SHIPPING

As a natural consequence of the proximity of Denmark to the sea, and her large foreign trade which, as described in the foregoing, is due to the great importation of raw materials for the industries and agriculture, and the large exports of prepared farm produce, Denmark has a great shipping industry. If sailing ship tonnage is converted into steamship tonnage in the proportion of 3.6 to 1, Norway had in 1923 a total of 547 register tons per thousand inhabitants, Great Britain 297 and the Netherlands 228; then follows Denmark as number 4 with 177 register tons per 1,000 inhabitants.

THE MERCANTILE MARINE

In 1923 the Danish mercantile marine consisted of 1,877 ships of 20 register tons gross and over, with a total of 1,048,800 reg. ton's gross or 561,100 reg. tons net. Of this fleet 622 vessels, with 788,500 reg. tons gross, were steamers, and 67, with 129,200 reg. tons, motor ships without sails. The greater part of the steamer fleet consists of vessels which sail in the tramp trade to foreign countries or in regular service to North America, 359 being tramp steamers proper, with a total of 616,000 gross reg. tons, and 118 steamers being employed in the passenger and part cargo trade, with 126,000 gross reg. tons, including the very big steamers which are used in the regular services to North America. The 67 motor ships are for the most part large cargo boats, some of which sail in the tramp trade between foreign countries, while some of them bring home commodities and raw materials, especially for the oil industry, from the East, and sail out with cement, machinery and other industrial products exported from Denmark, as has been described in the section on

commerce.

Furthermore, the mercantile marine consisted of 699 sail-motor ships, half of which were fishing vessels, and, therefore, for the

most part small. Altogether the sail-motor ship fleet has a gross reg. tonnage of 50,200, or 33,400 tons net.

Finally, there are 489 sailing ships, with 80,900 gross reg. tons or 71,600 net reg. tons. These are thus on the average small sized ships and are principally used in the coasting trade between Danish ports.

Of small craft of less than 20 gross reg. tons there are eight or nine thousand fishing vessels besides a similar number of boats and small craft for other purposes.

SHIPPING BETWEEN DANISH PORTS

The shape of the country has naturally involved that the trade between the various parts of Denmark is carried on to a great extent by water, part of it by means of liners, some of those which serve the principal routes being large modern vessels, while part of it is carried on by means of sail and motor ships. As Copenhagen is the centre of a considerable part of the overseas import trade, liners leave that port at regular intervals for the towns in the islands and in Jutland, and most of these vessels carry both passengers and goods. This liner traffic is maintained almost exclusively by Danish ships, whereas in the coasting trade proper, which is mostly carried on by sailing ships, a considerable number of foreign vessels, especially German, Dutch and Swedish, are employed. In all, about 1.7 million tons of goods are carried annually between Danish ports, of which Danish ships carry 1.5 million tons half in steamers and half in sailing ships.

SHIPPING BETWEEN DENMARK AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES In the traffic between Denmark and other countries about 73 million tons are transported inwards and about 1% million tons outwards. About half of the incoming quantity of goods and something more than half of the outward quantity is carried in Danish ships. Naturally sailing ships play only a comparatively small part in the foreign trade, as only one-fifth of the inward bound goods are carried in these, though a comparatively larger quantity of the exports is carried in these ships. The total number of ships which arrive annually in Denmark from abroad is about 26,000, of which about half are steamers, representing about 90 per cent. of the inward bound tonnage.

DANISH SHIPS IN FOREIGN TRADE

In the purely foreign trade, i. e. from one foreign country to another, Danish ships carry about 42 million tons of goods, especially in the trade between the Baltic countries and the North Sea, timber being carried from Baltic ports to Great Britain, and coal, etc., from that country to the Baltic ports. But otherwise Danish ships sail all the seas of the world, and many Danish owners maintain regular services to European and extraEuropean ports and have permanent establishments there.

