The Power Allowance Task Group was organized in September 1955 in order to consider a question raised by The Committee of American Steamship Lines concerning service power allowance "to determine whether or not this requirement (i.e. Maritime Administration 25% power allowance) is in excess of normal or standard good engineering practice." The question was acknowledged and the work of the Task Group organized, and on October 7, 1957, a reply was sent to The Committee of American Steamship Lines enclosing Stevens Institute Note #416 "The Problem of Service Power Margins," and stating the preliminary conclusions of the Task Group. The reply also indicated the intention of the Task Group to submit a questionnaire to the steamship lines seeking log abstract data on various standard ships on various trade routes. Since October 1957, the questionnaire was prepared and submitted to the steamship lines; log abstract data was obtained and analyses have been made, primarily by the Davidson Laboratory. The results of these analyses by the Davidson Laboratory form a part of this report along with the conclusions and recommendations of the Task Group.