Chapter III: Part 3

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:

THE LOCK COMPLETED]

COMPARISON OF DISTANCES BY AND BETWEEN NEW ORLEANS AND NEW YORK AND PRINCIPAL CITIES.

(Distances in statute miles, furnished by War Department.)

New York New Orleans ---------------------------------------- Atlanta 846 498 Baltimore 188 1,184 Birmingham 1,043 348 Boston 235 1,607 Buffalo 442 1,275 Charleston 739 776 Chattanooga 846 498 Chicago 912 912 Cincinnati 781 836 Cleveland 584 1,092 Dallas 1,642 515 Denver 1,932 1,356 Detroit 693 1,100 Duluth 1,390 1,340 El Paso 2,310 1,195 Galveston 1,782 410 Indianapolis 827 888 Kansas City 1,335 867 Little Rock 1,290 487 Louisville 867 749 Memphis 1,156 396 Minneapolis 1,332 1,285 Mobile 1,231 141 Norfolk 347 1,093 Oklahoma City 1,643 856 Omaha 1,402 1,070 Pittsburgh 444 1,142 Philadelphia 91 1,281 Port Townsend 3,199 2,979 Portland, Oregon 3,204 2,746 Salt Lake City 2,442 1,928 San Antonio 1,943 571 San Francisco 3,191 2,482 Savannah 845 661 Seattle 3,151 2,931 St. Louis 1,058 701 Toledo 705 1,040 Washington, D.C. 228 1,144

COMPARISON OF DISTANCES BY WATER ROUTES BETWEEN NEW ORLEANS AND NEW YORK TO PRINCIPAL PORTS OF THE WORLD.

(Distances in nautical miles, supplied by Hydrographic Office, Navy Department; land routes in statute miles supplied by War Department.)

New York New Orleans
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Antwerp 3,325 4,853
Bombay--
Via Suez 8,120 9,536
Via Cape of Good Hope 11,250 11,848
Buenos Ayres 5,868 6,318
Callao--
Via Panama 3,392 2,764
Via Tehauntepec 4,246 2,991
Cape Town 6,851 7,374
Colon (eastern end of Panama Canal) 1,981 1,380
Havana 1,227 597
Hong Kong--
Via Panama 11,431 10,830
[a] Via rail to San Francisco 9,277 8,568
Honolulu--
Via Panama 6,686 6,085
Via rail to San Francisco 5,288 4,579
Liverpool 3,053 4,553
London 3,233 4,507
Manila--
Via Panama 11,546 10,993
[a] Yokohama and San Francisco 9,480 8,771
[a] Yokohama and Port Townsend 9,192 8,972
Melbourne--
[a] Via San Francisco 10,231 9,522
Via Panama 10,028 9,424
Via Tehauntepec 9,852 8,604
Via Suez Canal 12,981 14,303
Mexico City--
By land and water 2,399 1,172
By land 2,898 1,526
New Orleans--
Land 1,372
Water 1,741
Nome, Alaska--
[a] Via San Francisco 5,896 5,187
[a] Via Port Townsend 5,555 5,335
Via Panama 8,010 7,410
Panama (western end Canal)--
Via Canal and Colon 2,028 1,427
Pernambuco, Brazil 3,696 3,969
Rio de Janeiro 4,778 5,218
San Juan, P.R. 1,428 1,539
Singapore--
Via Yokohama and Panama 13,104 12,503
Via Suez 10,170 11,560
San Francisco 3,191 2,482
Via Tehauntepec 4,415 3,191
Via Panama 5,305 4,704
Tehauntepec--
Eastern end of railroad 2,036 812
Valparaiso--
Via Panama 4,637 4,035
Yokohama--
Via Honolulu and Tehauntepec 9,243 7,995
Via Honolulu and Panama 10,093 9,492
Via Panama 9,869 9,268
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[a] By land and water.

[b] By land.