| Infanta Isabel | 16,500 tons | 2000 passengers |
| Cadiz | 10,500 tons | 1500 passengers |
| Barcelona | 10,500 tons | 1500 passengers |
| Valbanera | 10,500 tons | 1500 passengers |
| Catalina | 8,000 tons | 1000 passengers |
| Martin Sáena | 5,500 tons | 800 passengers |
| Balmes | 6,500 tons | 800 passengers |
| Conde Wifredo | 5,500 tons | 800 passengers |
| Miguel M. Pinillos | 4,500 tons | 500 passengers |
| 78,000 tons |
The Southern Pacific, originally known as the Morgan line, established a transportation service between Gulf ports and the Island of Cuba many years ago, beginning with two side-wheel walking-beam steamboats of about 800 tons dead weight. They were heavy consumers of coal and had a speed of from 9½ to 11 knots. A few years later the steamers Hutchinson and Arkansas, both side wheelers, were added to the fleet. Still later the single propeller steamers Excelsior and Chalmette, of about 2,400 tons each, were placed in the service of the Southern Pacific Line. These combined freight and passenger boats were well built and seaworthy fourteen knot steamers, of an equipment considered modern at that time. The Louisiana entered the service in 1900, but owing to an error in loading freight, it turned turtle at the docks in New Orleans and became a total loss. The Excelsior and Chalmette are still maintaining an efficient weekly service between New Orleans and Havana.
The Compagnie General Transatlantique, generally known as the French Line, connecting western France, Northern Spain and the Canary Islands, with Cuba, Porto Rico, Vera Cruz, Mexico, and the city of New Orleans, was established in 1860.
St. Nazaire on the Bay of Biscay in France is the headquarters of this line. Their steamers touch at Santander and Coruña on the north coast of Spain; at the Canary Islands, Porto Rico, Martinique, Santiago de Cuba, Havana, Vera Cruz, and New Orleans. Their fleet consists of 13 ships with a combined tonnage of 153,500 tons.
The steamship Lafayette, of 15,000 tons, is equipped for the accommodation of 1,620 passengers. The Espana, of 15,000 tons, carries 1,500 passengers; the Flanders, of 12,000 tons, carries 1,250 passengers; the Venizia, of 12,000 tons, carries 700 passengers; the Navarre, of 10,000 tons, carries 1,000 passengers; the Venezuela, of 7,000 tons, carries 500 passengers.
The Caroline, the Mississippi and the Georgie are each steamers of 13,000 tons. The Honduras is a 12,000 ton ship; the Hudson 11,000 tons; the Californie 10,500 tons, and the Virginie 10,000 tons. The seven last mentioned vessels carry cargo only.
During August, 1919, the 7,000 ton steamer Panama Canal arrived in Cuba from Japan, inaugurating a new steamship line between Japan and the United States, touching at Cuban ports. The line is known as the Osaka Shosen Kaisha, of Osaka, Japan. The fleet consists of 186 steamers plying between Japan and different parts of the world. The headquarters for this company has been established at Chicago, Illinois, owing to connections that have been made with the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad.
Steamers eastward bound from Japan will bring rice and general cargo, most of which will be consigned to the Island of Cuba, owing to the heavy consumption of that article of food in that Republic. New Orleans will be the terminus in the United States of the line. On the initial trip of the Panama Canal 50,000 sacks of rice grown in Japan were consigned to Cuban merchants in Santiago de Cuba and Cienfuegos. The return cargoes will be composed largely of cotton, taken aboard at New Orleans, and with sugar and tobacco shipped from Cuba to the Orient. This line has begun with one sailing each way per month, all steamers touching at Havana for freight and passengers.
The Customs regulations of Cuba require five sets of invoices for Havana and four for all other points; which must be written in ink, in either English or Spanish. If they are typewritten the original imprint must be included, but the others may be carbon copies. Invoices must give the names of shippers and consignees, and of vessels; marks and numbers, description of merchandise, gross and net weights by metric system, price, value, and statement of expenses incurred. If there are no expenses, that fact must be stated. Prices must be detailed, on each article, and not in bulk. Descriptions of merchandise must be detailed, telling the materials of each article and of all its parts. Descriptions of fabrics must tell the nature of the fibre, character of weave, dye, number of threads in six square millimeters, length and width of piece, weight, price, and value. All measurements must be in metric units.
At the foot of each sheet of the invoice must be a signed declaration, in Spanish, telling whether the articles are or are not products of the soil or industry of the United States. If the manufacturer or shipper is not a resident of the place where the consulate is situated, he must appoint in writing a local agent to present the invoice and the agent must write and sign a declaration concerning his appointment. Stated forms are prescribed and are furnished by consuls for manufacturers, producers, owners, sellers and shippers.