"New Orleans," says Dr. Roy S. MacElwee in his book on Port and
Terminal Facilities, a subject on which he is considered an authority,
"is the most advanced port in America in respect to scientific policy."
The Shipping Board echoed the compliment in its report of its port and
harbor facilities commission of April, 1919, when it said: "New Orleans
ranks high among the ports of the United States for volume of business,
and presents a very successful example of the public ownership and
operation of port facilities. It is one of the best equipped and
co-ordinated ports of the country."
New Orleans is the principal fresh water-ocean harbor in the United
States. Landlocked and protected from storms, it is the safest harbor
on the Gulf Coast. Almost unlimited is the number of vessels that can
be accommodated at anchor. Alongside the wharves the water is from
thirty to seventy feet deep. The government maintains a 33-foot channel
at the mouth of the river.
The "port of New Orleans" takes in about 21 miles of this harbor on
both sides of the river. This gives a river frontage of 41.4 miles,
which is under the jurisdiction of the Dock Board, an agency of the
state. The Board has, to date, improved seven miles of the east bank of
the river with wharves, steel sheds, cotton warehouses, a grain
elevator and a coal-handling plant of most modern type, together with
other facilities for loading and unloading. Authority has been granted
to issue $6,500,000 in bonds for increasing these facilities.
Wharves, elevators and warehouses built by railroads and industrial
plants on both sides of the river bring up the total improved portion
of the port to 45,000 linear feet, capable of berthing ninety vessels
500 feet long. These facilities are co-ordinated by the only
municipally owned and operated belt railroad in the United States,
which saves the shipper much money. More than sixty steamship lines
connect the port with the world markets; the government barge line, a
number of steamboat lines, and twelve railroad lines connect it with
the producing and consuming sections of the United States.
[Illustration: BULL WHEEL
Part of Operating Machinery for Lock Gates]
Now nearing completion is the Public Coal Handling Plant. Built by the
Dock Board to develop the business in cargo coal, it is costing more
than $1,000,000.00, and will have a capacity of 25,000 tons. It is of
the belt-conveyor type. The plant will be able to:
1. Unload coal from railway cars into a storage pile;
2. Unload coal from cars into steamers or barges;
3. Load coal from storage pile into steamers or barges;
4. Unload coal from barges into steamers and storage pile;
5. Load coal from barges or storage pile into cars.
At the 750-foot wharf the plant can take care of three ships at one
time, with a maximum loading capacity of 800 to 1,000 tons an hour.
Other coaling facilities at the port are furnished by:
Illinois Central Railroad: Tipple with capacity of 300 tons an hour;
New Orleans Coal Company: Two tipples, capacity 150 and 350 tons an
hour; floating collier to coal ships while freight is being taken
aboard at the wharf, capacity 175 tons an hour; collier, capacity 150
tons an hour.
Alabama and New Orleans Transportation Company: Storage plant with
loading towers on Lake Borgne canal, just below the city;
American Sugar Refining Company: Coal plant, capacity, 70 tons an hour,
for receiving coal from barges and delivering it to boiler house;
Monongahela River Coal and Coke Company: Floating collier.
Fuel oil facilities for bunkering purposes are furnished by:
Gulf Refining Company: Storage capacity, 100,000 barrels; bunkering
capacity, 800 barrels an hour;
Texas Oil Company: Storage capacity, 150,000 barrels; bunkering
capacity, 1,500 barrels an hour;
Mexican Petroleum Corporation: Bunkering capacity, 1,500 barrels an
hour;
Sinclair Refining Company: Storage capacity, 250,000 barrels; bunkering
capacity, 2,500 barrels an hour;
Standard Oil Company: Storage capacity, 110,336 barrels; bunkering
capacity, 1,000 barrels an hour.
In the Jahncke Dry Dock and Ship Repair Company, New Orleans has the
largest ship repair plant south of Newport News. The plant is on the
Mississippi river, adjacent to the Industrial Canal. It has a
1,500-foot wharf and three dry docks, of 6,000, 8,000 and 10,000 tons
capacity, respectively. These can be joined for lifting the very large
ships. It is equipped with the latest and most powerful machinery, and
has been a strong factor in developing the port.
The Johnson Iron Works and Shipbuilding Company likewise has facilities
for wood repairing, caulking, painting and scraping of vessels, as well
as iron work. It has three docks: one 234 feet long, one 334 feet long,
and a small one for lifting barges and small river tugs.
At the United States Naval Yard is a dock of 15,000 tons capacity. This
is placed at the service of commercial vessels when private docks are
not available.
The Public Cotton Warehouse and Public Grain Elevator are among the
most modern facilities in the country.
Both plants are of reinforced concrete throughout, insuring a low
insurance rate.
