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28 ing and that a large fleet of vessels availed itself of the admirable docking and shipping facilities at this port last year. One of the logical sequences of the development -of the port of Philadel- phia has been an increase in the de- mand for passenger service, not only to domestic ports but between Philadel- phia and European cities. While the great modern piers built by the city are constructed for handling cargo ships it has been shown that passen- ger vessels can be accommodated and with this in mind several steamship companies have made plans for a greater number of passenger sailings. Among these is included the North German-Lloyd line which resumed its scheduled service between Phila- delphia and German cities. Recently the Munson Steamship line brought the palatial liner AMERICAN LEGION to the port and berthed her at muni- cipal pier, No. 19, North wharves. She carried three hundred and fifty passengers and remained here during the period of the Shriners’ conven- tion in which the passengers partici- pated. The city of Philadelphia has ex- pended up to the present time ap- proximately $30,000,000 and has been enabled, through this expenditure to equip the port with water terminals unmatched by any other port in the United States or in Europe. Federal Government Also Co-operates This was in addition to large sums spent by the United States govern- ment, not only in digging and main- taining a channel which required con- tinually increased depth, but in the construction of one of the largest ship- ping terminals in the world. It has not been so many years ago when ships drawing more than 22% MARINE REVIEW feet found it impossible to navigate the Delaware river without great de- lay. Craft of even this minimum draft were required to anchor and await the rising tide in order to pass over several of the shoal areas, namely Fort Mifflin bar and Cherry Island flats. Huge Trade Through Port The activity of the friends of the port always centered upon the deep- ening of the channel as one of the im- portant improvements. A 26-foot channel project was first adopted; then a 30-foot channel, and about 15 years ago a 35-foot project.‘ At this time this project is 72 per cent com- pleted, as based upon the cost and not upon the yardage. During the life of this project a total of 50,800,000 cubic yards of material have been re- moved, and it is estimated that ap- poximately 3,325,000 cubic yards of dredged material and 90,000 cubic yards of ledge rock must be removed to complete the channel to the project dimensions. This will probably take six years, but this fact has not pre- vented friends of the port to urge the beginning of work upon a 40-foot channel project. To this end a bill has been introduced in congress. The growth of the port requires such a channel. The foreign and coastwise trade in 1925 was valued at over one billion dollars. The for- eign trade included imports valued at $215,313,394, and the exports at $118,- 636,752, a total of $3338,950,146. The customs receipts were $50,726,990. Mil- lions of dollars were expended by the huge fleet of vessels which arrived and departed at the port of Philadel- phia during the calendar year. The total number of ships was 11,271, of a gross tonnage of 36,960,632, an increase of 375 vessels over the num- September, 1926 ber of the previous year, and an in- crease in tonnage of approximately two million tons. The increasing facilities have served to bring to the port a larger number of carrying lines with attending ad- vantages in service. This has been manifest particularly in the intercoastal traffic. The port has earned a repu- tation for expenditious and economical handling of ships of heavy tonnage, and this effort has not been confined to cargoes of a certain kind, but to a wide variety of cargo shipments. With- in a few days one of the largest American tankers arrived with the rec- ord shipment of 5,089,014 gallons of crude oil together with a British steamer which earried 18,976,000 pounds of cane sugar from Palo Alto, a new shipping port in Cuba, and paid approximately $350,000 duty thereon, said to be the largest ever paid on a single consignment by a local refiner. The shipment of com- pletely assembled locomotives from the port of Philadelphia to foreign ports has become routine. Water Front Values Increase The development of the port of Philadelphia has meant much to the city. Riparian property as the re- sult of the improvements made by the city has gone up by leaps and bounds. One of the obsolete wharf properties which had lain idle for years, was purchased three or four years ago for an amount near $250,000 and has recently been sold for more than one million dollars. The activity of the municipality has been followed by private enterprise. Within the past year several large organizations have established plants within the Philadelphia port district. The American Brown-Boveri Electric (Continued on Page 50) Pier No. 3 North, of the Girard Group of Municipal Piers, Port of Philadelphia