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Dock Management Progress Section How Successful Dock Operators Have Met Problems of Giving Best Service to Ships General View of Piers 1, 3 and 5, Port of Manila, P. I. Ships Get Quick Despatch at Manila UCH interest in marine ship- M ping and commercial circles in the United States and else- where has recently been aroused by the truly remarkable advancement which has been made at the Port of Manila during the short period of American sovereignty in providing adequate and up to date harbor and port facilities and in the tremendous growth of foreign shipping and com- merce. Particular interest is centered in the port’s newest ocean terminal (Pier No. 7) and in the very success- ful operation of the port facilities under the supervision and control of the Manila harbor board, recently created. Manila is the capital, shipping and trade center of the Philippine Islands. For many centuries, the port of Man- ila has served as the principal ocean gateway to the important commerce of these islands. But it was not until the beginning of the present century that any successful effort was made to provide the port with a protected harbor and ocean berthing facilities. The Spanish government had formu- lated plans for a breakwater wall to extend from the mouth of the Pasig river into Manila bay to form a har- bor for the protection of vessels dur- ing the heavy monsoons, and actual construction of the wall had begun. After the signing of the Treaty of Paris, ceding the Philippine Islands to the United States, the newly created Philippine government began immedi- BY LAWRENCE BENTON Comptroller, Manila Harbor Board ately to lay extensive plans for port improvement. By appropriations from general funds of the government and by sale of bonds, intensive port im- provement has been accomplished and the port is now provided with a well- protected deep water harbor and adequate piers for the accommodation of ocean shipping. Foreign Trade Shows Growth The growth of the foreign trade of the Philippines from 1899, the year of American occupation, up to and including 1924 is’ graphically shown in Table I taken from the 1925 year book of the Port of Manila. Tables II and III respectively, show the number of ships and their nation- ality entered and cleared in the foreign trade for 1924, 1914 and the three preceding years; and the value of the imports and exports for the year 1924 and their origin by nationality for the principal countries engaged in the trade. It will be noted by reference to these tables that though over 65 per cent of the total imports and exports for 1924 was due to trade with United States, only 22.6 per cent of the num- ber of vessels cleared and entered in the foreign trade of the Philippines was American. While the total trade in imports and exports of the United Kingdom was but 6.17 per cent of the total foreign trade of the islands, yet 37.6 per cent of the number of ships entered and cleared was British. Japan 28 was directly responsible for only 6.08 per cent of the total foreign trade, yet nearly 14 per cent of the number of vessels entered and cleared in the foreign trade was Japanese. Germany accounted for 1.96 per cent of the total trade but her shipping amounted in numbers, to 5.2 per cent, according to Table II, and furthermore, is show- ing a rapid comeback to the position of prominence it held in 1912-13. There is one outstanding and en- couraging fact however. In 1911 only 14 American vessels entered and a like number cleared in the foreign trade of the Philippines while in 1924 no less than 250 American vessels en- tered and 216 cleared. There has been a consistent and steady increase in the number of American ships entered. This figure for 1924 had not previous- ly been equalled. In clearances also there has been a steady increase in American ships and the figure for 1924 was previously exceeded only once and that was in 1920, the year of inflation. This story, however, is not con- cerned primarily with the commerce of the Philippines but rather with a more detailed account of the facilities of and management of the Port of Manila and particularly, with a des- cription of the fine new ocean termi- nal, pier No. 7 now nearly completed. With the exception of pier No. 1, which was constructed by the United States government for the accommoda- tion of its army and navy vessels, all