New-York tribune., 1918-01-11
Coal Shortage Not Only
Ties Up Freight, but
Also 1856 Ships
Rail Administration
Working Desperately
Port Gorged With Goods
for Allies Which Can
not Be Moved
BY Theodore M, knannen

With higl' tide of 6O,ooo laden
freight cars above the normal amount
added to the eastward movement and
with the westward movement, despite
extraordinary efforts, increased by
only 5000, of which only 1000 are
emptlcs, the new national administra-
ton of the railways is confronted by a
task that threatens to ovcrwhclm it.
Desperate efforts to hasten coal TO
tlo shlvering people of the Atlantic
seaboard and food and other supplies
to tho needy Allies arc riling up the
freight cars in Atlantic terminals at an
unprecedented rate.
Transatlantic shipping has in effect
gone out of business.
Only six ships got bunker coal in the
whole Port of New York yesterday.
twenty-five ships arrived with empty
bunkers.
The greatest transportation crisis of
the war has arrived The RAILWAYS are
overwhelmed, the ships arc steanlless.
one hundred and thirty-six ships wait
tor coal, and while they wait for coal
the cars that are to fill them must
walt, unless. perchancc, n little room
may be found III piers already congest.
cd and lighters already turned into
Storehouses.
Freight Dumped on Ground
The warehouses and piers are ful1.
lighters are laden. side tracks are
gorged, hundreds Of thousands of tons
OF freight have been dumped on the
ground. Still the flood of freight pours
IN from the inexhaustible West. only
to encounter the dam Of insufficient
shipping temporarily turned into no
shipping.
Bunkering Of ships has all but
stopped. The ice has put a whole /eet
or tugs out Of business. Labor cannot
be obtained to handle the coal that the
crippled coal barge fleet Is able to de-
liver.
Elisha Lee, operating vice-president
OF the Pennsylvania, and reputed a
mighty man in making things move,
FASTENED to the coal terminals, only to
find himself almost powcrless, with
thirty two barges of bunker coal ready
to move and no tugs to move them
through ice three feet thick.
Winter Fights for Germans
Winter is fighting for the Germans at
New York.
Here are some of the figures that
tell the story of the congestion:
Eastbound freight cars January 10,
57,5O7 above normal; Westbound only
6,4O8 above normal.
Bituminous coal on barges, but with
no power to move them, 3O,171 tons-in
sight of 136 ships waiting for coal and
unable to receive cargo until they get
coal.
United States government freight
standing in cars at the four ports of
New York. Philadelphia. Baltimore and
Newport News fills 1865 cars and takes
up 80 carloads of space on piers and in
warehouses.
United States government freight have
been detained in New York harbor
from five to twelve days. with an aver
age of seven and two ffths days and
u total loss of 3191s days
OF domestic freight there are on
lighters, piers and trucks in New York
harbor S,368 carloads, while 2,O16 cars
are held on tributary sidings, making
total Of 10,3S4 carloads of domestic
freight held UP in New York alone
Despite embargoes, shipping pools
and utmost efforts to load and dispatch h
ships the accumulated freight at all
North Atlantic ports was reduced only
1900 cars between the middle of Decem-
ber and January / and is now increas-
ing again
Governments Suffer Most
OF the ,1O1 carloads accumulated
on January l about 1853 were COM
mercial export freight and 30,582 were
for the United States or other govern
ments OF this government freight
1859 carloads belonged to the United
States government, 4,682 to Great Brit
ain, 1865 TO France, 1923 to Russia,
and 1908 to Italy.
OF the total 1O,932 carloads were
actually in cars. the rest having been
unloaded in some way. About $4,000
carloads of the jammed freight is in
or around the port of New York.
This is the answer to the optlmlsts
who think the submarine is beaten.