^xREAL ESTATE
Mmm
AND
NEW YORK, AUGUST 5, 1916
INDUSTRIAL TERMINALS FOR PORT OF NEW YORK
PRESENT MANY COMPLEX PROBLEMS
By WILLARD REED MESSENGER
HE subject of railway, steamship,
warehouse ancl industrial terminals
can hardly be considered without first
appreciating the territory they serve.
The total wealth of all forms in the
United States amounts to $200,000,000,-
000, More than one-half of this sum is
represented Ijy tlie 3,000,000 square miles
of real estate and its improvements. Of
this, farms and farm property amount to
$40,000,000,000, and farm products amount
annually to over $20,000,000,000. .\lmost
$25,000,000,000 is invested in manufactur¬
ing, turning out annually $25,000,000,000
worth of manufactured products. There
is $18,000,000,000 invested in the 250,000
miles of railways in the United States,
handling 1,000.000.000 tons of freight an¬
nually. The total imports and e.xports
of the United States have reached about
$6,000,000,000 for the last year and more
than half of this passes through the port
of New York, which handles annually
over 25,000,000 tons of import and ex¬
port freight, with, however, but IS per
cent, carried in .American vessels/
Development of Trade.
Tlie movement of this vast volume of
freight for domestic trade and its move¬
ment to the seaboard for foreign trade
has been developed on the whole with
marvelous economj' and efficiency. The
United States has more railway mileage
than all of Europe and railway construc¬
tion here is cheaper. The movement of
imports and exports oversea has been
carried on with great economy, the
larger ocean liners securing their profits
chiefly from passenger and emigrant
service. In normal times over eight}'
steamship lines maintain regular service
at the port of New York, and in addition
there are twenty coastwise lines, while
small freighters and tramp vessels carry
large aggregate trafific.
The great waste, costly delays, ineffi¬
ciency and expensive handling occur not
in the long haul transportation either
by rail or water, but in tlie transfer, dis¬
tribution, storage, imperfect coordina¬
tion and articulation of tlie different car¬
riers within comparatively small termi¬
nal areas. Often the handling, transfer
or storage of merchandise for local con¬
sumption or for export within a city's
limits is more expensive than its actual
transportation for hundreds of miles.
Subject Little Understood.
This whole subject of modern terminal
facilities is little understood and its im¬
portance little appreciated in the United
.States. Probably more fallacies have
been promulgated in this country regard¬
ing transportation tban aliout any other
subject of so vital material importance.
Prof. Edwin J. Clapp, of New York Uni¬
versity, in his recent book, "The Port
of Boston." points out tbat, contrary to
a popular misconception, the port of
lioston has not been retarded in its
growth, but has been built up by the
railroads, which were anxious to have
imports and exports in order to supply
,greater freight tonnage for their roads,
and consequently steamship lines have
been .given free pier accommodations.
More than a decade ago the New Haven
iS: Hartford Railroad decided to go into
tlie export liusiness aud enga.ged for its
.South Boston Docks a line to .Antwerp
and another to Manchester, but later dis¬
continued this undertaking, feeling it did
not pay.
WILLARD REED .MESSE.XGER.
The Federal Government bas expended
upward of $1,000,000,000 in river and har¬
bor improvements and has just appro¬
priated another $40,000,000, and in the
past probably a greater percentage of
such expenditures lias been wasted than
of any similar sum ever devoted to trans¬
portation purposes. Only about $50,000,-
000 of this total has been expended for
Nev\- York, although this port handles
more than one-half of the nation's for¬
eign trade and despite the fact that the
State of New York has expended about
$200,000,000 for its canal improvements,
for which New York City is taxed about
70 per cent.
New York Receiving Its Share.
But recently through the efiforts of
Hon. Murray G. Hulbert, United States
Congressman from New York, who is the
first representative from New York City
to be on the Rivers and Harbors Com¬
mittee of the House, New York is re¬
ceiving a reasonably proportionate sum
for its port improvements. In addition
to these expenditures. New York City has
since the organization of the Dock De¬
partment in 1870, devoted $140,000,000 to
port improvements, and the city now
owns over 200 piers, including the 1.700-
foot piers, the largest in the world.
Probably a sum equal to the city's bas
lieen expended by private interests for
industrial and shipping terminals, such
as the Bush Terminal, New York Dock
Company, Brooklyn Eastern District
Terminal, .-Xmerican Dock Company.
De.gnon Terminal and the new 200-acrc
industrial development nf the Bronx
Terminal Corporation.
There are also several trunk line rail¬
roads enterin.g the port of New York
with millions of dollars invested in their
New Jersey and New York terminals
and the 2,000 lighters, car floats, grain
elevators, oil and coal barges required
to handle their enormous tonnage.
It is easily seen tbat $500,000,000 is not
an extrava.gant estimate of the total
combined expenditures made, in New
^'ork City for the develniiment nf its
port. It is unfortunate that this vast
sum has been expended by so many dif¬
ferent and independent interests: F-"^'-
eral. State, muiilciiial, railroad, sleamshiii
and private companies, and under
changing governmental administrations,
committees and commissioners, over a
long term of years and during a period
of unforeseen invention and progress.
It is little wonder that the result is
somcwiiat conglomerate and chaotic and
that when the American International
Corporation launched its world-wide pro¬
paganda for international trade, they at
mice stood face to face with the fact
that the export business of the United
States in competition with the nations of
the world could not stand the delays and
costs at present imposed by the imper¬
fect terminal conditions at New York
and also at other American ports, as well
as at foreign ports.
Only One Solution.
There appeared but one solution. The
-\nierican International Terminals Cor¬
poration was promptly organized in co¬
operation with the National City Bank
insuring financial stability and the in¬
ternational engineering firm of Stone &
Webster contributing the engineering
skill, combined with the technical term¬
inal experience of William H, Lyford,
retained as special en.gineering counsel.
W. S. Kies, vice-president of the Amer¬
ican International Corporation, and a di¬
rector of the Terminals Company, states
that a thorough study of the entire sub¬
ject of port terminals is being under¬
taken and tbat the new or.ganization
will be lietter informed to advise upon
and better equipped to execute practical,
economical and efficient terminal ini-
provements anywhere in the world, than
any organization which has hitherto ex¬
isted, and that many ports of the United
States and of other countries need such
seryice if they expect to share profitably
in international trade.
There is a vast amount of technical
study required in this physical develop¬
ment and efifective or.ganization of a port.
Some cities, such as New Orleans. San
Francisco and Montreal, have found that
municipal or state ownership or control
of the waterfront served with a belt line
railroad neutralizing all piers of all
steamship lines and operating impartial¬
ly for all railroads with a common rate
of two or three dollars per car for
switching in and out is the best solu¬
tion. New York, for instance, combines
state, municinal. railroad, steamship and
|.>rivate ownership or control and the
lightera.sfe system performs the service of
a belt line.
Methods Puzzling.
These many diverse methods of phj'si-
cal improvements and varying methods
of administration and policies of finance
have puzzled many cities eager for port
improvement when they have attempted
to harmonize the terminal interests of
the different railroads, steanisliip lines
and shippers, often with apparently con¬
flicting interests. The railroads have
little encouragement to act in harmony.
They are forbidden by the Government
to combine: they are ur.ged by shippers
to compete: they are forced by labor un¬
ions to disgorge; they are importuned
for dividends by 600,000 stockholders; a
critical public demands improved ser¬
vice: receiverships flourish and the In¬
terstate Commerce Commission issues
f^rders.
Now, a new Federal Shipping Coni-
r.iiss'n" •' Ui ' <> r-ont^d to rpffulate wa-
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