The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-01-20
S10O,OOO BARGE ID
 AID EXPORT TRADE Pratt Consolidated After New
 Orleans Business 800,000 TONS IN 1910 Company Expects to Supply Fully ,5OO,- 900 Tons for Crescent City Export
 Business During
 Present. Yenr

The initial step in 1911 to extend the
 exportation of Alabama coal for barge
 purposes at New Orleans was taken yes
 terday, when the Pratt Consolidated Coal
 company announced that barge costing
 s1oo.OO0 had been purchased by the New
 Orleans Coal company. The Pratt com
 pany supplies that concern with the local
 coal used in New Orleans and owns a portion of the company.
 The barge, 1t is announced is one of the requirements of a plan to double or this city to New Orleans. The barge will be added to the present large fleet of barges at New Orleans, but i. is said to be the largest ever purchased for coal purposes for that city.
 In addition to the costly barge which has been purchased Erskine Ramsay of the Pratt Consolidated said yesterday the company would take additional steps to further the accomplishments of his com pany in the New Orleans field.
 The entire barge consumption at New Orleans had been sent from Pittsburg and other points until a short time ago.
 The local coal producers went into tha,
 business with a desire to win out in the competition and have succeeded far bet ter than was anticipated in so short a time. It was announced yesterday that
 approximately S00,0O0 tons of Alabama coal was sold at New Orleans by the
 Pratt Consolidated last year This was nc tl,A ;sl,a l.. ;lI1..
 the other orders which were filled here
 the result was decidedly gratifying. The
 Pratt Consolidated produced in 1910 300,
 eco tons of coal. A large part of the
 gross tonnage was sold to the railroads
 and the other went into the New Or leans shipments.
 Extensive plans have been outlined for
 the work this year It is believed that the exportation of coal at New Orleans from Birmingham in 1911 will be much larger than it was last year.
 In talking of the efforts to be made 10 further the coal sales at New Or
 leans this year, K. E. Convile, traffic
 and sales manager for the company, said yesterday:
 we hoped to sell 100000 tons of Bir- mingham coal in New Orleans last year and fell short by only 100000 tons. We sold great tonnage, however, and are well pleased with our accomplishments
 Yesterday an order was placed by a
 subsidiary company of our company to | buy tug which will cost s100,o00. Tha: | indicates that the Pratt Consolidated vii | go after the barge and export business | at New Orleans in earnest this year. W.
 will ship at least 1,5O0,00O tons of coa
 into New Orleans during 1911 if every I thing operates as the outlook indicates ''The encouragement of that channel oi sales will help Birmingham surely We are not the only company which has
 been selling coal there, but all of the | local companies have been getting into that trade. It Is beyond dispute that we can do better by New Orleans than Pittsburg once we get the plans into good working order The results for our company during the past year certainly
 emphasize that fact. The trade on tn,
 mingham territory and 1t points out con- vincingly that this district can enter any
 of the export points south of this city Coalng ships at Mobile, New Orleans
 Pensacola and other, gulf points is just as easy for us as shipping anywhere The trouble is we have not been after
 the trade in the past