Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1918-08-21
RUNS SHIPS ON TIME SCHEDULE.
Vessel Arrives and One Departs Ever,

Vessel Arrives and One Departs Every
az Six Minutes From v. S. Port.
Washington, Aug. u. Every SIX
minutes merchant vessel arrives and
another departs from American ports,
From Moth Atlantic seaports there is
a departure every eleven minutes: and
one from Europe every forty minutes
This rate of operation does not include
vessels in the service OF the army or
navy. ~
The merchant fleet of 1900 ships,
under control of the shipping board, are
run as railroads on a time schedule The
duty of measuring ships performances
with their tasks is lodged with the
planning and statistics division of the
shipping board, headed by q. H. Gay,
formerly dean Of the Harvard Graduate
School of Business. rs
In planning the use of ships the
division works with the food admins
tration in determining the shipping rer
quirements for food; with the war de-
partrnent in correlating shipping with
the requirements OF the line Of supplies.
to the western 'front.' with the war in
dustries board in seeking solution Of the
ports into the country. and with the
war trade board in preparing the lists
OF essential imports and exports.
AS the country has gone more and
more on a war basis. it has been re-
garded necessary to limit the list OF
essential imports to less than a hum
dred Data on the ships and their trade
provides the basis for operation of the
vessels under the shipping boards con-
troll. Likewise records are kept of neu-
trail vessels coming to this country or
linking up with its foreign trade Thus
the division checks daily about 1000
vessels, 1900 of them being those of the
shipping board. 1900 engaged directly
In American commerce and 1900 scat
tered over the globe and trading for the
most part with the allies or their COL
onies. Roughly, one-fourth of the mer-
chant ships of the world are watched
by the shipping board.
Ship performances against tasks are
recorded by progress charts" which
show at glance what the vessels have
to do and how they are doing it. Each
set OF charts Is divided into ten divi-
sions-one each for movements of ves-
sells, turn-arounds, shipcharts of COM
modities individual commodity charts,
summary of Imports, individual trades,
summary of trades, ship charts Of ex-
ports performances In ports, and dock
performances. Copies are distributed
every ten days to. governments that re-
quire constant information sabout the
movement of supplies. s.f:5 s.
!. BY these movement charts all infor-
nation regarding locations and move
inents OF. vessels is accessible and from
past records one may forecast tine tlfue
of future voyages
The summary on shipping and trade,
prepared every ten days tortne war In.
dustries and war trade boards and the
food administration, helps shape the
larger policies underlying the use of
American ships in war time. The charts
tellswhether the ships allocated to Ger
tain trade are enough, too many or
too few; whether they bring in too lit
tie or too much; whether they are on
time. ahead OF time or behind time. and
whether the trade movement isS too
slow, too fast or just right. The charts
also serve to guide the ship control
committee in the assignment OF vessels
to various trades. BY comparing i'm
port requirements against deliveries
the charts show when vessels may be
transferred from one trade to another
or released to the army.