7,013
France, exclusive of its colonies, bought, in 1913,
13.000,000 long tons of coal from Great Britain,
of which a little more than half was sent from
South Wales ports. France is a customer not
only for best Admiralties for tbe navy, but also
for large quantities of Monmouthshire coals for
the state railways. Tbe contract for such railway
coals, for delivery during 1914, amounting to
some 750,000 tons at a price just under $4, was
closed at the beginning of the current year.
Outside of these state purchases there is much
buying by French importers for domestic use in
the coast towns on the western and southern shores
and for the respective distributing areas of those
communities. To meet such demands, mixtures
of different coals are made at the
TIME OF LOADING
into the ship, and the f. o. b. Cardiff or Newport
prices for such mixtures during 1913 and at
present may be taken as $3.50 to $4 per long ton,
according to quality.
To Havre, for instance, 533,000 long tons were
shipped from Cardiff and Newport in 1913 at an
average freight of $1.18. A considerable proportion
of this was for domestic use, and by adding
cost and freight yve get $4.68 to 5.IS as the
c. i. f. cost at Havre, to which insurance, terminal
charges, and cost of discharge would make a
small addition.
Average freights during 1913 were higher than
ruling rates; that to Havre from Cardiff or Newport
at present writing (March, 1914) being 90