14
195
The inter-locking system of representation is shown by the following table:
From
Clyde Greenock Clyde Trust Harbour Pilotage
Authority
Dum- Clyde barton Light- Harbour houses Board Trust
Total
Clyde Navigation Trust
Greenock Harbour Trust
Licensed Pilots
Dumbarton
Board
Harbour
Port Glasgow Harbour Rothesay Harbour Trust Glasgow Town Council
Greenock Town Council
Port Glasgow
Council
Merchants House, Glasgow
Trades House, Glasgow
Chamber of Commerce,
12
Town
2 2
Glasgow
2
Chamber of Commerce,
18
Council
Greenock
Shipowners and ratepayers
Dunbarton County Council]
Stockholders
Lanarkshire
Council
Dumbarton Town Council
Renfrew Town Council
Clydebank Town Council
Independent
TOTAL
743
| | |
| | | | | | |
5
I
:
I
2
80 10 25
5
3
I
I
12
5
I
13 2
2
5
II
39
6
42
17
17
I I
20
2
I
7
I
I
2
15
196
As was to
whole and of the hinterlands which the ports respectively serve. be expected, the figures suggest that the depression of the early 1930's was felt more acutely on the Clyde and the Tyne than further south.
(52) Between 1914 and 1918, and much more notably between 1940 and 1944, conditions were of course wholly exceptional. For reasons which it is needless to detail, it was necessary in 1940 and thereafter to improvise and put into operation on the Clyde under conditions of extreme pressure many emergency expedients for handling, regardless of commercial considerations, unprecedented volumes of exceptional overseas imports and exports traffic, the import traffic being for nation-wide distribution and consumption, and the exports being derived from all parts of Great Britain. During these years invaluable experience was gained, and full use must be made of the knowledge so acquired. But we do not propose to narrate the war expedients, partly because their disclosure might be undesirable on wider grounds, but mainly because any long-term forecast which was coloured by recent events would be most misleading. We must assume that our investigation is directed to making provision for a period when the Clyde will not be required for the accommodation of service traffic under war conditions, or of a large volume of trade deliberately diverted from other ports. We desire to lay special emphasis on this point. Certain of the views urged upon us seemed to be largely dependent for their validity upon the indefinite continuance of active service conditions, and to be imperfectly related to the class and volume of traffic reasonably to be anticipated in time of peace.
(53) As a measure of comparison between the Clyde and the rest of the United Kingdom, and between the six main Clyde ports inter se, we have abstracted the following particulars from the Annual Statements of the Trade of the United Kingdom:
On a value basis the total overseas trade of the United Kingdom amounted in 1938 to £1,451,788,899, and the share of the Clyde ports was as follows:-
Value
CHARACTERISTICS AND TREND OF TRAFFIC
AT THE CLYDE PORTS
(50) To assist us in forming some estimate of the task to be performed, when normal conditions are restored, by the authority or authorities then responsible for the Clyde Ports, we have studied the trade and navigation returns for a number of selected years, both in respect of the Clyde Ports and of several other United Kingdom ports,
While exact standards of comparison would be impossible without very narrow analysis of the figures, it may be accepted for present purposes that for many years London has been easily the first of the ports of the United Kingdom, and Liverpool easily the second, the Clyde ports falling into a group which also includes such comparable ports as Hull, Bristol, Manchester The relative position of these ports has varied from time
and Newcastle.
to time; but, taking one year with another, the ratio in value of traffic between (a) London, (b) Liverpool, and (c) each member of the third group, has been roughly in the proportion of (a) 7, (b) 4-5, to (c) I or less.
(51) If attention is confined to the group of ports comparable with the Clyde, it is plain that between 1921 and 1938 the curves representing the volume of trade (whether measured in tonnage of shipping or in weight or value of exports and imports), have followed roughly parallel courses, which faith- fully mirror the vicissitudes in the general prosperity of the country as a
Glasgow
Greenock
Ardrossan
Ayr
Irvine Troon
Per cent. of U.K.
Per cent. of the
6 Ports
£60,863,438
4.2
2,514,547
.17
1,189,033
.084
93.01 3.82 I.gr
370,018
.025
.55
274,483
.019
*45
172,267
-012
-26
£65,383,786
4.5
100.00
On a tonnage basis for overseas, imports, exports and re-exports, the figures show slightly different results owing to the high weight/value ratio of the mineral traffic conducted at certain of the ports. The 1938 figures are:-
Per cent. of the
6 Ports 71.5
Glasgow Ardrossan
Ayr
Greenock Troon
Irvine
47051
9.7 7.75
4.2
Tons
3,220,546
442,786
355,691
272,991
6
184,953
40,284
4,517,251
100.00
A 5