CARGO TRANSFERENCE AT STEAMSHIP TERMINALS. 167 
The following figures indicate the saving in the investment in port 
installations by high tiering. “The marine ton is 40 cubic feet, but from com- 
parison of the weights and cubical contents of over one hundred articles of 
merchandise within transshipment sheds, it is evident that 60 cubic feet per 
ton would give a more nearly correct average for estimating the storage space 
to be provided. In one transit shed, the floor area was 80,000 square feet, 
but of this, not more than one-third was available for storage, the rest of the 
floor space being reserved for aisles, gangways, passageways for drays and 
trucks, and offices. 
Space for Cargoes.—It appears that there should be reserved in the shed 
not less than 100 cubic feet for each ton. A cargo of 10,000 tons miscella- 
neous cargo, tiered 20 feet in height, would require a floor space of only 50,000 
square feet. If, as is generally accepted, that five feet is the average height 
of tiering by manual labor, then there would be required 200,000 square feet 
for 10,000 tons. A pier 400 feet long by 125 feet wide, tiering 20 feet high, 
would accommodate 10,000 tons, but a pier 1,000 feet long and 200 feet wide 
‘would be necessary for the same amount of freight when there is only five 
foot tiering. 
Subjects for Future Discussion.—There are many other features in con- 
nection with this freight transference which should be discussed, but time 
prevents. Among these may be mentioned, the type of shed walls and 
doors; material of the shed floors; the reasons for the hoisting capacity 
of the cranes; the necessity for special cranes up to 150 tons capacity; loca- 
tion of the tracks which should be flush with the road, correlation between 
the sheds and warehouses; provision for cart area for cart traffic; compara- 
tive costs between the operation of winches and gantry cranes; the economy 
in the purchase of land by being able, by long distance overhead runways to 
occupy areas located at a distance from the pier; the terminal charges of the 
stevedores and master porters; the hourly rates for crane service, etc. 
Machinery Floats —The reducing of slip congestion by means of floats 
25 or more feet in width, equipped with overhead tractors, hoists and 
extension tracks for transferring freight between vessel’s hatchways and sev- 
eral lighters and barges, and for holding temporarily on the floats freight 
still in the slings, these, and many other features are worthy of attention; 
and it is hoped that papers by others on freight transference will be presented. 
In summing up, it may be said that the advantages of mechanical 
methods for package freight movements of which the most important is the 
lifting or hoisting, consist in: 
First.—Greater rapidity in loading, discharging and distributing. The 
time of transference can be reduced by one-half in comparison with manual 
labor. 
