• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

CONSUMPTION OF COAL, AUSTRIA, BY CONSUMER GROUPS 1937-1946-1947 (ALL FIGURES IN METRIC TONS, ON A HARD COAL BASIS)* = 200,000 METRIC TONS TOTAL CONSUMPTION 1937 1946 1947 = 1937 5,030,749 3,603,044 5,030,749 = 1946 (4,950,428)** (3,303,604)** (4,578,813)** = 1947 * LIGNITE IS FIGURED AT A 2 TO I BASIS * * NOT INCLUDING DOMESTIC PRODUCTION OF COKE FIGURE XX Austria's Energy Resources delivers power to local users is located on the smaller streams of central and western Austria, where winter freezes and late summer dwindling of the General water flow curtail power generation severely. This necessitates a great Reliable supplies of coal, oil, and electricity are vital factors in Austria's reliance on the thermal generation plants of central and eastern Austria economic existence. Without coal, the steel mills of Linz and Donawitz if sufficient supplementary power is to be made available. Many of the would be useless, over two-thirds of the Austrian railroads would be in­ reservoir-type plants which are capable of supplying a more uniform flow operative, steam-driven factory and mining machinery would stop, the of electricity throughout the year were built by the Germans in western artificial gas works of Vienna and other cities would be unable to supply Austria to supply the needs of southern and south-western Germany. They heating and cooking gas to their consumers, electric power would be cut were connected to the German grid and not to the Austrian distribution below the subsistance level during the winter months, and the majority of system. Since the separation of Austria from Germany, progress has been made Austrian homes would remain unheated. toward incorporation of these plants into the Austrian economy, but by the Without oil, the vital highway transport, which is largely diesel-powered, end of 1947 their output was still being largely exported beyond Austria's would cease, and river transport would be reduced approximately 50%. borders. Without electricity, which in Austria is mostly derived from water power, nearly one-third of the railroads would be without motive power, practically Coal the entire industrial plant of Austria would shut down, and almost the entire The Situation in 1945 nation would be without household current. Before the war Austria's chief coal needs were for house heating, thermal Since the end of World War II, Austria has been dependent upon more generation of electricity, steam locomotive operation, generation of house­ or less unreliable supplies of all three sources of energy. The Silesian and hold gas, and generation of steam for the direct operation of industrial Czechoslovakian coal mines, which before the war supplied nearly 75% of all machinery. During their occupation the Germans expanded the Austrian coal imported to Austria, were cut off because of the ruined state of Polish industrial plant, thereby increasing the load on the thermal plants, which was and Austrian transport. The Ruhr mines, which supplied the balance of already great during the winter months. In addition, a large steel mill was imports before the war were unable, during 1945, to supply even the prewar constructed at Linz with six blast furnaces and eight coking batteries. In amounts. Austria's own production revived quickly, but even at the high conjunction with this plant, (formerly the Hermann Goring Werke, now the level reached in 1947 it was only able, on a ton for ton basis, to supply about United Austrian Iron and Steel Works) a 175-megawatt thermal power station 50% of the total needs of the nation. However, the domestic supply is com­ (known as Htitte Linz) was built. These two installations alone increased posed almost entirely of various grades of lignite; only an optimum of 240,000 Austria's coal needs considerably. The cokeries have a normal capacity for tons a year of hard coal are produced in Austria. Lignite, of course, is unsatis­ utilization of about 2,000,000 tons annually, and together with other new- factory for many of the uses which the Austrian economy has for coal. installations would bring the demand for coal, in terms of hard coal Austria's only oil fields at Zistersdorf, Lower Austria were developed by equivalent, to slightly over 7,500,000 tons per year, were the nation's the Germans to a point where they are capable of supplying all of Austria's industry to function at a normal rate. domestic needs and providing a surplus for export. But under Soviet control, As stated above, Austria's coal mines produce only a fraction of her coal only a little more than half of the domestic needs have been made available requirements (see St. A. Table 47). This production is almost entirely in the to the Austrian economy, with the result that