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Dock Management Progress Section How Successful Dock Operators Have Met Problems of Giving Best Service to Ships Turning Basin, Wharf and Sheds—Port of Corpus Christi, Texas Corpus Christi---New Ocean Port Serves South Texas Gulf Coast N SEPT. 14, 1926, the people O of South Texas celebrated the completion of an ocean port at Corpus Christi. The new port serves an area of two-thirds of the State of Texas and particularly the farmers of the southern section. It is now possible to save the rail freight charges to Houston and Galveston for ocean shipping. Because of its facilities it is also expected that the deep seaport of Corpus Christi will compete favorably with other gulf ports in the movement of grain and other exports from Oklahoma, Kan- gas, Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska and Iowa. Northern Mexico com- prising the states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nueve Leon and others will have a convenient outlet for mining and agricultural products. It was on Sept. 22, The author, Vance Griffith, is publicity sec- retary of the Corpus Christi chamber of com- merce. He prepared this article at the request of the editor. 1922, that 66 By Vance Griffith President Harding signed the _ bill designating Corpus Christi as the site for a “safe and adequate har- bor.” Between that date and the formal opening of the port a little over a year ago, $5,000,000 have been spent in development work. A ship channel 21 miles long with an initial depth of 26 feet and a _ bot- tom width of 200 feet has been dredged across the Bay of Corpus Christi extending from the city proper to the Gulf of Mexico. Span- ning the channel at the entrance to the port is a modern bascule bridge with a 90-foot clearance and a span of 110 feet. This bridge has been especially constructed to carry the tracks of the Southern Pacific rail- road and the heavy traffic on the main highway leading northward. It is the largest structure of its kind in the South and can be raised or lowered in 45 seconds. Within this entrance is the port proper or turn- MARINE REVIEW—November, 1927 ing basin, 1000 feet wide, 3000 feet long with an area of 2,700,000 square feet all dredged to a depth of 30 feet. This great basin is completely land locked except for the ship channel entrance. The north and east sides are protected by embankments 15 feet high and 50 feet wide. Transit sheds line one side of the basin for a distance of 1224 feet. These sheds are 160 feet in width. At the present time there are five units in operation and the construc- tion of others is expected in the near ; future. They are of fireproof con- struction and are divided by thick fire walls into units 304 feet long and 160 feet wide. A 20-foot apron wharf fronts the entire development. There is also an additional 400-foot open wharf 50 feet wide. It is at this open wharf that freight is usually unloaded from ship to rail- road car and vice versa.