GROSS EARNINGS FROM FOREIGN SHIPPING FREIGHTS In the traffic between Denmark and other countries, and in the purely foreign trade, the Danish mercantile marine during the past few years has earned about 200 million kroner annually in gross freights, of which half came from the purely foreign trade. The figure naturally fluctuated greatly during the war and in the years immediately afterwards, but, despite all difficulties, Denmark had considerable revenues from her shipping in these years, so that it was possible to make up for the losses suffered by the fleet through confiscations and shipwrecks, especially in the dangerous North Sea trade. Having regard to the political situation of Denmark during the war, great efforts were made to maintain the exports of agricultural produce, in spite of all risks, as far as was compatible with the interruption of supplies for agriculture and the consequent reduction of the agricultural output.

The State of Denmark promotes the shipping trade in various ways: by grants to schools of navigation, by maintaining pilot, light, marking and life-saving services, by the construction and working of harbours and by grants to the same.

The light service consists of 145 light-houses, 14 light-vessels and 50 light-buoys. At 24 of the light-houses and on all the lightvessels, there are fog signalling apparatus.

The life-saving service is in active function about twenty times a year and saves annually about 150 lives. Most of the life-saving is now done by means of lifeboats. There are annually about 100 strandings round the Danish coasts and the inner Danish waters, but only about half of these involve shipwreck.

THE MONEY MARKET IN 1923

During the course of 1923 the Danish wholesale price index rose from 181 to 210, and the retail price index from 198 to 209, the index for 1914 being put at 100. Together with this increase in the price of commodities there was a rise in foreign rates of exchange, which in itself created a rise of prices, and which like the rise in prices was due to a disproportion between the means of purchase and the quantity of the commodities and services available. In accordance with an agreement with the Government the National Bank therefore summoned an >>Exchange Conference« in August, 1923, in order to discuss with it the causes of the decline in the value of the krone and the remedies against that decline. In its joint report the Conference pointed out that the decline in the purchasing power of the Danish krone was to some extent connected with the fact that the re-acquisition of the South-Jutland provinces had necessitated the mobilising of very large capital sums, and also with the fact that the blockade during the war produced disturbances in the economic condition of the country. The stock of domestic animals, the fertility of the soil, stocks of goods, etc., had declined heavily during the war, and reconstruction after the war had brought an additional heavy pressure to bear on the money market. It would certainly have been possible to meet the greater part of this expenditure out of the money received from the realisation of the live stock and stock of commodities, profits on shipping, etc., during the war, but the loss involved by the slump in 1920, which necessitated very considerable grants in support of banks which had got into difficulties, and which it was considered necessary to keep afloat owing to their importance to the national trade had, however, in conjunction with the other expenditure alluded to above, put such a heavy strain on the Danish money market, which is not particularly rich in capital, that the purchasing power of the krone gave way to some extent. The Exchange Conference, however, was of the opinion that the effect of these extraordinary circumstances could for the most part be said to have ceased and that consequently, in view of the good general economic condition of

the country, the comparatively inconsiderable amount of public indebtedness, etc., it was to be expected that the efforts now being commenced in order to stabilise or improve the value of the krone would be crowned with success. To illustrate the movement in the value of the Danish krone during 1923, it may be stated (apart from the price index already dealt with) that the average dollar rate in January, 1923, was 5.07 kroner per dollar, as compared with 3.73 kroner at par. The rate rose fairly evenly throughout the year, and for January, 1924, it was 5.94. For sterling, the parity of which is 18.16 kroner, the rate in January, 1923, was 23.51 and in January, 1924, 26.13. As will be seen, dollars rose during the year by about 17 per cent. and sterling about 11 per cent., whereas the retail price level only rose from 198 to 209, that is to say about 6 per cent.

The rise in the foreign exchanges has thus not yet made itself felt in the retail prices of the country, and to a certain degree it may probably be attributed to nervousness and to some movement of capital abroad which, however, after the measures taken or announced during the first months of 1924, have for the most part ceased. It also appears that the National Bank has been able to keep its note issue more or less unchanged, as from 443 million kroner at the end of January, 1923, it had, with the usual seasonal fluctuations, only risen to 446 million kroner at the end of January, 1924.

The measures which have been taken are the increasing of various rates in the Customs Tariff for luxury goods and also a circular letter from the National Bank, dated March 6th, 1924, advising the other financial institutions of the country of a policy of credit restriction on the part of the National Bank, and finally, the Act of March 29th, 1924, which authorises the Government to exercise a closer control over dealings in foreign currencies. The following summary illustrates the note circulation and rates of exchange during the course of the year: