§ 42. Mr. Hector Hughesasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he is aware that if there is any further rise in costs the Ellerman shipping and other lines will have to cancel some shipbuilding orders; and what steps he is taking to enable British shipbuilding yards to maintain full-time working and production.
§ Mr. DigbyI am aware of the anxiety expressed by a number of ship owners about the rise in the cost of new merchant ship tonnage. The shipbuilding industry, which has orders for about 6 million164W gross tons of merchant shipping, representing between three and four years' work, is one of the industries whose output has been restricted by the steel plate shortage, but I hope that the industry's rate of output will improve as a result of the arrangements which are now being made for increasing its supplies of steel plate.
§ 51. Mr. Willeyasked the First Lord of the Admiralty the number of orders placed with North-East coast shipbuilders and the amount of tonnage ordered for the first six months of this year as compared with the number and amount for the corresponding period last year.
§ Mr. DigbyDuring the first six months of this year orders for 11 new merchant vessels totalling 95,000 gross tons were placed with shipbuilders on the North-East Coast; this compares with 68 vessels totalling 557,600 gross tons during the corresponding period in 1952.