New York panorama : a comprehensive view of the metropolis, Part 34

Author:
Publication date: 1938
Publisher: New York : Random House
Number of Pages: 630

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'he Waterfront

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We have already alluded to the magnitude of the New York water- thefront. In order to enjoy a close-up view of its vast contours, we should eed a launch capable of turning up some 16 miles per hour, with provi- actions and gasoline for a 48-hour run. This would be the equivalent of a djtoyage from Sandy Hook to Savannah, Georgia-a rather exhausting undourney, even if it were done in easy stages. A much more convenient, if the ot quite so comprehensive, concept of the waterfront can be gained from bly few statistics.

Of the 771 miles of direct shoreline fringing Port of New York bays ernd waterways, 578.4 miles are waterfront boundaries of the five bor- as- ughs of New York City. Measured around the 1,800 piers, wharves and heulkheads in the port, developed waterfrontage covers 350 miles. The tolity's share of this stretch of developed frontage is about 285 miles, ndacluding a greater frontage on deep water, probably, than any other port nom the world-certainly greater than that of any other port in the United al tates. Along the waterfront of the city proper are more than 700 piers und wharves, from 50 to 1,700 feet in length, some of them anti- equated, but many ultra-modern and equipped to accommodate the world's ilargest steamships. Of these piers about 270 are owned by the city, 410 odre privately owned, 27 belong to the Federal Government and nine to he State. The New York City holdings are concentrated along the Man- chattan waterfront for the most part, although certain sections of the aBrooklyn and Staten Island waterfronts also belong to the city. A few of

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the city-owned piers are reserved for departmental and public use; mo. of them are leased for five-year periods to railroad and steamship compa nies. Rentals on piers such as those comprising the new Transatlant: Terminal from West Forty-Eighth to Fifty-Fourth Streets run as high ? $200,000 annually. Smaller piers, of the type used by the railroads, rer for about $40,000 a year.

State ownership of waterfront property in the city is limited to th barge canal terminals in each of the boroughs, except Staten Island Federal Government waterfront property includes the Navy Yard and th Army Base in Brooklyn, and the Staten Island lighthouse basin. Sever? islands in the harbor and the shoreline of a number of army reservatior are also owned by the Federal Government.

The extent and distribution of New York City's shoreline holdings ai best indicated by the following figures: Along the Hudson (North ) Rive waterfront of Manhattan the city owns 12 miles of a total of 13.33 miles along the East River waterfront of Manhattan and the Bronx, 7.9 mile of a total of 13.3 miles; and on the East River waterfront of Brookly and Queens, 2.4 miles of a total of 27.7 miles.

Private ownership of waterfront property is nearly at a minimum alon the North River-Manhattan waterfront, totaling only 1.2 miles; on th East River waterfront of Queens and Brooklyn it totals more than 23 mile

Hub of the Port

The North River waterfront of Manhattan is the most valuable an intensively developed section of the port. It unquestionably ranks, in th respect, with any similar area in the great ports of the world. Here at located the terminals of most of the express lines in the European pa: senger service; the terminals of the lines engaged in South Americar West Indian and coastwise service; and the pier stations of eight majc trunk line railroads. There are no large industrial establishments alon the North River waterfront, almost the entire section being devoted t passenger and freight facilities.

This area contains more than 110 piers, 24 ferry slips, and 8 flot bridges, where freight cars are transferred from shore tracks to carfloai and vice versa. Between 25 and 30 of the total number of piers are use in foreign or intercoastal trade, a few more than 40 in domestic trade, an about 40 serve the railroads. Since most of the latter are south of Fifty Ninth Street, these figures reveal one of the troublesome problems create

Education and Science

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AUX LIBRARY

EDUCATION WITHOUT TUITION: NEW YORK LIBRARY

ALMA MATER, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY AND CHAPEL, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

CAMPUS OF CITY COLLEGE, WHERE STUDENTS TAKE LIFE AND POLITICS SERIOUSLY

EDUCATION BY OBSERVATION: BROOKLYN BOTANIC GARDENS AND (below) THE ZOO IN CENTRAL PARK

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BUILDINGS OF THE COLUMBIA PRESBYTERIAN MEDICAL CENTER, IN UPPER MANHATTAN OVERLOOKING THE HUDSON

