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

Modern Terminal Operation Reduces Cost at Galveston By W. E. Ridgeway cific Co. is located at the western end of the well developed portion of Galveston’s fine water front, and the facilities include berthing space for five steamers, such berths being available at the north end of the pier and the slips located on the east and west sides of the pier. Tracks serving these docks, as well as their arrangement, have produced one of the finest terminals in the country. The complete’ railroad switch track service permits the gpot- ting of approximately 125 cars at a time, which indicates with what dis- patch cargo can be handled. The cargo pier is constructed with eight bays, each bay being served by two or more tracks, upon which the railroad cars are spotted and freight is thereafter handled direct from ship to car by electric lift trucks and skids, thus avoiding much rehandling neces- sary when the ordinary hand trucks are used. The platforms of the bays are on a. level with the freight cars. Prior to the arrival of each steam- er, the agency staff at the pier, re- ceives a stowage list of the incoming ship which reveals the character, quantity, location and interior des- tination of the cargo and with this in- formation in hand, preparation for the immediate unloading of freight upon arrival and the loading into cars can be expedited to avoid any delay following ship’s arrival in port. The advance receipt of this information Te property of the Southern Pa- The author, W. E. Ridgeway, is as: sistant manager of the Southern Pacific Steamship Lines Galveston Terminals. 46 also permits the spotting of railroad cars in bays approximately opposite hatch or cargo port from which the freight is to be removed, enabling an orderly and systematic handling dis- patch of cargo. A large part of the carload ship- ments especially those in the upper and lower ’tweendecks are loaded on skids in the ship and are carried to cars by electric lift trucks. Less than carload shipments are discharged from the ship to a convenient position on the dock as near to the side port as possible and there sorted to skids which are spotted in this area. Sep- _ arate skids are provided for each des- tination. When a skid is loaded it is taken to the proper car by one of the electric lift trucks. This operation has made_ possible cutting down the trucking distances of hand trucks and has resulted in in- creased tons per man hour. Good Planning and Equipment There are a total of 12 lift trucks and 120 skids on the terminal. Each lift truck has a capacity of five tons. The skids used in this operation are heavy wooden platforms set into an iron frame with the platform just high enough from the pier floor to permit running one of the electric lift trucks under it. at the MARINE REVIEW—March, 1931 Package Cargo Transferred From Ship to Rails Southern Galveston, Cargo Handling Costs Have The use of electric lift trucks has provided greater expedition in the forwarding of interior freight as the Morgan line record at Galveston shows that all freight is released to railroads approximately three hours earlier than prior to introduction of electric trucks. One skid will hold a number of ordinary hand truck loads of freight. This method of handling has been found very efficient both jn time saving and in lower cost of Op- eration. In another section of the pier, not far from the unloading runways, is the space set aside for recondition. ing any packages of freight that may have been damaged in transit. Brok- en packing cases are recoopered be- fore being loaded into cars for ship. ment to their ultimate destinations. Most of the cargo arriving from the East is finished merchandise being sent out through the Southwestern areas to jobbers and retailers. The commodities cover a wide range of merchandise and the values run into millions of dollars during the course of a year. Arrangements for handling east- bound cargo are equally efficient. A ship to be loaded for New York or Baltimore is berthed in the slip at the east side of the pier, where two vessels at a time may be loaded if oc- casion requires. This section of the pier has ample cargo room as well as a double rail- road track along the west side. Much of the eastbound cargo is moved di- rectly from the freight cars into the ship on electric trucks. Eastbound cargo is also of a wide variety of commodities, but much of it is made up of raw materials. Pacific Steamship Lines, By Use of Skids and Trucks Been Reduced