§ 71. Captain BARNETTasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Shipping Controller what was the average rate of freight from the United States of America to Great Britain received by shipowners prior to the recent reduction of freights; what was the rate charged to merchants; whether the difference represented a trading profit to the Department; and what was the total gross profit made by the Department on British ships in all parts of the world in the period beginning with the inception of control and ending with the reduction of freights?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of SHIPPING (Colonel Lesile Wilson)The shipowners were paid hire for their vessels at Blue Book rates on a time charter basis. The vessels concerned are of various kinds ranging from fast passenger liners to tramps, and the Blue Book rates vary accordingly. The rates charged for the carriage of goods on requisitioned vessels fall broadly into two classes—the Government stores rate and the commercial rate. The former was charged on all Government shipments, including, of course, munitions, cereals, meat, sugar, and other controlled foods. The latter applied to the 39 comparatively small percentage of private cargoes which it was possible for the Government to allow to be carried. The commercial rate was a full market rate, and included in many cases a very substantial profit over hire and running expenses. This profit was applied by the Ministry in reduction of the rate charged on Government shipments, that rate being calculated on actual cost after deducting therefrom any incidental profits, including in addition to the profit on commercial homeward cargoes already referred to the estimated profit on outward cargoes. By this method the whole advantage of any available profitable employment was secured to the home consumer, and the Ministry was able to prove that in actual practice this was the only way in which the benefit of cheap requisitioned freight could be secured to the public and not intercepted by the foreign producer or by the middleman. It will be seen that under the plan followed there will be no final profit to the Ministry.