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Dock Management Progress Section How Successful Dock Operators Have Met Problems of Giving Best Service to Ships FIG. 1 Loading cement direct from ship to cars at the Tidewater Ter minal pier in Boston—The ship’s tackle alone being used—Fig 2 (at right) When the pier equipment is used in conjunction with the ship’s tackle the bags of cement can be landed on the second floor pier apron upon trailer for transfer to storage within the shed Gets Cement Cargoes by Low Handling Costs O RAPIDLY have new com- S modities followed one another as regular traffic at the Boston Tidewater Terminal pier, formerly known as the army base pier, that few Bostonians, let alone those _in- terested in shipping in other parts of the country, realize the present variety and the wide geographical territory of their origin. From northern Europe alone come pig iron, wool, wood pulp, leather, steel, toys, glass, chalk, pot- ash and cement. The last item on this list is now arriving in quantities lit- tle dreamed of even a few years ago, and fortunately the facilities for handling cement are about as favor- able as if the pier had been designed especially for this commodity. Cement is a low priced commodity and it is essential that the combined dock charges per sack be low, other- wise the dealers cannot meet compe- tition. In order to make cement BY H. R. SIMONDS handling. profitable as a dock proposi- tion the turnover must be rapid and the volume great. At present the cement in storage at the Tidewater Terminal pier averages 300,000 bags with a turnover of about once a month. Low Cost of Handling When an order comes through call- ing for direct shipment by rail, the cement sacks from the vessel’s hold are swung out with the ship’s tackle on hand trucks standing on plat- forms at the entrance of the waiting freight cars as shown in Fig. 1. From here the sacks are wheeled and piled directly in the cars. The cost of handling cement by this method direct to cars runs as low as 1.20 cents per sack. When the cement is to be stored on the upper floor of the ware- house, the pier cranes, of which there are four of 2%4-ton capacity, besides 28 numerous smaller ones, are _ used. These cranes are shown in Fig 2. The usual scheme is to swing the cement up from the hold on the deck of the vessel in slings each holding twelve bags. These slings are picked up by the pier crane and then swung on small trucks or industrial trail- ers operating on the second balcony which extends 10 or 12 feet beyond the shed. These trucks or trailer trains as the case may be, then trans- port the bags to the storage space within the warehouse. The cost of handling by this method from hold of vessel to storage pile averages about 4.00 cents a sack. The average cost from storage to truck is 2.00 cents a sack, making the total cost from hold to truck, not including stor- age charges, 6.00 cents a sack or $1.20 a ton. With the pier already busy through- out its length with the handling of