The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1917-10-15
COAL SHIPMENTS
 10 BE FASTER; TOWING COMBINE
No Delay Necessary As Re- suit of Arrangement for
 New England

. .t-l 4t If the. expectations of Fuel Admin istrator Storrow are realized, the eff ficiency of water borne coal-carry- ing operations will be increased by at least 25 per cent. through the efforts of an organization known as the New England Coal Barge & Towers As sociation, of which Captain Arthur Crowley is the administrative head. Captain Crowley has taken offices at No. Al State street, Boston, and opens up for business this morning. The practical effect of this organi- zation is pooling of it's towing fa7 cilities, in order that coal for New
 England may be transported with the
 greatest facility. Whenever a fleet of coal barges is ready to be moved
 from receiving point to discharging point. or vice versa, instead of wait ing for some particular tugs to do the towing, the. barge owners will have to take the tug assigned by Captain Crowley. He will assign the nearest available tug and as he has dictatorial powers, both towboat own- CTS and barge owners will have to ac- cept his ultimatum. If there is any question of price involved that ques- ton will be subsequently settled by an arbitration committee. What Cap tain Crowley is expected to. do is to keep these coal barges on the move. Tn order that he may be fully ad- vised as to the whereabouts of tugs and barges, every member of the as- soetRtion has agreed to send him
 daily advices by telegraph or tele- phone as to. the exact position and status of every barge, and tug in it's service.
 l. ,nv-c nh h Q yya a barge ready for transport, Captain Crowley is empowered to designate a particular tug to do the towing, even though each of the owners has his own tug at hand. The purpose of l this is to consolidate shipments and l to avoid duplication of effort.
 | Important demurrage regulations have also been adopted, which will have the effect of speeding up the l loading and unloading of barges. Barges of fifteen hundred tons or
 less are allowed one day for loading and two days for unloading; barges of fifteen hundred to wo thousand tons one day for loading and two and one-half days for unloading; barges I of two thousand to twenty-five hun dred tons are allowed one and one- Ihalf days for loading and two and
 
 Ibarges of over twenty-five hundred H6ns capacity are allowed two days for loading and three days for unloading
 The demurrage charge beyond the lspecified periods is seven cents per Ecargo ton per day.
 l This organization was effected al the suggestion of the United States I Shipping Board, and it's scope and importance is indicated by the parties lin interest: Otis B. Kent, Attorney Examiner of the United States, Ship. lping Board, Washington D. C., who is chairman; James J. Storrow, vice. chairman; William J. Conlen ol
 Philadelphia. attorney for variou. icarriers; Isaac Buchanan of the Le
 high & Wilkes Barre Coal Co., New York; Captain J. G. Crowley of tht Coastwise Transportation Go, Bos ton; E. M. Fallon of the Souther1
 Transportation Co, Philadelphia
 Robert Grant of the New England Fuel and Transportation Co. Boston II O. H. Hagerman of the Philadelphia ii Transportation Co, Philadelphia 1Capt J. W. Hammond of the Stap1e
 Transportation Co., Fall River; Chas H. Potter of the Potter Transporta ton Co, New York and F. W. Hum of Philadelphia.
 By this combination Captain Crow i, Hey has hundred and thirty tugs un
 der his Jurisdiction. These tugs re ,i present about four-fffths of the yes
 sells normally engaged in the coa
 trade, the others having been take1 l by the government.