LARIME

THE UNIVERSE BROUGHT TO EARTH: HAYDEN PLANETARIUM

THE NEW SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL RESEARCH: TWENTIETH CENTURY ADULT EDUCATION

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WATER GATE

y railroad marine operations. Forty percent of the most valuable steam- hip frontage along the West Side of Manhattan-perhaps the most aluable in the whole port district-is devoted to railroad freight opera- tons having no direct relation to shipping. This state of affairs was made nevitable, of course, by the fierce competition among common carriers or the large volume of domestic freight consigned to Manhattan Island. A primary task of the Port of New York Authority was to bring bout a consolidation of the many duplications of service that sprang rom this carrier competition, so that deepwater frontage might be re- eased for ocean terminals. In spite of considerable effort by the Port Authority to accomplish this end, progress has been hampered by various actors, not the least of which is the sharp rivalry among carriers. Eventual olution of this problem may well rest with the fate of legislation pro- osing national consolidation of the rail systems.

Ever since the opening of the present century, steamship operators and he city government have been confronted with the problem of supplying dequate berthage, in close proximity to railroad passenger terminals and hotels, for ships that are constantly increasing in number and size. The general progress in this direction is demonstrated by the fact that approxi- nately half of the steamship piers in the port can accommodate ocean- going ships. This means that more than 100 miles of side wharfage are vailable for deepwater berthage. A few years ago it was estimated that hew dock construction in the Port of New York in a single year equalled he entire deepwater dockage of Portland, Maine. Since 1920, between 75,000 and 80,000 feet of wharfage have been constructed for ocean teamship use. At the present time the city is proceeding with a compre- hensive plan for the development of its North River property. Several modern pier projects are in progress or nearing completion.

Along the East River waterfront of Manhattan and the Bronx there are 108 piers, 16 ferry slips and eight carfloat bridges, as well as nearly 100 bulkheads and shore wharves. The piers along the Manhattan waterfront of the East River comprise approximately 90 of the total, but only about seven of these are used in foreign trade. A few of the piers are employed in the coastwise freight trade, and about 20 are used by the railroads.

We have already had occasion to mention the role of South Street in the city's development. The East River waterfront of Manhattan was, of course, the nucleus of the port. For the student of American merchant marine history, this stretch of beach swarms with the phantoms of famous clippers and the ghosts of the men who built them. But the forests of

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towering masts and jaunty bowsprits that shaded South Street in th clipper ship era have disappeared forever. Only a handful of ocean-goin." vessels continue to dock in this area, barely keeping alive South Street' 19th century packet tradition. Although it has a deep channel, the East River is narrow and handicapped by treacherous tidal currents-condi tions poorly suited to the docking problems of a modern super-shipin Various industrial and other establishments, ranging from gas an slaughter houses to hospitals and luxurious apartment hotels, have coverein the retreat of shipping from this area.

A large percentage of the 196.8 miles of Queens Borough shoreline is undeveloped. But the banks of Newtown Creek, which separate Brookly from Long Island City, are crowded with a conglomeration of industria plants, and harbor activity in this region is particularly marked.

The most intensively developed portion of Brooklyn's 201.5 miles cf waterfront extends from the mouth of Newtown Creek south to Ba.D Ridge. This area is occupied almost entirely by facilities for ocean-goin th cargo carriers, intraport lighterage and railroad carfloatage. Passenger an's freight terminals of steamship lines to all parts of the world, hundreds cli large industrial plants, dozens of warehouses, as well as the most extensiv dry-docking and ship repair facilities in the port, are in this section.

Most important among the developments along this stretch of the Brooklyn shore are: (1) Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal, one of thepo principal warehousing and freight transfer enterprises in the port. Variou commercial and industrial concerns make use of its facilities, foremo: among which are carfloat connections with all the major trunk line rai hi roads. (2) Jay Street Terminal, nine piers comprising 91,000 feet of sicip wharfage, one float bridge and more than 1,000,000 square feet of warde house space. (3) New York Dock Company Terminal, extending for Y distance of 2.5 miles along Buttermilk Channel and consisting of th Fulton, Baltic and Atlantic Terminals. In addition to its 27 piers and twh float bridges, the New York Dock Company development includes Ere warehouses and 91 factories, 35 miles of track and a fleet of 50 motobe trucks. Nearly 25 percent of the entire ocean freight tonnage of the poki moves through the company's property. (4) Erie Basin, one of the oldest terminals in the port, which comprises ten piers-three of them moto than 1,000 feet in length-several warehouses, a sugar refinery, and sh repair establishments ranking with the greatest in the country. We shaft come back to these later. (5) The New York State Grain Elevator, OF rated by the State of New York in conjunction with the Barge Cante

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therminal adjoining it. This elevator has a storage capacity of 2,000,000 inshels. (6) Bush Terminal, one of the major docking, storage and indus- et ial developments in the world. Behind its eight piers, offering side atharfage for 35 average-size steamers, are approximately 140 warehouses and industrial loft buildings, served by a marginal railway affording 35 iles of trackage and carfloat connections with all trunk line railroads. It anas been estimated that 20 percent of the entire export and import traffic oving through the port is handled at this terminal.

