Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections: The Real Estate Record

Real estate record and builders' guide: [v. 98, no. 2525: Articles]: August 5, 1916

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^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- (Continued on page 189,)