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No Hand Trucks Used in Three Y Mechanical Equipment Serves Every Purpose at Lower Cost— All Kinds of Cargo Efficiently Handled Under All Conditions three years the OR the past F ssscrican South African line has © loaded all of its ships leaving New York harbor without any hand trucks being used. The equipment replacing the hand trucks consists of electrically driven lift trucks with erane attachments of various types and capacities. 5 The ship loading operations are performed at the foot of Twenty- ninth street in Brooklyn, N. Y., and the equipment generally used is an electric lift truck with crane attach- ment. The cranes are automatically clamped to the frame of the truck when elevated by the four jack lifts of the lift truck. Thus there is no tendency to tip in any direction when carrying heavy loads at the high _ speeds attainable with these trucks. The capacity of the crane attachment is 3500 pounds. For heavier loads, a crane is used which is a crane all the time, having a capacity of 6000 pounds. For bulk materials in bags, such as refined sugar, the lift trucks are used with platforms instead of with the crane attachments. The change from crane attachment to lift plat- form can be made in less than ten seconds so that a great versatility is attained for handling the different types of cargo necessary to give pro- per stowage inside the ship. The plat- forms used are large enough to hold three one-ton drafts. In the case of refined sugar, each draft will contain 20 bags and the platform load 60 bags. Equipment Suited to Conditions The trucks and attachments are ob- tained by the steamship company on a rental basis so that the selection of the type of equipment is changed as loading conditions make advisable. As only one ship per month leaves New York, renting the equipment keeps it from being idle during the three-week interval in which there are no ships to load. The loading operation is usually performed dur- ing the last week of each month and the cargo as it comes in on motor trucks daily varies considerably in quantity. Thus by renting the truck equipment, a sufficient quantity for the daily needs is ordered and there is no excess equipment at any time. The most common unit of truck equipment is the four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering, rubber tired lift truck. The crane attachments for this truck are of two types. The old- er type has a stiff leg boom which 86 By HE. Stocker UTVUNQOUGTESN ALU ELGAUUD TATE LETT Separable plat- forms used with electric trucks to transfer sugar a- cross pier from two hatches of _ dis- charging ship to three hatches of loading ship VEVUYADNOQUTOSUOATONIOVUET THT TVELUOTHL is not moved, while the newer type has a topping lift and a 6-foot téle- seopic extension on the boom. .The four-wheel steering . gives good maneuverability in restricted places on the pier which is an important feature.: As the trucks can run equally well in either direction, there is no delay when work is performed in dead end alleys. The turning radius of these trucks is a remarkable feature because it enables handling the cargo much easier in crowded quarters. The lift type of truck will turn in a 6 feet 8 inch radius, while the three ton crane truck has a turning radius of only 6 feet 6 inches. An interesting job was recently performed with these trucks in the handling of a partial cargo of refined sugar which had been brought to New York on another ship which was docked on the north side of the pier. This sugar was loaded into the M. S. City oF New York on her maiden voyage. The sugar was discharged from two hatches of one ship and landed on the lift-platforms men- UOQUUAUCNEEQQQUNNUSVUEDSH001 ALE TDAH Freight being ioad- ed is made up into drafts at the pile and carried to ship’s side by elec- tric cranes. Hand trucks have not been used on this pier for the past three years QUNLNTANS0UUUNNNNNUTUTUUAUANUUNNALAALLLY MARINE REvirw—April, 1931 tioned above. One truck per hatch handled these platforms and took them to three hatches,of the Ameri- can South African line ship. Nine hundred tons were carried across the pier by the two trucks, in . about eight hours and when this operation was finished the trucks,.as they were knocked off the sugar, picked up crane attachments and began handl- ing general cargo. Portable Crane Equipment By using portable crane equip- ment on a pier, it is possible to keep the aisles relatively clear of traffic because there are no hand trucks working on any hatches. All drafts are made up at the pile on the pier. Slings of various types are simply laid on the floor and the freight roll- ed or toppled into the slings. Thus there is no lifting required. An add- ed advantage in this method of using slings and cranes is that no extra equipment is necessary aside from that which goes inside the ship with each draft. Boxed automobiles, with the ex-