Like the Borough of the Bronx, Staten Island's role in the port economy rather modest. Except for the Kill van Kull waterfront and certain ctions between Brighton and Rosebank, its 57.1 miles of direct shoreline ril e largely undeveloped. The unfortunate chance whereby the large-scale aterfront enterprise of the port has, comparatively speaking, avoided the forough of Richmond, is one of destiny and geography. Whereas the Butch preferred Manhattan in the 17th century, the railroad and steam- inhip lines in the 20th prefer the shortest path between two points. Staten land, in short, is somewhat out of the way; traffic lanes point in other directions. The late Mayor Hylan attempted to challenge this scheme of Things, but his accomplishments were regarded by New Yorkers at large 6 a monument to his lack of business acumen. The 13 piers constructed thy his administration along the Stapleton waterfront at a cost of $30,000,- thloo were promptly dubbed "Hylan's Folly," for the ocean-going vessels they were built to accommodate did not materialize. e

However, if "Hylan's Folly" failed to reshape Staten Island's destiny, ifis project is scheduled finally to obtain at least a measure of its original objective. The Federal Government approved four of these piers as a germinal for the Foreign Trade Zone opened in 1937 in the Port of New Tork. The announcement of this decision was made by the Secretary of commerce on January 29, 1936. Under the terms of the act authorizing whis zone, the first in the United States, goods may be brought into the gestricted area from any foreign country, without passing through the cum- tdersome red tape of customs inspection ; they may be processed or stored within the zone, and then passed through American customs or trans- ehipped to a foreign country. Responsible authorities maintain that the one will eventually prove of incalculable value to the Port of New York. Flanking the Foreign Trade Zone are the only two private terminals on taten Island -- the American Dock Terminal, consisting of four piers and I factory and storage structures, which have the advantage of being derved directly by standard-gauge railway trackage, connecting by way of

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the B. & O. Staten Island system with the major trunk lines; and the Pouch Terminal, which has three piers and 25 factory and warehouse units, also served directly by the B. & O.

Although the New Jersey waterfront is an inseparable part of the whole port organism, extended treatment of its ramifications belongs in a survey of common carriers in the port. This is not to say that New Jersey's part" in ocean-going trade is negligible. Indeed, a number of outstanding steam. ship lines operating out of the port maintain terminals in Jersey City Hoboken, Weehawken or Newark.

Considered from the point of view of foreign commerce, however, the Brooklyn and Manhattan waterfronts are by far the most strategic. The great majority of the passenger lines employ terminals on Manhattar! Island; most of the freight lines operate from Brooklyn.

Close to 200 vessels of one kind or another tie up at the piers and wharves of the port every day. An analysis of the distribution of inbound ships on a typical day, made by the Port of New York Authority, show: that more than one-third, or 36 percent, docked in Brooklyn and nearl' one-quarter were berthed in Manhattan, while 16 percent docked along th principal sections of the Jersey waterfront-Hoboken, Jersey City, Bay onne, and so forth.

Approximately 90 steamship lines are engaged in foreign trade out of the Port of New York. Operating for the most part on regular schedule" and with frequent sailings, they supply the shipper and importer with direct service to and from the major ports of Europe, South America, th West Indies, Africa, India, Australia and New Zealand. Many of th world's outposts are also reached by steamers operating regularly out of New York. In addition to fast freight service, many of these lines offe passenger service and vacation cruise itineraries duplicated at no othe American port. Some 25 lines operate vessels accommodating passenger to the more important ports of Europe and the Near East. Nine lines ar engaged in regular passenger service to Africa, the Far East and around the world; and about 18 lines maintain passenger vessels on regula schedules and cruises to ports in the West Indies, South America an Canada.

