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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 21, 1957)
SIXTEEN MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE Monday. January 21. 1957 Pacific Coast Shipping Prosperity Expected To Continue For Some Time San Francisco (U.PJ George Kiilion, president of American President lines, summed up in two words the outlook for Paci fic coast shipping: "Never bet ter." A United Press survey show ed that passenger and freight steamship lines serving the Paci fic were in the midst of the big gest boom since World War II. The dollar value of foreign trade in and out of West Coast ports in 1956 was up 14 per cent over the previous year. More cargo moved to the Far East on U.S. ships than ever be fore. Total tonnage more than doubled what it was when Shan ghai and other north China ports were open. Tourist Number lo Increase New liners will boost to 180, 000 the number of tourists vis iting the Pacific this year dou ble the 1956 total. Biggest problem facing the in dustry was to find more ships. One solution was to pull World War II freighters out of moth balls. Another was to convert mariner freighter hulls to liners. In the midst of a multi-million dollar liner construction program was Matson Navigation Co., whose president, Randolph Sevier, predicted that the surge rf tourists throughout the Paci fic "is just getting started." Americans definitely are on the move, with more money to spend and more leisure time in which to spend it than ever be fore in history," he said. Matson has banked its faith in the Pacific travel boom with the remodeling of the Mariposa and Monterey from mariner hulls to passenger service to the South Pacific, Australia and New Zea land. In addition, Matson's flagship Lurline will be joined on the California-Hawaii run by the Matsonia on June 11. The big two-stack liner has been undei going a $20 million reconstruc tion job in an eastern shipyard. The new Hawaiian Steamship Co. will invade the lucrative Ha waiian tourist trade on Feb. 5 when its 700-passenger Leilani makes her maiden voyage from California. The 18.000-ton Lei lani is the former warbuilt tioopship LaGuardia. The British flag Orient Line's six luxury liners will increase from six to 10 their sailings from the South Pacific to the U.S. Pacific coast. And in 1960 the fleet will be bolstered by the addition of the new 2,000 passenger liner Oriana. Japan's NYK line, seeking to regain its pre-war eminence, is building two 22.000 ton fast lux ury liners for service between Japan and San Francisco. They are expected to be ready by 1959. Biggest new ship program has been launched by American President lines which is spend ing S275 million for vessels of all types, including a supcrliner that will carry 1,400 passengers on cruises to the Orient. APL's new 14,000-ton Presi dent Hoover, the former Pana ma, will make her maiden voy age to the Orient on Feb. 11 with 200 passengers. About 40,000 of 180,000 pas senger berths available this year are on freighters, some of which offer luxury accommodations equal or superior to the liners. Travel experts agreed that a tcurist would get more for his money on freighters, but that it was possible to travel more cheaply on a liner than on the average freighter. Western Business Leaders Expect To Be Continued; Cautious Note I Oakland, Calif. !U.R) Six Western business leaders today forecast continued prosperity for the region in 1957 but add ed a word of caution. From several came warnings that inflation, war and exces sive government regulation posed threats to the booming economy of the Wes,t and the nation. The forecasts were contained in the January issue of West ward, monthly magazine pub lished by Kaiser Steel Corp. Executives quoted were T. S. Petersen, president of Standard Oil of California; Marriner S. Eccles, chairman of Utah Con struction Co.; Neil H. Jacoby, dean of the UCLA graduate school of business administra tion; F. G. Gurley. president of the Santa Fe Railroad; Harold Quinton, president of Southern California Edison Co., and Gen. Joseph T. McNarney, president of Convair Division of General Dynamics Corp. Petersen looked for another record year for Western business and industry. "Sales for the petroleum in dustry are anticipated to in crease about 4 per cent over 1956, even though large quan tities of natural gas will be avail able for the first time in the Pa cific Northwest," he said. Eccles said war clouds over the world were the major factor affecting the business outlook, especially in the steel and oil industries and in governmental expenditures. "Second only to that is the problem of preventing further inflation, which diminishes the desire to work, to save and plan for the future, and like war imperils the very existence of our capitalistic democratic so ciety." he said. UCLA's Jacoby predicted con tinued expansion, although at a somewhat slower pace than in 1956. He said the reelection of Presi dent Eisenhower makes it "more probable that the strong under lying current of business con fidence in the future will be maintained" and that it was like ly that "strong efforts will be continued to prevent price infla tion, as well as to forestall serious business setbacks." Gurley forecasts "continuing high level of business activity Prosperity nterjected in 1957," and Quinton said in creasing productivity in every sector of the industrial economy resulted in increasing power con sumption. He added that "the favorable outlook for the electric industry as a whole would not be realized if companies should be subjected to restrictive and unrealistic reg ulation." Gen. McNarney said that due to the international situation heavy government spending for defense weapons would con tinue, with most of the procure ment money for aircraft and guided missiles being spent in the West. He added that space flight presented "boundless opportun ities for future growth" once dif ficult problems are solved. Not only were more ships available for tourist travel, but more hotel space was being readied in Pacific basin coun tries. Most of this construction centered in Hawaii, mecca for more than 100,000 tourists in 1955. Other new hotel accommoda tions were planned for Austra lia, New Zealand, Bangkok and Tokyo. The cargo-carrying end of West Coast shipping industry also looked forward to smooth sailing. One big reason was U.S. eco nomic aid to Asian nations in the form of sale of surplus grain. Under the "50-50 law" one-half of the grain must be shipped in U.S. flag vessels. Not enough U.S. ships were available and as a result the Federal Maritime administration authorized the "breaking out" of 25 World War II victory ships in reserve fleets at Susuin, Calif.; Astoria, Ore., and Olympia, Wash., for charter to West Coast lines carrying the grain to the Far East. The ship shortage was largely the result of the blockade of the Suez canal. Cargoes were di verted around Africa and through the Panama canal and charter rates climbed. APL's Kiilion said the pros perity also could be credited to high levels of trade with the Far East. He predicted substan tial increases in 1957. "The densely populated coun tries of Japan and India have made steady progress in their respective economies and offer especially bright prospects for expanded trade during 1957," he said. "The Republic of the Philip pines likewise is making great progress toward a stabilized economy which augurs well for increased foreign trade." Another promising note was the labor peace on West Coast waterfronts. All the maritime unions are under contracts that will not expire for at least 18 months Several ports have launched extensive programs of recon struction and expansion in order to grab as much of the coast's shipping business as they could. 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