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With regard to the size of ocean-going steamers for which accommodation should be provided, it must be borne in mind that for vessels on the Pacific run, Hongkong is their terminal Port and for vessels arriving from Suez, they travel as far as Japan and do not generally enter or clear Hongkong on their outward or homeward journeys with full cargoes, and are therefore not loaded down to their maximum draught.
CONSIDERATION OF THE PROBABLE INCREASE IN THE DRAUGHT OF
OCEAN-GOING STEAMERS.
As Hongkong is served both by the Suez and Panama Canals, it is necessary to consider carefully their present depths and projected improvements, and also the existing and projected shipping accommodation at Shanghai, Japan and at Ports on the Pacific coast of Canada and America, bearing in mind the statement made in the preceding paragraph,
Suez and Panama Canals.
In a communication to the International Congress of Navigation held in London in July, 1923, Ed. Quellennec, Esq., Technical Adviser to the Suez Canal Co., states with regard to the draft of ships successively allowed in the past and foreseen for the future in the Suez Canal:-
"The Statistics of the Company show that while up to 1906 when ships with a draft of 27 feet were allowed to transit, shipping was kept waiting for Canal Improvements; this is no longer the case since then and at present the number of ships ready to make full use of the facilities offered (viz. :- 31 feet draught) is practically negligible.
During 1921 and 1922, when the draught allowed was increased from 29 feet to 30 and to 31 feet respectively, only 6 and 5 ships during these years, respectively, made use of the extra depths; i.e. one per thousand of the total number of passages.
Generally speaking, the number of ships of great draught is still very small; for instance, in 1922 ships with a draught above 28 feet made only 113 passages or 2.6% of the total number of passages. Nevertheless the Suez Canal Co. keeps on improving the canal without interruption: A new increase of one foot, bringing up to 32 feet the authorized draught, is expected for the beginning of 1924 and after completion of the 1912 programme, interrupted by the Great War, that is in 1925 the transit of ships with a draught of 33 feet might be allowed.
This much for the near future: Then the 1921 programme, the works of which have already been started by the Company, will allow when com- pleted the increase of the authorized draught to 35 feet and even to 36 feet if needed.
The Suez Canal will then be in a better position than the Panama Canal since 36 feet in the former is nearly equivalent to 37 feet in the latter, where ships travelling in fresh water sink deeper than in salt water. Moreover a draught of more than 37 feet would leave insufficient margin between 37 feet and 40 feet the total depth in the Panama Canal".
With regard to the tonnage statistics of the Suez Canal Co. he states:-
"On the whole, ships measuring less than 6,000 tons gross are decreasing in number while those above 6,000 tons are increasing but the increase is practically negligible for merchant ships above 12,000 tons.
The number of ships of very large tonnage is still very limited; in 1922 only 5 ships measuring more than 16,000 tons have transited the Suez Canal, one of them being the British man-of-war Renown. Considering that the Canal can receive ships with a draught of 31 feet, that in 1922 no ships made use of this facility; that also in 1922 there were only 29 pass- ages with more than 29 feet draught and 113 passages with more than 28 feet draught, it is evident that the Suez Canal to-day is in no way a limita- tion to the expansion of shipbuilding".