Soviet Shipping Expansion2
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SOVIET SHIPPING EXPANSION2
SUMMARY
The Soviet Union is actively expanding and upgrading its merchant fleet. It still is unable, however, to seriously compete with the more technically advanced fleets of the major Western maritime powers. One million DWT of new capacity was delivered to the merchant fleetaising overall fleet capacity5 million DWT, seventh largest in the world Planned deliveries45 will be close to theillion DWT delivered
The new ships added3 did little to meet Soviet needs for larger, technically advanced ships. Most of the new tonnage consisted of small, general-purpose dry cargo vessels and dry bulk carriers, only two of which were larger than those already in the Soviet inventory. Tankers and full container ships accounted formall percentage of total DWT delivered.4he Soviets will introduce at least eight new classes of ships, including their firsl high-speed full container ships and roll /on-roll/off vessels and their first ships of moreWT.
The Soviets are continuing to emphasize the expansion of shipping services. Five new lines were inaugurated fromone of which was fully containerized. In addition, container service was introduced on several existing routes, and the numbei of Soviet cargo lines serving US ports was raised to six.
Despite the step-up in acquisitions and emphasis on new shipping technology, fleet performance is expected to fall short of its five-year plan goalillion metric ton-mileshis is attributable to failures in achieving planned ship deliveries12 Ihal will keep fleet size at the end5 below the3 million DWT, Conversely, although shipping on long-haul routes failed to develop according to Sovietreeing more ships for shorter haulhe fleet may still attain5 goalillion tons for cargo carried.
Note: Comments and queries regarding this publication are welcomed.directedOffice of Economic ResearcK
DISCUSSION
Deliveries to the Soviet mere ha nr fleet3WT, the most6 and twice ihe amount addedt the end3 the fleetessels of more5 million DWT (see Tabic I)
Table I
Soviet Merchant Fleet Sue and Growth
fecember
o
5
Net Increase
Tonnage
Year
DWT
DWT
'
5
Soviet merchant marine remains the held forut it accounts Tor the tabulation: seventhheosition only i% of world lonnage, as shown in
of
ofui*Total
I. UDWT
m ihen...
7
Sov,ei fleet is relatively young. Scrappmgs of Liberly ships andWorld War II vintage and older are on Ihe increase, and almosl iwo-thirdsfleet is less thanears old. The fleet lags in qualitative terms,most of its tankers and dry bulk carriers are small, and it lacksfull container ships, roll/on-roll/off (ro/ro) vessels, and LASHbarge carriers.
Ship Deliveries
USSR made limited progress in up-grading its fleetevertheless, the standdown in tanker acquisitions, evident sinceas deliveries dropped to three small vessels0 DWTInears. In the dry cargo sector, emphasis was on(suitable for service as part container ships) and on dry bulk carriers.accounted. respectively, of delivered tonnage, whileships
Tabltl
Deliveries of Dry Cargoand Tankers to the Soviet Merchant Fleet
Type
Tola! Tanker OBO'
Cenerat-puipox and timber-carrying dry cargo1 Dry bulk canter Full container ship
Rcfrlgeialot ship
Iixliidi't
utlet.
Suiuble lor wr<k* ti ptii contauxt ihipi
nly one new class of full container ships. Ihe Aleksandr' Fadeyev, was introducedWT vessels, currendy the largest of their lype in the Soviet fleet, canyontainers and are no match for advanced Free World container ships, which have opacities as high
containers and speeds of up tonots. Most of Ihe new classes introduced3 were either timber carriers, designed to handle lumber in standardized packets.
or general-purpose dry cargo ships. All of the new classes are in-DWT range and. with the possible exception or the Igor Grabar' class, can
be adapted for use as part container ships Their important characteristics are listed
in the following tabulation:
Class
Panfiloitiy
poic
cargo
Zhukov
cargo
Moskvy
umber
Germany
cargo
Novikov
umber
in tin bar'
timber
he USSR istrong effort to overcome the fleet'sthe bulk carrier field. At the beginninghe largest dry bulkthe Soviet fleetapacity of0 DWT; somebulk carriersWT.3 the first SO.OOO-DWTKosmodcmyanskaya-class bulk earner was introduced, and two0 DWT eachhird0 DWT were purchased
he purchases of used ships3 were the first by the USSRn addition lo the three bulk carriers mentioned above, three large passenger ships, two small bulk carriers of0 DWT each,WT combination oil and dry bulkhe first to join the Sovietlso were bought. The dry cargo ships of more0 DWT were acquired despite the facl that they cannot be handled at Soviet ports because of draft limitations. Work to deepen existing ports is lagging, and the opening of deep water facilities isears off. Al least one Black Seaither the new port under construction at Crigoriyevka near Odessa or Novorossiysk, currently the USSR's
deepest Black Sea tankeray be further deepened. The new port of Vostochnyy being built in the Soviet Far East is scheduled to handle dry bulk carriers of upWT at ils coal-loading facility. Recent reports indicate that the port of Murmansk, which exports large amounts of phosphate rock and iron ore. also will be deepened to handle ships of this type and size. In the interim, all ships of more0 DWT added to the fleet will most likely be time-chartered to foreign shippers for use in other trades.
