Smyrna times., 1932-11-23
URGE DEEPER AND
WIDER CANAL
100000 Improvement to
Waterway Asked at Bal
timOre Hearing
SEE s75O,OOO IN SAVINGS


Shippers and port representatives
from Philadelphia, Norfolk, Cam
den, Wilmington and Hampton
Roads Joined with Baltimore ship
ping interests Wednesday in pre-
senting a plea for the deepening
and widening Of the Chesapeake
and Delaware Canal at a hearing
before Col. Earl 1. Brown, United
States District Engineer, in charge
of the waterway. Colonel Brown
conducted the hearing in the as
sembly rooms of the Baltimore As
sociation of Commerce. He will
prepare a report to be submitted
to Congress next month. A $15,-
100000 improvement in the water
way would result in an annual saw
ing of $750,OO0 to ship lines, G. H.
Pouder, executive vice-president of
the Baltimore Association of Com
merce, testified Mr.. Pouder pre-
sented a survey prepared by the
Export and Import Bureau of the
association showing in retail the
anticipated savings. Among those
who testified were James H. Pres
ton, chairman of the Port Develop
ment Commission; John H. Small,
representing the Atlantic Deeper
Waterways Association; Capt Will
liam E. Bernard, president of the
Philadelphia Vessel Owners and
Captains Association and assistant
commissioner of the Department of
Wharves, Docks and Piers, Phila-
delphia; H NJ Thompson, manager
of the Hampton Roads Maritime
Exchange; Gerrish Gassaway, sec
retary of the Wilmington Chamber
Of Commerce; Charles H. Grant,
manager of the Wilmington Board
Of Harbor Commissioners, and j.
Alex Crothers, general manager of
the South Jersey Port Commission.
Thirty-Foot Depth Requested
Requests for deepening ranged
from extension Of the present
depth of 12 feet to Is to 80 feet
and the present 9O-foot width to
$50 to 300 feet. A. E. Dutton, rep
resenting Norton, Lilly & Co,
steamship agents, testified that i'm
provement in the Chesapeake and
Delaware Canal to make possible
the accommodation Of ocean-going
vessels would have saved shipping
concerns represented by his COM
pany an average of $23, 900 a year
in the last three years in steaming
costs and time. A $31 900 annual
saving in its operation was esti-
mated by John Sonderman, repre-
senting the Calmer Line, and Moore
& Mccormack, Inc, operating SER
vices from Baltimore to the Gulf,
South America and Scandinavian
ports.
;. A. Tubman Testifies
S. A. Tubman, representing two
steamship lines operating between
Baltimore and Philadelphia, said
the present restricted depth and
width of the canal had operated to
cost the companies he represented
thousands of dollars in the last two
years through delays by grounded
barges obstructing the channel, un-
due bottom wear and repairs and
inability to operate on strict sched-
ules. Owing to the tidal currents
in the canal, barges of the Allan
tic Refining Company, which rep
resent approximately seven per
cent of the 100000 annual tonnage
through the canal, are subject to
frequent delays, j. E. Moss. a rep
resentative of the company testi-
fled. Because of the danger Of OPP
Grating through the canal at night,
he said, the company's tugs and
barges lost many days each year
waiting for day tides or steaming
around through the Virginia Capes
and northward.
Cites Repair Yards Loss
IN addition, Mr.. Moss said, Balti-
more ship repair yards lost thous-
ands of dollars of business each
year to Philadelphia yards on larg-
er ships Of his company and other
companies because Of the necessity
Of shipowners adding to the bids
from Baltimore the cost of sending
their ships by the route through
the Capes.
EMIGRANT BANK o