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CARGO TRANSFERENCE AT STEAMSHIP TERMINALS. 157 
with due regard to the character of the freight. In some cases the freight 
must be placed in the vessel according to the order of the ports of call. 
It is not considered advisable to depress railway tracks or driveways even 
when tracks are permitted on piers, as this hinders the freight movements 
directly across the pier. 
Disputed Questions.—The suggestions presented as to the number of 
stories and the location of the sheds, and the railroad tracks upon the piers, 
are because these are important and disputed questions. They are, how- 
ever, readily solved from the standpoint of the installation of correctly 
designed transferring machinery. Where possible it is a good rule to make the 
bulkhead sheds one-half the width of the pier and not an arbitrary 50 feet. 
Warehouses.—At the rear of the sheds with a space between, should be 
the warehouses, generally for long storage, of as many stories as may be 
required, but each story should not be less than 20 feet or more in height. 
Freight Movements.—With reference to the movements of outbound 
freight, it is received at the piers from cars, drays or lighters, or from other 
steamships for reshipment. When the freight is received from large shippers 
or other transportation companies it is not weighed or measured, but the 
weights given are generally accepted as correct; otherwise it is weighed or 
measured. Coastwise freight is weighed, but export freight is measured 
unless it is of heavy weight per cubic foot. 
The dray freight, as it is delivered, is placed along the pier side, inside 
the shed, in such a way that it can be most advantageously selected by the 
stevedore for stowage when the shipisready. Freight must be stowed in the 
vessel according to its weight and nature and liability toinjury. If the ship 
be not ready the freight is tiered on the pier, the height being regulated by 
the amount of freight and the floor space, but tiering by hand higher than 
six to eight feet is avoided. 
When the ship is ready to be loaded, the freight is trucked, generally 
by manual labor, within reach of the ship’s winch or the jib of the gantry 
crane, or trucked through the side ports of the vessel if of the coastwise type. 
Upon a certain pier in New York for outbound freight the average distance 
which the freight was trucked was 550 feet with an average load of 184 
pounds and at an average speed of 110 feet per minute which included the 
delays of loading and unloading the trucks. 
The freight, as it is received, is inspected as to condition, and the number 
and description of packages compared with the bill of lading. At this pier, 
the outward dray freight amounted to 800 tons daily, which with 200 tons 
of freight from lighters alongside the pier equalled 1,000 tons daily which 
must be trucked. There were also 1,000 tons of off-shore freight, making 
a daily total of 2,000 tons. 
