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Va five berths for the care and repair of _its boats and barges. In the coal and coke trade, six parges of 850 net tons each, are towed, later returning empty. In the down-river trade, 15 barges of 850 net tons are towed downstream and usual- ly six barges, each loaded with 500 tons of sulphur are towed upstream, the remainder of the barges return- ing empty. The most recent interest to enter the inland waterways transportation business on the Ohio and Mississippi river between Cincinnati and New Or- leans is the Mississippi Valley Barge line which was authorized by the In- terstate commerce commission July 24, 1930 to operate a fleet of barges on the above rivers. This company, which is a $3,000,000 concern, pro- poses to establish through barge-rail and rail-barge-rail routes by way of Cincinnati for points’ ordinarily served only by all-rail routes. Four new towboats of a distinctly advanced design, the OHI0, TENNES- ser, INDIANA, and LOUISIANA were re- cently built for this company. These vessels are all steel, tunnel stern, twin screw type and are identical in hull particulars and general layout. The principal dimensions are: Length molded 200 feet, beam molded 40 feet, depth molded 10 feet 6 inches. The OuI0 and TENNESSEE are both powered with two 3-cylinder vertical unaflow condensing engines with a total horse- power in both engines of 2000. The INDIANA, and LOovuIsIANa are fitted with turbine electric drive. Steam is supplied by two oil-fired watertube boilers. These boats are illustrated and described in the April issue of Marine Revirw. The barges which are operated in conjunction with these towboats are of new design. They have an over- all length of 109 feet, width of 21 feet but with fairly high deckhouse. Each barge has a hold volume of 9300 cubic feet and an additional 9700 cubic feet in the deckhouse. The barge ends are wedge shaped for close grouping of a large number in one tow. On fast runs ten barges are towed, but where speed is not the main consideration, from 20 to 30 barges can be towed. Fifty barges of this type have been built for the company. The Mississippi Valley Barge line began operation of a weekly service between Cincinnati and New Orleans in the fall of 1930. Eight lines owning and operating three or more boats maintain services on the Hudson river or New York State barge canal or both. All but two of these lines operate under con- tract only. The two other common Carrier lines do not operate through the canal. The Cornell Steamboat €0:; the largest of the carriers operating on these waterways, runs on contract on Two log towing boats used by the Western Transportation Co. for towing logs on the Columbia river both the canal and river. The Stand- ard Transportation Co., another con- tract carrier, also operates on both. The Hedger Transportation Co., Inc., operates on both in contract service. Of the other five lines, the Cowles Towing Co., the Erie and St. Lawrence Corp., and the Marine Transit Corp. operate on the canal only; the other two lines, the Hudson River Navigation Corp. and the Hudson River Day Line run only on the river. The Hudson River Navigation Corp. operates a freight and passenger serv- ice on the Hudson river between New York, Albany and Troy, a distance of approximately 160 miles. The line op- erates from about the middle of March until Dee. 1. During the winter sea- son, freight is shipped to Poughkeep- sie, and there transferred by motor truck the remainder of the distance. The vessels of the company are op- erated by night, the leaving hour at the southern terminal being 6 p. m. and the northern terminal, 9 p. m. The hour of arrival at either end of the line is between 6 a. m. and 7 a. m. The type of cargo carried consists mainly of package freight and the automobiles of summer _ tourists. Freight tonnage averages approxi- mately 175.000 tons annually. The number of passengers carried ay- erages about 200,000 per year, and the number of automobiles carried is about 20,000 annually. The floating equipment of the Hud- son River Navigation Corp. consists of four large steel passenger and freight vessels, the BERKSHIRE, the Fort ORANGE, the RENSSELAER, and the TrogaAN,; also two smaller freight and automobile carriers, the GREEN ISLAND and the ConHogs, built of wood. The company also operates the Hudson River Steamboat Co. between New York, West Point, Newburgh, Pough- keepsie and other central Hudson river points. Two steamers are op- erated in this service, the steel hull vessels POUGHKEEPSIE and the BEN- JAMIN B. OpeLtLt. The average annual freight moved by these vessels is ap- proximately 85,000 tons. Particulars of seven other lines con- ducting services on the Hudson river or New York State Barge canal or both are given in Table I on Page 25. The type of boats operating on the rivers and waterways of the Atlantic . coast, Gulf and Florida is determined by the channel dimensions of the waterways upon which they are op- erated. These range from small mo- tor boats of 30 feet and less in length to large steamboats 300 feet in length. One of the steamers of the Sacramento Navigation Co. which operates between San Francisco and Sacramento on the Sacramento river MARINE REVIEwW—May, 1931 27