The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1918-11-25
Every Six Minutes a Merchant
Vessel Moves at an
American Port. j
TRAFFIC CHARTS ARE USED
Every Minute Of Time and Pound Of
caroe Noted and Thus Each Ves.
eel 10 Used 70 Utmost 70
Speed War PIan.~

merchant vessel arrives and another
departs from American ports. From
north Atlantic seaports there is
departure every eleven minutes-one
for Europe every forty minutes. This
rate OF operation does not include ves-
sells In the service OF the army or
navy.
The merchant feet of 1900 ships
under the control of the United States
shipping boerd is run as railroad, on
time schedule. The duty Of measur-
ing ships performances, with their
tasks, is lodged with the planning and
statistics division of the shipping
board, headed by E. 81. Gay, formerly
dean of the Harvard Graduate School
Of business.
Obviously the, division must know
the tasks in detail, ana so 1t co-ordi.
mates with the war industries and war
trade boards in determining and pro-
viding for the country's needs from
abroad. It works on month to month
schedules, or as far in advance as it
Is feasible or possible to forecast.
Works With All Departments.
In planning the use of ships the di.
vision works with the food administra.
ton in determining the shipping re-
quirements for food; with the war de-
partment in correlating shipping with
the requirements Of the line of sup
plies for the western front; with the
war industries board In seeking solu-
tion Of the problem Of bringing neces-
sary raw imports into the country, and
with the war trade board In preparing
the lists Of essential imports and ex-
ports.
AS the country has gone more and
more on q war basis, 1t has been re-
garded necessary to limit the list Of
essential imports to less than 100.
Data, on the ships and their trade pro-
vide, the basis for operation Of the
vesselb under the shipping boards con-
troll. Likewise records are kept Of
neutral vessels coming to this coun.
try or linking up with its foreign
trade. .s,--
Thus the division checks daily about
1000 vessels, 1900 of them being those
Of the shipping board, 5000 engaged
directly in American commerce and
$500 scattered over the globe and
trading for the most part with the al
lies or their colonies. Roughly, one
fourth Of the merchant ships Of the
world are watched by the shipping
board. ''>,.''
Charts for Each Ship.
Ship performances against tasks are
recorded by progress charts" which
show ata glance what the vessels have
TO do and how they are doing it. Each
set of charts Is divided into ten d.
visions-one each for movements Of
vessels, turn-arounds, ships charts Of
commodities, individual commodity
charts, summary Of imports, individual
trades. summary Of trades, ship charts
Of exports, performances in ports and
dock performances. Copies are dis.
tributed every ten days to govern
ments which require constant infOrma-
ton about the movement of supplies.
BY these movement charts any In.
formation regarding locations and
movements Of vessels is accessible.
and from past performances one may
forecast the time of future voyages.
The summary on shipping and trade,
prepared every ten days for the war
industries and war trade bo9Ttls and
the food administration. helps shape
the larger policies underlying the use
of American ships in war time. The
charts tell whether the ships al'ocated
to certain trade are enough, too
many or too few; whether they bring
III too little or too much; whether
they are on time, ahead Of time or
behind time, and whether the trade
movement is too slow, too fast or just
right. The charts also serve to guide
the ship control committee in the as.
signmeDt of vessels to various trades.
By comparing import requirements
against deliveries the charts . show
when vessels may be transferred from
one trade to another or released to the
army. ,-%.
Cal conan KNlrc End noAVc1D