The cotton warehouse comprises five units, with a total storage
capacity at one time of 320,000 bales, and an annual handling capacity
of 2,000,000. High density presses compress this cotton to 34 pounds
per cubic foot, saving the exporter 20 per cent on steamship freight
rates. The insurance rate on storage cotton is 24 cents per $100 a
year. Cotton is handled by Dock Board employees licensed by the New
Orleans Cotton Exchange under rules and regulations laid down by the
department of agriculture. Warehouse receipts may be discounted at the
banks. Cotton can be handled cheaper here than at any other warehouse
in the country.
Storage capacity of the Public Grain Elevator is 2,622,000 bushels.
This is about 25 per cent of the grain elevator storage capacity of the
port, but the Public Elevator handles 60 per cent of the
business--proving its efficiency. Its unloading capacity is 60,000
bushels a day from barges or ships, and 200,000 bushels from cars.
Loading capacity into ships is 100,000 bushels an hour--to one or four
vessels, simultaneously. Fireproof and equipped with a modern
dust-collecting system, this facility is considered one of the best in
the country.
Other grain elevators at New Orleans are operated by:
Southern Railway: capacity, 375,000 bushels;
Illinois Central Railroad two elevators, capacity, 2,500,000 bushels;
Trans-Mississippi Terminal Railroad Company: two elevators, capacity,
1,350,000 bushels.
Wharves owned and controlled by the Dock Board measure 28,872 linear
feet in length, with an area of 4,230,894 square feet. Twenty of these
thirty-four wharves are covered with steel sheds.
Wharves operated by the railroads on both sides of the river increase
the port facilities as follows:
Southern Railway: Two concrete and steel covered docks, one a two-story
structure; one is 150 by 1,300 feet, with a floor space of 195,000
square feet; one is 150 by 1,680 feet on the lower floor, and 120 by
1,680 on the upper, with a combined area of 453,000 square feet floor
space.
Illinois Central Railroad: covered wharf, 130-150 by 4,739 feet.
Morgan's Louisiana and Texas Railroad and Steamship Company: wharf
space, 112,000 square feet; covered space, 117,200 square feet.
Trans-Mississippi Terminal Railroad Company: Wharf No. 1, three berths,
281,904 square feet; No. 2, one berth, 94,350 square feet; No. 3, one
berth, 100,725 square feet--most of it covered; oil wharf, 15,000
square feet.
The New Orleans Army Supply Base has a two-story wharf 2,000 feet long
by 140 feet wide. The lower floor of the wharf is leased by the Dock
Board. Back of it are the three warehouses, each 140 by 600 feet, and
six stories in height.
Seven industrial plants have loading and unloading facilities on the
river. The Dock Board does not lease or part with the control of these,
and controls the following charges: harbor fees, dockage, sheddage,
wharfage, etc.
Open storage on river front contiguous to wharves totals 1,169,900
square feet. There is a great deal of potential open storage space away
from the wharves and along railroad tracks, which could be reached by
switches.
For the storage of coffee, alcohol, sisal, sugar and general
commodities, private warehouses offer a floor space of 2,000,000 square
feet.
Railroads serving New Orleans are: The Public Belt, Illinois Central,
Yazoo & Mississippi Valley, Gulf Coast Lines, Louisiana Railway &
Navigation Company, Louisville & Nashville, Louisiana Southern,
Missouri-Pacific, Texas & Pacific, New Orleans & Lower Coast, Morgan's
Louisiana & Texas Railroad and Steamship Company, (Southern Pacific)
Southern Railway and New Orleans & Great Northern.
Storage track capacity of New Orleans for export traffic totals 15,156
cars. Track facilities alongside the wharves will accommodate 600 cars.
New Orleans can handle, at the grain elevators and wharves, 3,000 cars
a day.
Wharves are served exclusively by the Public Belt Railroad. The
Industrial Canal will be similarly served. The Public Belt Railroad
assumes the obligations of a common carrier, operating under
appropriate traffic rules and regulations. The switching charge is
$7.00 a car, regardless of the distance. On uncompressed cotton and
linters, the charge is $4.50.
The government barge line connects New Orleans with the Warrior River
section of Alabama and the Upper Mississippi Valley, including a great
deal of inland territory to which river and rail differential rates
apply, as far as St. Louis. It is operating a fleet of 2,000-ton steel
covered barges and 1,800 horsepower towboats. There is a weekly
service. Rates are 20 per cent cheaper than rail rates.
The port is supplied with some of the most modern freight handling
machinery. Harbor dues and other expenses are low. The water supply,
for drinking purposes and boilers, meets the strongest tests.
How advantageously situated is New Orleans will be seen from the
following comparison of distances:
[Illustration: SHIP LOCK on the INNER HARBOR NAVIGATION CANAL at
the PORT OF NEW ORLEANS