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last week, it was unloading furnace parts from a motor truck and plac- ing them on a load carrying electric truck. On another occasion the crane truck was lifting pieces of ma- chinery from the pier floor and plac- ing them on a load carrying truck for carrying into the ship. The load carrying trucks are used to particular advantage in discharging as they can peddle the mixed works around the pier quickly. Cargo Movement Is Continuous With a sideport ship the move- ment of the cargo from the pier to place of storage in the ship is con- tinuous. pier operation can be the same but a delay must necessarily occur at shipside where the ship’s gear would be attached for hoisting the cargo overside. A large part of the cargo going into the hold of the Savannah line ships is sent from the deck into the hold by chutes rather than by the use of a crane, ship’s booms and winches or elevators, as is done wth other sideport ships. The Matson Navigation Co. oper- ating between Pacific coast ports and the Hawaiian Islands has used side- ports for years. Approximately 30 per cent of the general cargo han- dled is loaded and unloaded at San Francisco with the aid of sideports. Some of the Matson ships have 24 sideports, six on each side into the shelter deck and six on each side to the ‘tweendeck. The full value of the sideports is utilized by handling cargo through the ports with electric trucks. Over 70 electric trucks operate on the San Francisco ter- minal of the line. The Eastern Steamship Co. is an- other example of effective sideport operation. On one of the line’s sery- ices a small gang ¢an receive and load the freight received in a day because with sideports there is no need for winchmen, no men at ship- side or in the hold to handle the tackle. The Morgan line has found a large saving in overtime results from the use of sideports. This line uses a fleet of electric trucks and skids at New York and Galveston, while gaso- line lift trucks and skids are used at New Orleans. The Morro CaAstLte and Oriente of the Ward line are provided with sideports. Both hand trucks and conveyors are used in handling car- go through the ports. Another company desiring to have the advantages of sideports at the minimum of expense, cut ports in one side of the ship only. A good example of what can be done with sideports is the discharg- ing of 2000 tons of sacked goods from a lake package ship in six and three-quarter hours through three sideports. If this work had been With an overall ship the’ done through five hatches the best that could have been done would have been 1500 tons in six and three- quarter hours. This ship utilized up to 260 men in discharging the cargo. Working hatches alone, less than half this number could have been utilized. However, if this line utilized modern cargo handling equipment on the terminal instead of hand trucks not only would the 2000 tons have been handled.in less time but the costs per ton would have been decreased 15 to 20 per cent. This operation would lend itself to the same sort of conveyor opera- tion utilized so successfully by the Great Lakes Transit Corp. at Buf- falo and Chicago which would effect even greater economies of time and money. Sideports facilitate the use of con- veyors. The twin screw type conveyor can be used only with sideports in handling cargo from the ship. The belt or slat conveyor can be better utilized than when it is necessary to run the conveyor over the rail and down a hatch. Less Chance of Damage Sideports are safer. The most dan- serous part of an overall cargo -han- dling operation is that of hoisting the cargo between ship and shore. With the provision of sideports, the handling of cargo from pier and ship and vice versa becomes the same character of operation as handling on the terminal. One prolific source of accidents, hatch covers, are reduced. Sideports are not only safer for per- sonnel but also for cargo. Damage oc- curs on terminals with narrow aprons because the slingload strikes against the side of the ship. In addition to the damage caused directly, the slingload is often loosened so that when it is landed some of he packages fall off and are damaged. Swinging the slingload in the hold or on the terminal in order to land it on a particular spot is another cause of damaged cargo. This is avoided when the cargo is handled through sideports. Damage to cargo by rain and snow is reduced because it is easy to rig a canvas covering or tunnel so that at no time is the cargo exposed. Leaking of submerged ports is an objection offered to the use of side- ports. This objection applies princi- pally when ports are submerged after a ship is loaded. Neither the Matson Navigation Co. nor the Morgan line have had trouble from this source. Careless maintenance will cause many kinds of accidents, sideports or no side- ports. One critic states that sub- merged ports do not square with our ideas of safety at sea. It is such ob- jections made by men not responsible for company projects that have caused men in responsible positions to ask if we have not carried safety measures to an unreasonable extreme. The dif- ficulty seems to be a poor balance be- MARINE REVIEwW—October, 1932 tween. profit considerations and safety considerations. Practical Use of Conveyors The Clyde line uses conveyors for discharging fruits and vegetables through side ports during the five or six months of the season. Tractors and trailers were recently installed on one of the Clyde line piers for handling general cargo in and out of their side . port ships with large economies. There are a number of technical points involved in construction of ships with side ports and use of side ports which cannot be gone into in de- tail at this time. Size and location of ports; types of doors are important. In addition the height of coamings, type of deck and elevators, all have an effect on the profitable use of electric and gasoline trucks through sideports. A study of one sideport ship devel- oped that the ports were not placed as near the center of the cargo space as was practical and that the elevators were poorly located. The elevators should be located away . from bulkheads and there should be ample wing space so as to permit the tractor to circle with a train of trail- ers. It has been found that forward and aft elevators in the same hold should be close enough so as not to cause excessive handling on the tank top, as in that space tractors and trail- ers are seldom used and all cargo is man-handled. Adequate Planning for Economies The coamings were found to be too high and the elevator platforms too small and too slow. The elevator plat- forms were not flush’ with the deck, this caused difficulty in getting trail- ers on and off the elevators. The chief purpose of this article is to contribute some facts, figures and to stimulate discussion of the subject of sideport economies. The greatest progress toward profitable ship opera- tion will follow such discussion of side- ports and as well as other operating problems. Open Marine Terminal The Anchor Storage Co. recently commenced operation as a marine terminal and storage organization at 219-229 East North Water street, Chicago. The property is conven- iently located for handling cargo from lake vessels, barge canal motor- ships and, upon the completion of the Illinois waterway, from river barges. The property has a private siding of eight-car capacity on the Chicago & North Western railroad. Storage area includes 220 square feet and is equipped with cargo hand- ling facilities. Officers include Sid- ney A. Smith, Harry F. Partridge, Hugh G. Tucker, Ray H. Lumpp, and William R. Kleinschmidt, all with the Currier Lee Warehouse Co. 31