The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Dock Management Progress Section How Successful Dock Operators Have Met Problems of Giving Best Service to Ships Fig. 1—Boston’s magnificent pier built at a cost of $24,000,000 in 1918 and used as an army supply base is now under the control and operation of the Boston Tidewater Terminal, Inc.—More than a mile of berthing space is available How Losses Were Changed Into Profits Boston's Army Base Dock a White Elephant Put to Work NE of the monuments of the recent war is a mammoth con- crete pier extending 4500 feet out into the Boston harbor. This pier known as the Army Supply Base pier was regarded at the close of the war as a tremendous asset to the port of Boston, and great things were expected of it. . Money had not been spared in its con- struction. At first no obstacles ap- peared to interfere with the rapid and efficient handling of large quan- tities of freight. However, it was _soon discovered that the operation of modern efficient handling equip- ment is dependent upon a supply of material to be handled. Here was a great modern pier, one of the finest in the world, but without freight it was a veritable white elephant. The war department did not wish to lose control, and all through 1920 and into 1921 the pier was’ used only for the storage of army sup- plies and for docking army and navy and other government vessels. Dur- ing this time one side of the pier was used for mooring some 50 or BY H. R. SIMONDS more idle vessels, another war monu- ment and another white elephant Not a Miracle—Merely Private Operation Nothing could be more eloquent in emphasizing the superiority of private initiative and control over attempted government operation of commercial enterprises than this story of the magnificent army supply base pier in Boston. A desultory attempt was made to operate this $24,000,000 property under shipping board control but government red tape and lack of individual responsibility and _ in- terest caused heavy losses. In a period of only one year under private management a great vol- ume of business has been built up—and at a profit. Efficiency and enterprise—that is what gov- ernment operation lacks. which as yet has not been put to work. The pier itself after many negotia- tions is now finally in the hands 339 of a private operating company, and red ink has disappeared from the management ledger. Because of the size of the project and the fact that its present business has been com- pletely built up in the space of a little over one year, the methods of securing and handling freight are of particular interest. Now Under Private Management In 1921 the army department turned the pier over to the shipping board under whose management commercial freight was solicited. The red tape of the shipping board, however, con- trived to entangle the freight. De- lays occurred which tended to turn shippers to other piers. Then too, shipping companies not operating ship- ping board vessels felt that they would be discriminated against if they used a shipping board property. For one reason or another the ven- ture was not profitable, and the pier was used at only a small part of its eapacity. From 1921 to late in 1923 its operation would have shown a heavy loss had books been kept