The members of the institute own and operate many large ships of the Victory and Liberty classes, various C classes, and the T-2, T-3, and larger tankers. In general, the harbor improvements to which we are asking you to give favorable consideration, are ones which will encourage and make more efficient the use of the modern merchant marine which this country has developed and is developing, and these improvements, particularly in depth and width, will result in very large over-all economies to the people of the United States. We should like to see the improvements recommended by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors carried out on the following harbors: Portland Harbor, Maine; Fall River Harbor, Mass.; New Haven Harbor, Conn.; Schuylkill River, Pa.; Savannah Harbor, Ga.; Hollywood Harbor, Port Everglades, Fla.; Sabine Neches Waterway, Tex. In addition to the projects which are now scheduled for hearings and on which reports have been made, we understand that reports may reach Congress on a number of other projects in which we have a great deal of interest, in the next few months. We hope these can be included in any bill which may be prepared. The ones in which the Institute has particular interest which fall in this class are: Mystic River, Boston Harbor, Mass.; Arthur Kill, New York-New Jersey Channels; Tampa Harbor, Fla.; Tidewater ship canal, New Orleans, La.; Lake Charles Harbor, La.; Galveston Harbor, Tex.; Texas City Channel, Tex.; Houston ship canal, Tex.; Aransas Pass and Corpus Christi Channel, Tex. Very truly yours, FRANK J. TAYLOR, President. THE ATLANTIC REFINING COMPANY, The Honorable JOSEPH J. MANSFIELD, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. SIR: As we maintain terminal facilities and operate large type tonnage to such facilities, we are much interested in the proposed improvements to New Haven Harbor (Conn.), Sabine-Neches Waterway (Tex.), Schuylkill River (Pa,), and Hollywood Harbor (Port Everglades, Fla.), as to which your committee will hold public hearings beginning this week. The American Merchant Marine Institute, of which we are members, will present data to the committee in connection with the proposed improvements, which we hope can be accomplished at an early date through necessary congressional action. The much larger tankers now in operation, such as the T2's built by the Government during the war, necessitate these proposed improvements to satisfactorily operate these larger ships to terminals such as the ones in question. Yours very truly, H. G. SCHAD, Vice President and General Manager Transportation. BRIDGEPORT HARBOR, CONN. STATEMENT OF COL. P. A. FERINGÀ, UNITED STATES ARMY, RESIDENT ENGINEER, BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS Colonel FERINGA. Mr. Chairman, the report on Bridgeport Harbor, Conn., is submitted in response to a resolution adopted by this committee on August 30, 1944. Bridgeport Harbor is on the north shore of Long Island Sound 57 miles east of New York City and 20 miles west of New Haven. The main harbor consists of an outer and inner area. Poquonock River, Yellow Mill Pond, Power House Creek, and Johnsons River extend from the main harbor into the eastern part of the city of Bridgeport. The existing project provides for breakwaters protecting the outer area of the main harbor and a main channel 30 feet deep and general ly 400 feet wide extending from deep water in Long Island Sound to a point 720 feet below Stratford Avenue Bridge; for tributary channels 18 feet deep in Poquonock River above the main channel, in Yellow Mill Pond and in Johnsons River; two anchorage basins in the main harbor, one of 30 acres, 25 feet deep, and the other of 36 acres, 18 feet deep. No work has been done on the modifications authorized by the River and Harbor Act approved March 2, 1945, which provide for dredging the main channel from its present depth of 25 feet and general width of 300 feet, to 30 feet deep and generally 400 feet wide. Deepening Johnsons River channel to 18 feet from its present general depth of 9 feet to a point 600 feet below Hollisters Dam as provided for in the River and Harbor Act of 1930 has not been accomplished because local interests have not complied with the requirement to contribute onehalf of the estimated cost of $39,000. The existing project as a whole is 63 percent complete. I might state that at that time Johnsons River was used by only, I think, one industry, and that traffic thereon was largely local. That condition has now changed. Instead of having a local industry, they now have three oil companies that are making use of that part of the waterway for interstate commerce, and therefore the Board felt that it was not proper to charge local cooperation, which we always do if it is just for local benefits, instead of Nationwide benefits. Mr. AUCHINCLOSS. Can you point out on the map where the railroad bridge runs? Colonel FERINGA. Here is the railroad bridge right here, sir [indicating on map]. Mr. AUCHINCLOSS. Thank you very much. Colonel FERINGA. There are 45 wharves with nearly 13,000 feet of available berthing space at Bridgeport Harbor, including 11 terminals with nearly 5,000 feet of berthage adjacent to the improved channels and anchorages in the main harbor. Commerce of the harbor and its tributaries had an annual average of over 2,000,000 tons during the past 5 years; principally coal and petroleum products. In 1941 this was carried in 3,137 in-bound and out-bound trips of barges, motor vessels, and steamers drawing up to 27 feet. Bridgeport, with a population of over 147,000, is the center of an industrial area containing 21 additional towns and having a total population of about 300,000. Local interests directly concerned with the establishment of petroleum terminals on Johnsons River request a turning basin 30 feet deep adjacent to the main channel at the Johnsons River channel entrance to accommodate large tankers for delivery of oil through a proposed 12-inch pipe line to the storage facilities to be constructed at Eagles Nest and deepening of Johnsons River channel to 15 feet for use in the receipt and shipment locally of petroleum products by motor vessels and barges with drafts of 12 to 18 feet. The Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors recommends