The used ships added to the fleet3 were acquired under charter-purchase plans. This approach is new for the USSR and permits hard currency payments to be sptead out over longer periods, in some cases up toears.
Deliveries45 will push the size of the largest Soviet merchant ship0 DWTWT. Three new classes willWT. The introduction of other classes willurning point in the qualitative improvement of the fleet as the USSR receives its first ro/ro vessels and its first high-speed container ships. The most important of the new classes are described below:
Krym
Marshal
Budyennyy Mercur Asian iika
Akademifc Tupolev
Iruhener Machulikiy
Type
Tanker Tanker Ofl/bulk/ore
Container Ro/ro and
container Ro/ro and
container Ro/ro and
container Ro/ro
Builder USSR
United Kingdom Poland1
Eait Germany USSR
Finland'
France
Finland
0
Container Capacity
235
6 16
5
7 1?
Acquisition of full container ships and ro/ro vessels with speeds exceedingnots
Hi ab",y onX
Key trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific routes.
Reel Ptffojfnance
acquisitions helped increase fleet outputmiles2illion ton-mileslthough this growthaverage annual rate called for under the five-year plan, it did notpoor performance1nd ton-mile performancehort of the timetable for the plan. In contrast, carriage by theillion tons2illion tonsline with the plan.
Reel Operations
The increase in fleet carriage3 reflects the expanded movement or bulkarticularly grain from the United States to they the tramp portion of the dry cargo fleet,oviet shipsillion tons of grain from the United Stales, comparedonss shown in Tableoviet carriage of grain cargoes fell far short of the minimum one-third share available under the US/Soviet Maritime Agreementoviet ships handled; US; and third-flag. During the first halfhese figures., respectively.
The limited role of Soviet uliip* in the grain trade results from the small siw of the dry bulk carrier fleet, whichWT at the end3 and consisted of onlyessels larger0 DWT. Most of the vessels in theillion-DWT dry cargo fleet arc general-purpose ships and timber carriers0 DWT or less. They are capable of carrying grain, but not efficiently. The Soviets' heavy reliance on chartered third-flag bulk carriers inDWTDWT range was apparently motivatedesire to avoid using their own general-purpose vessels and timber carriers. These smaller ships were used instead to earn hard currency in the carriage of Soviet exports or cross trade cargoes for foreign charterers.
ecrease in total tanket tonnage,3 the Soviet fleet carried nearly as much petroleum asoviet tankers not only moved petroleum exports from Black Sea, Baltic,ar Easlern ports in the USSR, but also were active in crossarge volume of Iraqi crude oil was hauled to Bulgaria and East Germany on Soviet account and lesser amounts were moved from the Persian Guir to Western Europe and from Indonesia to Japan. Soviel tankers chartered to non-Communist charterers earned substantial amounts of hard currency because of the high tanker rates in the world market during most of the year.
Tjblc 3
Shipments of US Grain to ihe USSR, by Curie
Carrier
Third
United States
Thou- Percent Thou- Percent Thou- of
Total Ton* Total Tow Total Tons Toial
Jun Jul
Total JanJun
186
675
39
29 49
166
198
Soviet tankers carried moreons of grain from the United States to the USSR; othersons of third party crude oil and petroleum products to the United States.
Scheduled Liner Operations
he number of scheduled cargo lines served by Soviel dry cargo ships increased fromnonsee thehe new lines serve the following routes: (I) Southeasiacificoviet Blackoviet Baltic/Westernasternovietetherlands/Belgium,oviet BalticBelgium.
