United States to become a leader in world shipping 
once again. 
A program for port and urban waterfront 
development and redevelopment should be estab- 
lished involving all interested Federal and State 
agencies. It should embrace a range of activities 
from creation of entirely new port or waterfront 
complexes to rehabilitation and conversion of 
existing port and waterfront lands and facilities. 
The program should entail: (1) comprehensive 
surveys of port-transportation requirements, inter- 
facing with community needs, and studies on 
urban renewal, recreation, and pollution, (2) de- 
velopment of plans for port, harbor, and water- 
front area renovation, and (3) integration of port 
and waterfront planning with programs for conser- 
vation of estuarine resources. The Army Corps of 
Engineers already has begun work related to the 
first two in cooperation with the Departments of 
Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, 
and Interior as follows: 
—The Department of Housing and Urban Develop- 
ment and the Corps of Engineers have conducted a 
preliminary survey of areas engaged in or inter- 
ested in harbor or urban waterfront renewal. 
Waterfront renewal activities to be planned 
involve: (a) eliminating sources of drift and debris, 
including removal of dilapidated or obsolete struc- 
tures, (b) clearing lands for housing, open space, or 
recreation, (c) substituting small boat or marine 
facilities for abandoned commercial areas, and (d) 
removing sludge and solid pollutants from urban 
harbor areas. 
—The Corps of Engineers presently is engaged in 
pilot studies in the New York and Boston areas to 
determine what new Federal initiatives or authori- 
ties are required to execute waterfront renewal 
plans. The studies will identify the legal, financial, 
and associated problems of harbor area renovation 
stemming from abandoned private facilities and 
sunken or derelict vessels. They will recommend 
changes in statutory authority to insure optimum 
use and effective redevelopment of the harbor area 
resources. 
—The Department of Transportation is developing 
a Port and Harbor Access Program based on 
planning methods to determine optimum urban 
roads, terminal points, and intercity roads and rail 
lines to serve the port area. 
To plan properly a program for port and urban 
waterfronts, alternatives to harbor deepening must 
be considered if this is not economically feasible. 
There are basically four technical alternatives to 
harbor deepening. First, where there is a long 
approach channel to reach port or harbor facilities, 
offshore unloading stations within protected 
waters may be constructed. Corresponding han- 
dling and transportation systems ashore must be 
constructed or modified to deliver the bulk com- 
modities to their final destinations. It is conceiv- 
able that the construction or modification would 
be financed by private or joint enterprise. 
Second would be a combination of lightering 
by barge, followed by transit up the channel to the 
pier head. Extensive studies reveal that, depending 
on local conditions, it is economical in some cases 
to transship cargo and lighter by barge. 
Third is to provide more efficient scheduling of 
the bulk carrier by determining the decrease in the 
ship’s draft due to fuel consumed en route and 
computing the decrease in the ship’s draft due to 
cargo to be unloaded. 
A fourth alternative is a systems design of ship 
size and port capacity in conjunction with existing 
channel depth, involving faster ships with im- 
proved cargo handling facilities and scheduled 
control of all ships calling at the port. As the 
world’s fleets increase in number and speed, it is 
conceivable that fleet controllers similar to airway 
controllers may effect proper and safe traffic flow 
within the harbor. 
If channels are to remain fixed in depth, and 
ship size and speed are to increase as predicted, 
installation of offshore cargo handling facilities is 
necessary. Any extensive harbor and channel 
deepening must be preceded by an extensive 
land-use pattern study. Due to consumer and locale 
requirements, it also may be advantageous to 
relocate the industry, shortening land routes in the 
transportation networks. 
For bulk cargoes in general, it is conceivable 
that political and economic conditions at the 
destination may compel the preprocessing of some 
bulk cargoes for the recipient countries. This 
would reduce substantially the backland’° 
requirements for bulk cargoes in U.S. ports. 
1 0Backland is the area of a port city where warehouses, 
terminals, etc. are located inshore from the waterfront. 
VI-119 
