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i: HH t || aa CoCCCe] IA BG soem) a to Cut rqo Handlin Conducted by H.E.STOCKER Keeping Freight Ot Barge Deck Saves Days in Time of Discharging ating on the Sacramento river and San Francisco bay, uses skids and gasoline lift trucks for loading and unloading its diesel pro- pelled barges. The principal move- ment is canned goods from Sacra- mento and Rio Vista on the Sacra- mento river to San Francisco and Oakland on San Francisco bay. On the return trip up the river sugar and general merchandise are carried. Formerly, when hand trucks were used, the barges discharged around 13,000 cases of canned goods in ap- proximately three days. Operating with skids and lift trucks 11,000 cases are handled but instead of tak- ing approximately three days to dis- charge, this cargo is discharged in Te Fay Transportation Co. oper- 44 By H. E. Stocker a. total of about three hours. Each of the two barges in the service is equipped with a gasoline operated elevator which has a plat- form 10 x 12 feet. Each elevator is installed forward of the pilot house. The elevators are used to equalize the difference in water level at all points where freight is han- dled except at Sacramento where a shipside dock elevator is used. One of the barges, the Yuasa, shown in one of the illustrations has a length of 145 feet overall, a breadth of 386 feet and has a draft load of seven feet. Her capacity is 400 tons. There are 4000 square feet of housed-in deck space on the main deck. Two hundred skids may be carried on a trip. The Yura carries ULIUCVUANNIUALUCUONUQUUULLUUELUUUUUIAUUIUNL Where conditions permit, this is an excellent example of direct transfer fiom vessel totruck by using lift truck and skids. Skids are released quick- er and more trips can be made per day. TVVQIIUADIUUUOUUAUUEEATUULAAENLATUUUUNNUDE MARINE REVIEw—March, 1931 two gasoline lift trucks of 6000 pounds capacity. The other barge, the Sonoma, carries one gasoline lift truck of the same capacity. The lift platform of each truck is 28% inches by .54 inches and has an un- derneath clearance of 11% inches. The platform rises 4%4 inches. The skids which are of steel and wood construction have a platform 48 by 54 inches. This permits load- ing from 60 to 75 cases of canned goods to a skid, depending on the size of the cases. The cases are loaded on the skids at the sealer in the cannery and remain on the skids until delivered to the warehouse at San Francisco or Oakland. The can- nery loads the skids on motor trucks, six to a truck, and carries them to the Fay Transportation Co.’s dock, where the motor trucks are unloaded by hand lift trucks. The gasoline lift trucks carried by the barges as- sist in unloading the motor trucks when not engaged in loading skids on the barges. When the loading of the barges starts, the lift trucks handle approx mately 50 tons of canned goods 1 an hour. This results in a low cost per ton handled and less damage because the cases are handled less. The Fay Transportation operation is a good example of keeping the freight off the floor of the dock and the deck of the ship. By handling the numerous cases of canned goods at the cannery, the barges can be loaded in a few hours. When dis-