Wilh the introduction of the .Southeastacific Northwest service, there are now six Soviet cargo lines serving US ports. The number of lines offering some form of container service rose fromhe new line to Belgium was containerized from the start, and ships adapted to cany containers were introduced on two existinghe Soviet BalticFrance (Atlantic) and the Soviet Baltic (Klaipeda)West Germany. Most of these new container lines constitute western links in the USSR's trans-Siberian landbridge container service between Japan and Europe.
ew Soviet cargo lines are being consideredariety of routes, all originating in Soviet Black Sea ports. These would serve the Philippines, Australia, the east coast of Soulh America, Japan, and Italian ports on the Adriatic. The new line to Italy will be fully containerized, and plans are under way for some degree of containerization on existing Black Sea services to Cuba and India.
Outlook5
19. he end of the current five-year plan, the USSR will continue to expand and upgrade its merchant marine and introduce additional shipping services. Improvements in the overall quality of the fleet will be emphasized by adding larger, more sophisticated classes ofncluding the Soviet Union's fust ships of moreWT, high-speed container ships, and ro/ro vessels. Despite these efforts, tbe Soviet fleet will continue to lag behind Western competition because of the small numbers of large, technically advanced ships it possesses. Moreover, shortfalls12 deliveries will keep fleet size short of5 goal3 million DWr.esult, ihe flecl's performance goal ofillion ton-miles most likely will not be attained. On the other hand, the fleet will probably meet5 taigclillion tons for cargo carried because planned shipments on certain longer haul routes have not materialized, freeing fleet capacity for shorter runs.
BLANK PAGE
APPENDIX
USSR: INTERNATIONAL CARGO LINES,4
Murmansk Arctic
Bailie
Baltic Baltic Baltic
Baltic
Baltic Baltic Baltic Baltic Estonian
Estonian Estonian Lithuanian Latvian
Danube
Danube Danube Danube Black Sea Black Sea Black Sea Black Sea
Black Sea
Black Sea
Opera led UniLi In ally by Soviet Steamship Companfea
Soviet Baltic/Westernastern Canada/Crea! Lakes'
Soviet Baluc/WestemS East Coail (BALT-
oviet BaJtlc/Weiternoviet Baltic/Westernew Zealand1 Sovtot Ballic/Wcjiein EuropeCaribbean. US Gulf.
and West Coast of South America (SALT-PACIFIC
W1CAS)1
Soviet Baltic/FinlandNethcriands/Belgium
Sovietest Germany /Netherlands1 Sovietelgium*
Sovietast Coast United Kingdomoviet BaiikiaJyUARoviet Baltic/Westernastern Mediteriamanoviet BalticSweden (East Coast) Sovietorway and Denmark Soviet BailieWest Germany1 Soviet Baiast Coast United Kingdom (London/ Tilbury)1
Sovietear Kasi (Lebanon.Syria. UAR. and Cyprus)
Sovieturkey
Soviet DanubeNorth Africa
Sovietreece SOVHI Blackeruan Gulf (liaol Soviet Black SeaNorth Vietnam Soviet Blackuba
Southeast AuaWeilem Europe/Soviet Black Sea
(ODESSAoviet Black Sea/MednerraneanaUern
Canida/Gicitoviet Blackail Africa/Red Sea
Company
Azov Azov Azov Azov Caspian
Far East
Fai East
Far East Far East Far East
Operated Unilaterally by Soviet Steamship Companies
Soviet Black: Sea Turkey/Greece Soviet Bjack Sea-Italy2 Soviet Blackear East Soviet Black Sea-Algeria IranalticNorth Sea (via Volga -Baltic Waterway)'
Southeastestern Canada and the United States
(STRAITSoviet Far East/Japan Western Canada and the United
States' 2
Soviet Faroutheast Asia/India' Soviet Far East/Hongoviet Far East/Japan' 2
Company
Bailie Baltic
Estonian Estonian
Latvian Latvian Latvian Latvian Latvian Black Sea Black Sea Black Sea Black Sea Far East
Route
Lines Operated Jointly by Soviet and Foreign Steamship Companies
Soviet BalticEast Coast United Kingdomoviet Baltic/Wcsicrn EuropeEast Coast of South
Americaoviet Baltic-West Germany
Baltic/Westernest Africa (UN(AFRICA)'
Sovietot Cowl United Kingdom*
Soviet BalticEaii Geimany'
Soviet BalticFrance (Atlantic)*
Sovietetherlands2
Sovietelgium2
Soviet Black Sea-Bulgaria'
Soviet Blackgypt2
Soviet Blackndia/Ceylon
Soviet Blackouthern France
Soviet pa( Bail
of Foreign Partners
British
Polish and bast German Wcit German Polish and East German Britisherman French Dutch
Egyptian Indian French Japanese
TJf-TJnmSE-ONfcV-
Original document.
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