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six thousand pound load at a good speed. The SEATRAIN is another exam- ple of the reduction of time at termi- nals by handling larger units of cargo mechanically. In the ordinary ship the units handled are small, weighing from a few pounds up to one thousand to two_ thousand pounds, depending on the trade and other conditions. The S&rATRAIN method makes a railroad carload the unit of handling. The ship has four standard gage tracks on all decks. The cars are handled between ship and shore at New Orleans and Ha- vana, the terminal ports, by large cranes working in conjunction with large elevators in the ship. From fifteen to twenty cars can be handled ‘in one hour. The total cargo is nine- ty-five cars. This large ship will earry only 1500 to 2000 tons of aver- age cargo but this cargo is handled so quickly, because it is packed in large units, that the ships can make a round voyage each week. Packing Costs Are Eliminated The SEATRAIN method has. other distinct advantages. The packing costs of the shippers are reduced, in some cases the packing costs are eliminated entirely. In shipments of - liquids, tank cars are used, and the costs of drums or other packing is eliminated. Lighter packing material is used in some cases because with reduction of handling, less damage occurs and since the cargo is not stowed in the usual manner, stowage damage is eliminated. Contrasted with the S&ATRAIN, some ships in the intercoastal trade spend over 50 per cent of their time in port. Practically none of the cargo is handled in large units. Lumber is handled piece by piece and packages of other freight are handled package by package. Over 50 per cent of the fixed expenses, insurance, interest, wages, feeding crew, and other fixed expenses, accrue while the ships are in port. The Coos Bay Lumber Co., operat- ing lumber ships between Marshfield, Oreg. and Bay Point on San Francisco bay, has been able to reduce the time of ships in port and reduce handling costs by handling the lumber in large units which units are handled by . Shore cranes. Other lines are han- dling lumber in steel strapped units and find that the number of board feet handled in an hour is increased. More transportation companies could adopt to advantage some of the methods that have reduced ter- minal time for railroads and motor trucks. Handling of freight has been reduced by increasing the size of the handling unit. A earload of common brick in steel containers can be unloaded in less than one hour, compared with two days when the brick is shipped loose. Car utilization is increased four to one because the brick moves in units * of 6000 bricks and because more tons of brick can be loaded on to a car. The handling unit has been increased from a wheelbarrow load of bricks to 6000 bricks. The Great Western railway, Eng- land, uses containers up to four tons capacity. Small containers are used also to meet the needs of building in kindred trades. This container is seven feet seven inches long, four feet four and one half inches wide and one foot six and one half inches high, with ‘a capacity of one ton ten CWT. Brick, tile, slate and stove work is handled into the upper floor of buildings in these containers and many handlings are eliminated with consequent reduction of costs and damage. <A desire to reduce the weight of containers has led to ex- periments with welded containers. The Mt. Vernon Car Co. container and the small Church container are re- cent developments. The Church con- tainer can be loaded into ordinary type box cars. The Church container can be used to handle freight under refrigeration by the use of frozen carbon dioxide. Experiments recently conducted in shipping refrigerated shipments were successful, the temperatures of the interior showing only a small drop. in a trip of 450 miles. This container, because of its size and weight, may have very good possibilities in marine transportation. Pier Contract Awarded Announcement was made on Feb. 28 by Franklin D. Mooney, president of the Atlantic, Gulf & West Indies Steamship line, that contract for the construction of the new office build- ing and pier shed of the Clyde-Mallory Steamship Co. on Pier 34, North river, had been awarded to Barbor-Comeau & Co. Inc. The price is in the neigh- borhood of $500,000 exclusive of plumbing, heating, lighting and in- terior finish. The new pier, when completed, will be the largest single deck pier on Manhattan island. It will be 1024 feet long and 165 feet wide and will provide the Clyde-Mallory lines with three piers, 34, 36 and 37, North river. The new terminal is expected to be completed by about Noy. 1. The two- story office building will be 700 feet long and 50 feet wide. Ship Makes Good Showing Analysis of the performance of the Blue Funnel motor ship DEUCALION on a voyage of 4690 miles from Suez to Penang shows the voyage was made in 11 days, 19 hours and 34 minutes, at an average speed of 16.54 knots. The displacement of the vessel during the voyage was 11,999 tons and the mean average draft 22 feet 10% inches. Total oil consumed was 435 MaRINE Review—April, 1932 tons, or 36.8 tons a day. Oil consump- tion per indicated horsepower per hou. was 0.328 pound and oil consum tion was 0.403 pound. Mechanical ef- ficiency was put at 81.5 per cent. The vessel recently made a new record be- tween Fremantle and Dunkirk at an average speed of 16.10 knots. The directors of the Todd Ship- yards Corp. at a monthly meeting declared a quarterly dividend of 50 cents per share, payable on March 21 to stockholders of record at close of business March 5. Install Exhaust Turbine The Ellerman line has recently given Messrs. Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson an order for the installa- tion of the Bauer-Wach system of ex- haust turbine in the Ciry or KHIOS and Ciry oF Beprorp. The output of the main engine of the Ciry or KHI0S before conversion was 2400 indicated horsepower, which will be raised by the addition of the exhaust turbine to 3120 total equivalent in- dicated horsepower, 990 of which will be developed by the tur- bine. The output of the propelling machinery of the Crry oF BrepForD will be raised from 3500 to 4750 indicated horsepower, by the addition of a tur- bine. These two vessels are the ninth and tenth respectively of the Ellerman line’s fleet to be converted to the Bauer-Wach system, in addition to two new ships that have been equipped with this system when built. Welding Society to Meet The annual meeting of the Ameri- can Welding society will be held on April 27 to 29 in the Engineering So- cieties building, 33 West Thirty-ninth street, New York.. Among the papers scheduled that will be of particular interest to the marine field are the following: Welding in the Construction of U. 8S. 8S. NEw ORLEANS by Capt. J. O. Gawne, U. S. N.; Experimental De- termination of Stresses in Fillet Welds by L. C. Bibber, bureau of construc- tion and repair, navy department; Welded Barge Construction by Gordon G. Holbrook, general superintendent, Federal Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co.; Welding Wrought Iron Pipe by James Ashton, A. M. Byers & Co.; Welding of Steam Pipe by a representative of United Engineers .& Constructors Inc. The Sharples Specialty Co. was re- cently awarded a contract by the navy department to supply a centrifugal oil purifier for the new United States sub- marine V-8 to be named the U. S. S. CACHALET, building at Portsmouth navy yard, New Hampshire. 57