Austria has had to turn to form of lignite, or brown coal, which is adequate for domestic heating and imports for the satisfaction of a large portion of her demand for petroleum to some extent for steam generation purposes, but is useless for coking or products since the war. for combustion requiring extremely high temperatures. At the end of the Austria has a large potential of hydro-electricity, but less than one-fifth war, therefore, one of Austria's most pressing needs was the resumption of this potential has as yet been developed. Most of the development which of reliable coal imports. Before, and to a certain extent during the war, 81 remained so until late in 1947, when new agreements with the Polish govern­ DOMESTI c COAL PRODUCTION AND IMPORTS, ment enabled the Austrian government once again to import coal from the AAUSTRIA 1946 AND 1947 East. IN TEN TinIOUSAN D TONS, IN HARD COAL EQUIVALENT Deliveries from the Ruhr were small and uncertain during most of the i : )4€ » second half of 1945; the mines themselves had suffered heavy damage during 52 r A LAC. IQ the war and the labor supply was at first inadequate for full scale operation. 50 In addition, the Austrian and German transport systems were in very poor 48 condition, so that even the coal which was made available by the US and 46 UK military governments of Western Germany could not all be shipped 44 IM POF from the pitheads without frequent and serious delays. 42 TS —- — o<ME STIC PF 1001 JCTI ON 40 > Every phase of Austrian recovery hinged on the resumption of coal im­ ports. The inactivity of the Austrian economy at the close of hostilities 38 A / 36 \ / and during the months following, was due more to the failure of the coal supply / > 34 than to any other single factor. The effect of improved coal supplies in 1947 / upon Austrian industrial activity will be discussed below. 32 1 30 Developments to the end of 1947 28 Ih POf IT i iVFI LAfi. r if i^7 I 26 / During the second half of 1945, monthly availabilities to the Austrian 24 j I economy of coal from combined domestic and import sources averaged 22 / f only about 170,000 tons HCE. This amount would have been enough to 20 J operate the steel mills and supply the occupation forces, if distributed solely 18 / V / \ / \ > V / to those users, or to meet the demands of industry other than the steel indu­ 'R0( IUC1 ION AVE RAGE IS 29 16 •A\ /- \ /- V *». \4/ ' stry with enough left over to operate the thermal power plants. Spread 14 J ' PF ODL cnqN I VER AGt/ 19 37 throughout the entire economy, however, it fell far short of satisfying any / ;T" 12 — ^ single demand. Allotments to the "critical" industries, such as the gas and ^M m 10 ^^ power plants barely, enabled them to supply minimum subsistence quantities ^> s JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC of their services, while industry and the railroads operated on tremendously SOURCE : U.S. ALLIED COMMISSION AUSTRIA reduced schedules. Domestic heating was completely inadequate throughout the winter of 1945/46. Figure 30 During 1946 supplies improved somewhat, largely through the efforts of the US and British governments in Germany. Average consumption these imports had come from the PoUsh-SUesian mines and from Czecho­ of coal in Austria rose to approximately 300,000 tons HCE per month, 87% slovakia, the Ruhr supplying the balance of about 25% (see St. A. Table 46). of the imports of 162,000 tons per month coming from Western Germany. After the war, however, the Austrian government found it impossible to This represented a total consumption for the year of 3,603,000 metric resume purchases of coal from the Eastern European sources, partly because tons (see Fig. XX and St. A. Table 44) which were allocated to the various of the political differences between Eastern and Western Europe, but mainly consumer groups as follows: because of the poor financial condition of the Austrian government at the Industry, including the blast furnaces at Linz and Donawitz, received time. The German mines became the only alternative major source, and slightly over 1 million tons, or 29.6% of the total. Because of innumerable 82 other factors affecting industrial production, chiefly shortages of raw materials other than coal, and unrepaired damage to production machinery, it is not RELATION OF COAL IMPORTS TO EXPORTS, possible to estimate the amount of coal that would have been consumed by FILLED ORDERS FOR RAILROAD FREIGHT CARS, industry, had unlimited stocks been available, but a rough comparison is AUSTRIA possible by pointing out that in 1937, before the industrial expansion under German rule, industry consumed over 2,000,000 tons, or 37.4% of the total EXPRESSED !N PERCENT OF APRIL 1947-100% 1947 consumption for that year.

Load more

  39

Copy Link