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16 one end of the dock which is reserved for incoming freight. Deck freight is loaded on to trailers and is picked up by a tractor at the point of loading. Three or four of the trailers are coupled together to form trains and the average distance of travel of these trains from point of loading on the boat to point of unloading on the dock is 200 feet. From 30 to 40 trailers are reserved for unloading the boat. The balance of the trailers are kept at the receiving end of the dock ready to take freight directly from motor trucks. The ship elevator at the main deck level is shown in Fig. 2. Here two trail- ers loaded with freight have just been sent up from the hold and are now be- ing picked up by the tractor which will run them out to the incoming freight section of the dock. Outgoing freight is handled in a sim- ilar way in the reverse direction. A cor- ner of the outgoing freight section of the dock is shown in Fig. 1. Operations at this point are fairly continuous throughout the day with a rush period coming each afternoon from three to five. Trailers, loaded directly from motor trucks, are placed so that they can be easily picked up in train form by the tractor. Two tractors are kept busy throughout the day and a third, nor- mally held in reserve, is used during rush periods. After three o’clock in the afternoon, 19 or 20 men are used for loading under the present system. These. are distri- MARINE REVIEW buted as follows: six loaders on the dock, two tractor operators, one hooker- on on the dock, six unloaders and pilers on the main deck, one elevator man on shipboard, and three pilers in the hold. These men with two electric tractors frequently handle 150 tons of miscel- laneous freight from the trucks to final position on the boat between the hours of two and five in the afternoon. It is only when the boat is delayed in starting, due to an unusual rush of freight that the third tractor is called into service. This third tractor, how- ever, is frequently used for miscellane- ous work such as shifting the heavy gang planks from one part of the dock to another. Tractor Places Freight Details of loading are worked out so that practically all the freight on the main deck is taken directly to its proper location by the tractor train. A short wheelbase on the tractor facilitates this placing of freight on deck. Fig. 3 is a ’tween deck view about midships illus- trating how the small tractor ‘winds in and out among the various obstruc- tions, and finally backs its load just where it is wanted. Varying tides encountered along the Atlantic coast offer something of a hand- icap to any transportation system. As the difference in level between the dock and deck becomes greater, the train loads which are hauled upgrade must be short- ened, although when the grade is in the January, 1925 direction to favor the movement of freight, the train lengths are not altered. The best arrangement of levels natural- ly is to have the dock come opposite the deck at a time midway between high and low tide. This, as stated, is the case at the Eastern Steamship dock, and this means that the incline of the gangplank never exceeds one half the total differ- ence in elevation between high and low tide. The tides, however, vary, and dur- ing wet weather the gangplanks become slippery. At such times, a special gang- plank provided with a power driven end- less escalator chain is used. The trail- “ers are equipped with brackets front and back which engage the lugs of this chain as shown in Fig. 5. Fig. 4 shows the escalator carrying a heavy load of pipe up a steep incline. A hand truck may also be seen in this view using the escal- ator. When the old system of hand trucks was discarded, many of the trucks were kept to use in emergencies or to fill in as required. The great diversity in character of freight shipped from Boston means that some care must be exercised in loading not only the boat itself but the individual trailers. Paper, for instance, comes in boxes weighing about 600 pounds each, and the bulk of these is so small that the trailers could be easily overloaded. It is customary to place three such 600- pound boxes on each trailer and then to fill up the remaining space with lighter material. Cost and Design of Floating Fenders WING to the narrow stringpieces on a majority of piers in New York harbor, sufficient space is not available between shipside and pier to handle cargo drafts when a ship is hard against the pier. The diqerence in elevation between ship deck and passenger deck of the pier may also make the gang- way angle too great for safety. To afford working space for cargo drafts and for handling passengers, the ship must be breasted or fended off the pier. This is accomplished by means of fenders, of which there are three classes; permanent fenders, breasting spars, and floating fenders. Permanent fenders are generally pile clusters extending three to five feet from the pier and lashed to the pier by chain or cable. This type of fender is of ad- vantage where there is an overhead or H. W. Ordeman is chief engineer, United Terminals Inc., New York. BY H. W. ORDEMAN permanent obstruction on the pier shed that might engage the bridge or life- boats of a ship. For cargo handling, the permanent fender is not advisable as it cannot be readily moved to accom- modate ships of various lengths. The surface presented to both ship and pier is small, the pressure being exerted over a quite small portion of the pier which tends to loosen up the pier substructure in the vicinity of the permanent fender. Breasting spars are constructed of either wood or steel in lengths up to 60 feet. One end may be fastened to the pier by means of a rocker and pin so that when not in use, the spar may be secured against the side of the super- structure. Since the bearing surface on the end is small, a wood or metal wall plate is inserted between the fender and ship io distribute the pressure over several of the ship’s frames. With one end‘ permanently fastened to the pier, this type has all the disadvantages of a permanent pile fender. In breasting a distance of more than 15 feet, portable breasting spars are used for the actual breasting off. This is done so lighters may be worked between the ship and pier, the lighters ‘when in place, acting as floating fenders. Floating tenders are either single sticks or built up floats, depending on the width used, secured to the pier by lines. Up to two feet in width, single sticks are used, while the larger fenders con- sist of 12 x 124inch timbers fastened together with through bolts. They may be easily moved and when properly con- structed furnish ample bearing surface for the ship, distributing the pressure over several bents on the pier. The standard distance between pile bents being 10 feet, floating fenders should be long enough to engage at least three bents. The overall length of three bents would be 20 feet but as slack must be left in the mooring lines