Since 90 percent of the sailings on these itineraries are direct (n intermediate calls at other domestic ports), New York appeals particu larly to exporters of high-grade manufactured goods and importers o quality merchandise, as well as to overseas travelers. In consequence, thi port has become the gateway for approximately 50 percent by value o

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te foreign trade of the United States and 85 percent of the country's reign passenger traffic.

ol ve a In addition to the steamship companies operating vessels in foreign ade, there are seven lines in the intercoastal or Pacific Coast service. Pas- inger accommodations are available on four of these intercoastal lines, ith facilities ranging from the "luxury" type on Dollar liners to the in- ir ormal one-class type on Luckenbach freighters. At least seven steamship mpanies operate vessels to ports on the Atlantic seaboard and the Gulf; and a few lines dispatch freight vessels to Sound and inland points.

a Taterborne Commerce

The amount and value of the commodities dumped on New York piers ery year by vessels engaged in foreign and domestic trade are enor- tous ; and the commodities they take away are only a little less consider- ple. Let the figures for the calendar year 1936 tell the story.

During the course of that year, 13,479,929 tons of commodities of most every conceivable kind, valued at $2,913,001,116, were landed in he Port of New York out of the holds of ships from foreign ports. With eduction for gold and silver shipments valued at $1,149,225,000 that 'ere included among the 48,784 tons of "precious metal" imports, the alue of merchandise and raw materials brought into the port during 1936 mounted to $1,763,776,116. Compared with the Philadelphia port dis- ict imports of 4,765,115 tons valued at $169,207,820, Baltimore's nports of 4,519,970 tons worth $70,777,740; and the imports of the ntire San Francisco Bay area imports of 959,688 tons worth $98,006,187, uring the same calendar year, the colossal character of the port's import usiness becomes readily apparent.

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In the sphere of export trade the port's national supremacy is likewise nchallenged. While the San Francisco Bay area was exporting 2,462, 13I ons valued at $102,937,822, Baltimore 765,600 tons worth $14,907,322, nd the Philadelphia port district 1, 159,903 tons valued at $62,454,393, he Port of New York loaded 5,926,044 tons of cargo worth $1, 130,891,- 05 (exclusive of gold and silver) on foreign-bound ships. The high uality of merchandise exported from the Port of New York is revealed y the fact that while tonnage volume was considerably less than one-half he volume of imports, the total value of exports was nearly two-thirds the otal value of imports.

In round numbers, the entire foreign trade of the port during 1936

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amounted to 19,400,000 tons, with a total valuation of $2,894,000,00 During the same period, the total waterborne foreign commerce of th ica entire United States, again in round numbers and excluding gold ar. ota silver, amounted to 90,000,000 tons valued at $5,307,000,000. Thus ut the calendar year 1936, the Port of New York handled approximately : percent by value and 21 percent by volume of the nation's grand tot of foreign maritime commerce. the

In the field of domestic waterborne commerce, traffic in the port a the tained even more enormous proportions. No less than 91,291,715 tor of everything from adrenalin to zwieback, having a total valuation ( $4,969,671,721, moved through the port during 1936. In comparison, th entire waterborne commerce, both foreign and domestic, of the Phil po delphia port district amounted to 34,171,000 tons, valued at $1,081,800 ooo; the entire waterborne commerce of the San Francisco Bay area w m lidi 25,685,000 tons, valued at $1,062,177,000; and Baltimore's entire wate borne commerce was 21,886,000 tons valued at $695,838,000-a con bined total of 81,742,000 tons of waterborne freight worth $2,839,815 000. These three ports certainly cannot be called sluggards, but their tot: waterborne commerce was exceeded by the Port of New York's domest waterborne traffic alone.

There are four general types of domestic waterborne commerce: (1) coastwise, (2) internal, (3) intraport, (4) local. Coastwise traffic, ( course, is self-explanatory, but brief definitions of the other types ma esc be necessary. Internal traffic refers to traffic between a port and an inlar. Est point via a tributary waterway, such as the Hudson River. Intraport traff is that between the several arms or channels of a port-i.e., traffic invol' tth ing the use of more than one channel or waterway. Traffic betwee Brooklyn and the North River waterfront, or between Hoboken and th East River waterfront, for example, is intraport traffic; the use of mor than one channel is involved in these movements. Local traffic refers t freight movements involving the use of no more than one harbor channe B Y or waterway. Thus, traffic across the North River between Manhattan an Weehawken, or across the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn is local.

