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Bids Asked on Three New Ocean Mail Contracts W. Irving Glover, assistant post- master general, announced on July ‘94 that bids for mail contracts for three new ocean routes would be opened at noon on Aug. 17 at his of- fice. The awards would require suc- cessful bidders to construct at least six and possibly 14 or more new cargo vessels and have 10 to 19 or more reconditioning in American shipyards within 10 years. The proj- ect affects lines operating out of New York and other middle Atlantic ports, out of East Gulf ports and out of Seattle, with the contracts to run 10 years beginning Oct. 10. The first route runs from New York to Rotterdam, from Baltimore by Newport News and Norfolk to Rotterdam, and from New York to Antwerp, and from Baltimore by Newport News and Norfolk to Ant- werp, or from Boston or Philadelphia to Rotterdam or Antwerp. The sched- ule provides for not less than 72 nor more than 108 trips a year. The second route will run from Mobile or other east Gulf ports to Havre, Liverpool, Manchester, Glas- . gow and Belfast, from Mobile or oth- er east Gulf ports to Havre, London, Antwerp, Aberdeen and intermediate British ports between London and Aberdeen, and from Mobile to Rot- terdam, Bremen and Hamburg. This sehedule requires not less than 52 nor more than 72 trips a year. The third route will operate from Seattle to Puerto Colombia, Colom- bia, and Kingston, Jamaica, on a schedule of not less than 12 nor more than 24 trips a year. Discuss Disposition of United States Lines After numerous conferences held between shipping board officials, rep- resentatives of the United States lines, representatives of the Interna- tional Mercantile Marine Co.-Roose- velt Steamship Co. group and other eastern ship operators a new conjec- ture regarding the disposition of the United States lines was brought out on July 21 when Kenneth D. Dawson, prominent Pacific coast shipping man, entered negotiations with the board. The shipping board is making every effort to give the Chapman in- terests an opportunity to continue in the shipping field and favors an ar- rangement whereby they could ac- quire full ownership of the five ves- sels comprising the American Mer- chant lines, leaving the United States lines unit of the fleet to be trans- ferred to other interests. The Chap- man interests already have paid to the government $5,000,000 on the $16,032,000 contract price for the 56 11 vessels of the combined services, representing more than the amount agreed upon for acquisition of the American Merchant lines. In addi- tion they have turned over about $2,500,000 to the New York Ship- puilding Co., Camden, N. J., as part of their 25 per cent payment for the construction of the two 30,000-ton liners. With the present owners standing ready to forfeit this pay- ment, shipping board members feel they should be given clear title to the American Merchant lines. This fleet, operating between New York and London, has been the only unit in the Chapman group to show profi- able operation, and existing favor- able prospects for continued profit- able operation would give the Chap- man interests a chance to recoup some of their heavy losses. - Awarded Rescue Medal | Captain Giles C. Stedman, master of the steamship AMERICAN MERCHANT, of the American Merchant lines, a subsidiary of the United States lines, on July 8 was presented with a treas- ury department medal for his part in rescuing the crew of the foundering Italian steamship IGNAz10 FLoRiIo in a North Atlantic storm in October, 1925. The presentation was made in New York by Capt. Randolph Ridgely, Jr., United States coast guard. Board Defines Attitude On Operation of Lines The shipping board on June 25 ex-- pressed its attitude in connection with the future operations of lines sold by it to American citizens, by stating that it is fully disposed to exercise its authority and discretion given under Sec. 1 of the Merchant Marine act 1920, and as reaffirmed by Sec. 1 of the Act of 1928, to de- velop and encourage an _ efficient, privately-owned American merchant marine. The broad power granted to the board will be exercised in a liberal manner, and no matter what the temporary difficulty may be in the maintenance and operation of established services, the board pro- poses to keep the lines in operation by the use of all the legal power within command. It should be clearly understood that in making limited extension of obligations, the board in no way re- flects on the credit position of any: Shipowner or operator, but is actu- ated solely by a desire to be helpful in these troublesome times, and the periods of extension are so arranged as to bring the situation to the at- tention of the board at frequent in- ‘tervals, that the board may at the time be prepared to decide what fur- ther measures may be necessary to encourage and preserve the opera- tion of all American lines. MARINE REviEw—August, 1931 Adopt Report to Reduce Waterfront Fires The National Fire Protection asso. ciation at its thirty-fifth annual meet- ing held in Toronto, May 11-14, adopt. ed the report of its committee on piers and wharves among twenty odd tech- nical committee reports which were discussed and acted upon. The report of the committee on piers and wharves was of particular interest because of the series of dis- astrous pier fires of the past few years and the inherent difficulties of applying to this class of property the standards of fire-resistive construc- tion and fire protection that are em- ployed for other classes of industrial property. The former standards of the association called for full fire-re- sistive or heavy timber construction, with all structural steel fireproofed. The action of the meeting, a radical departure from previous policy, was to recognize the use of bare structural steel under automatic sprinkler pro- tection, subject to restrictions of height and area. Discussion centered on the problem of existing piers with wooden sub- structure and pier deck. Fires origi- nating in such under deck spaces. inac- cessible for fire fighting operations, have been the principal cause of the large losses in pier fires. Automatic sprinklers are felt by fire protection engineers to be the solution for the problem, but objections have been made by pier authorities on account of difficulties of maintenance owing to corrosion and the possibility of theft of sprinkler heads. The recent decision of New Orleans to install sprinklers under her wharves and the favorable experience of Seattle, ‘where sprinklers have been successfully maintained under one pier for 20 years, were the de- ciding factors in the vote of the asso- ciation to recommend automatic sprinklers for the protection of the under deck space of existing piers. In accordance with the usual N. F. P. A. policy of consulting with the interests concernéd before taking ac- tion, this vote was not taken until Billings Wilson, of the Port of New York Authority, representing the American Association of Power Au- thorities, had agreed to the proposed wording. New Orleans PortExpansion During the past 12 months, 19 steamship lines entering New Orleans either, have inaugurated entirely new service, have added more vessels to old service, or have done both, the Foreign Trade bureau of the New Orleans Association of Commerce re- ports after a careful study of port activities. Two new barge lines have also been established during the period.