§ 132. Major Digbyasked the Minister of War Transport, with a view to increasing the imports of fresh fruit, what steps are being taken to encourage the building of refrigerating ships.
§ Mr. BarnesNo special steps are necessary to encourage the building of refrigerated ships by United Kingdom owners. There are at present under construction or on order for United Kingdom owners 54 refrigerated ships with a total refrigerated capacity of about 18½ million cubic feet; of these, over 20 should be completed this year. This total excludes ships having only a small amount of refrigerated space, i.e., less than 40,000 cubic feet. I must add that notwithstanding the high priority given to this work within the shipyards there will be difficulty in obtaining the necessary plumbers and joiners to complete the refrigerating installations on the ships under construction.