Of chief importance in 1936, with respect to both value and volume was the port's coastwise traffic. Receipts attained the tremendous total ( 28,554,604 tons, valued at $1, 186,430,648. Shipments came to 7,608,49 tons, valued at $1,000,109,270. Coastwise tonnage was 32.6 percent c

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le entire waterborne tonnage of the port-nearly double the foreign affic tonnage, which amounted to 17.5 percent of the total.

Next in value and tonnage were intraport shipments and receipts, taling 34,810,231 tons valued at $1,751,214,961. This traffic consti- ted about 31.4 percent of the port's total waterborne volume of freight. Local traffic followed, with 14,129,888 tons, or about 13 percent of e total waterborne tonnage, valued at $862,846,490.

The final category, internal traffic, accounted for only 5.6 percent of le total waterborne tonnage, or 6,188,493 tons, valued at $169,070,352. ince the origin or destination of most of this freight was the New York tate Barge Canal System, it may be permissible to discuss briefly, at this oint, the relation of the canal system to port economy. As previously oted, Erie Canal commerce played a decisive part in the early develop- hent of New York as a city and port. The importance of the canal iminished rapidly, however, after the appearance of the New York entral Railroad on the scene. By 1873 the New York Central was carry- ig as much tonnage as the canal; by 1884 it was carrying twice as much; nd in 1915 it transported 64,000,000 tons of freight, as compared with bout 2,000,000 tons handled by the canal system.

Traffic on the barge canals has been increasing steadily since 1919, when it amounted to only 1,238,844 tons. The present volume represents rise of approximately 500 percent over the bottom of 1919. Despite rate utting tactics-favorite and efficient bludgeon used by the rail systems to quelch competing canal operators-the canal system is regaining a con- tantly increasing quantity of bulk freight from the common carriers.

If present plans of the State of New Jersey to widen, deepen and reopen he Delaware and Raritan Canal under Federal auspices should materialize, general resurgence of internal water-transportation in the New York rea may very conceivably develop. Certain shippers would unquestion- bly regard with favor an inland water route linking the Great Lakes with Baltimore and points in the South. Such a route would benefit the New York State Barge Canal System, but the port's coastwise traffic would be ffected, since the projected canal would shorten by 264 miles the present voyage from New York to Baltimore.

Returning to the subject of Port of New York's waterborne commerce, ind recapitulating: During the calendar year 1936, 110,697,688 tons of cargo valued at $7,864,339,142 moved over the waters of New York Harbor. During the same period, all waterborne cargoes moving through

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Houston, Texas, Baltimore, the San Francisco Bay area and the Phila one delphia port district totaled 105,543,787 tons and were valued at $3,459, mos 235,455. In other words, although the Port of New York moved onl Ibo 5,153,901 more tons of cargo, the total tonnage handled had nearly twic the value of the combined cargoes moved by the other four ports. mi

A glance at a small cross-section of the mountainous cargoes passin; through the port is not without interest.

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Unusually large exports in 1936 included the following: 872,000 ton of general merchandise, 467,000 tons of motor vehicles and parts, 641,00( tons of wheat, 258,000 tons of flour and meal, 197,000 tons of hay and feed, 169,000 tons of kerosene and gasoline, 546,000 tons of lubricating oil and grease, 277,000 tons of iron and steel manufactures, 107,000 ton of coal-tar products, 135,000 tons of copper manufactures and 450,000 tons of scrap iron. The smallest export item was one ton of mats and matting.

Conspicuous in the vast bulk of imports poured into New York dock: during 1936 were the following: more than 4,500,000 tons of petroleum products, 735,000 tons of coffee, tea, cocoa and cocoa beans, 535,000 ton: of fruits and nuts, 905,000 tons of raw sugar, 346,000 tons of flaxseed 309,000 tons of paper manufactures, 263,000 tons of inedible vegetable in h oils, 101,000 tons of bags and bagging, 217,000 tons of wood pulp 366,000 tons of gypsum, 358,000 tons of iron ore, 414,000 tons of crude rubber. Cargoes of almost every commodity and raw material under the ca sun followed the above in varying volumes. The smallest import was by airplanes and parts, 6 tons; the next smallest was office appliances, 14 tons.

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New York panorama : a comprehensive view of the metropolis, Part 34

Author: Publication date: 1938 Publisher: New York : Random House Number of Pages: 630

Author:
Publication date: 1938
Publisher: New York : Random House
Number of Pages: 630