modification of the existing project for Bridgeport Harbor to provide for construction of a channel 30 feet deep-switching it slightly in order to avoid damage to piling that would be undercut. In other words, where the project before came along in the southwest part of the harbor, it is now desired to shift it slightly to the north. A turning basin 30 feet deep at the entrance to Johnsons River channel, and for deepening Johnsons River channel from present depths to 15 feet deep and generally 200 feet wide to a point 1,700 feet below Hollisters Dam, thence 9 feet deep and 100 feet wide to 600 feet below Hollisters Dam, in lieu of the presently authorized 18 foot depth and attendant requirements for local cooperation. The Chief of Engineers concurs in the views and recommendations of the Board. The modification is recommended subject to the conditions that local interests make necessary changes in the Pleasure Island Bridge at an estimate cost of $45,000; give assurances satisfactory to the Secretary of War that they will provide suitable berthing and unloading facilities for large tankers on the main harbor turning basin; furnish free of cost to the United States all lands, easements, and rights-of-way and suitably bulkheaded spoil-disposal areas for the initial work and for subsequent maintenance when and as required; and hold and save the United States free from damages resulting from the improvement. The cost to the United States of new work, including that previously authorized but not done, $955,000. Cost of work previously authorized, $607,000. The cost of additional work recommended by this report,. $348,000. Estimated annual charges, $49,200. The proposed improvements will permit deeper draft vessels to use the channels, permit heavier loading, eliminate delays awaiting high tides, and provide for the safety and convenience of general navigation. The evaluated prospective annual benefits are estimated at $124,500, indicating a ratio of costs to benefits of 1 as to 2.53. The Governor of the State is in favor of the project. The Bureau of the Budget in its letter asked us to reconsider our recommendations in connection with Johnsons Creek. The Bureau of the Budget in this instance felt that we should not remove the previous requirement of local cooperation. That letter is in process of being studied. I believe that we can remove the objection made by the Bureau of the Budget when we point out that whereas it formerly was a project primarily concerned with local benefits, it now becomes a national improvement, and therefore should comply with the normal requirements for all river and harbor projects. The project of Johnsons River, General Weart told me this morning, can be used by two more oil companies than were considered when the report was written, and probably three-the Sun Oil Co., Buckley Bros., and the Public Oil terminal. That is all I have to offer on this project. I think there are local interests represented here. The CHAIRMAN. What is the present depth? Colonel FERINGA. It is 30 feet, and we do not recommend any deepening, in the present report. In brief, what we propose is a slight shifting of the presently authorized channel to the north in order that it will not endanger some existing piling; also a new turning basin at this location [indicating on map] in order that the oil tankers can tie up and discharge directly into a pipe line, which in turn will serve terminals to be located along Johnsons River. Johnsons River then will be used for loading for transshipment, I suppose you would call it, of the oil into barges and serving all that territory along Long Island Sound. The CHAIRMAN. The main channel is 25 feet deep, is it not? Colonel FERINGA. Yes; but it was authorized by the last Rivers and Harbors Act to be made 30 feet. The CHAIRMAN. Tankers cannot use it now? Colonel FERINGA. They cannot use it to maximum advantage, sir. And it is a matter that gives me some concern, where you might say, Why not recommend that all these ports be deepened to 32 or 35 feet? I believe the proper procedure is as we have always done in the past. If your committee instructs us to study a harbor then when justified we recommend deepening. Mr. GEELAN. Mr. Chairman, Mr. Morano, secretary to Congresswoman Luce, is present and would like to make a statement. STATEMENT OF ALBERT P. MORANO, SECRETARY TO REPRESENTATIVE CLARE BOOTH LUCE, OF CONNECTICUT Mr. MORANO. I would like to have permission from the chairman, on behalf of Mrs. Luce, to insert in the record various correspondence and statements from individuals interested in this project. If I may, I would like to say in addition that Mrs. Luce is interested in the improvement of the Stamford project which will come up later in the day. There is no one from Stamford here, but the people are all as much in favor of that project as Mrs. Luce is. (The documents referred to and submitted by the witness are as follows :) DOCKENDORFF & CO., INC., Bridgeport 3, Conn., April 9, 1946. Over the past 20 years I have had experience in the operation of deep-draft ships and barges in southern New England, and at the present the company that I represent owns considerable land adjacent to Johnson's Creek in Bridgeport Harbor. The need for a 30-foot channel in Bridgeport Harbor has been well established, and has been approved as of March 1945. The modification of this project providing for a 30-foot turning basin adjacent to this channel is necessary to realize the benefits as shown in the district reports. I have received a copy of the letter sent to your committee by Buckley Bros. of Bridgeport who own petroleum terminal facilities on Johnson's Creek, and who are planning to establish a terminal on the main harbor. I am, more or less, in sympathy with them in their viewpoint, in that the proposed channel line is very close to their property, and in that they are reluctant to waive possible damage to their property by any increased dredging in Johnson's Creek. Whether this damage would result or not is an engineering problem, but I want to bring to your attention the tremendous savings to the community of Bridgeport and the western New England area by the operation of deep-draft tankers in Bridgeport Harbor, and to the fact that there are many interested parties who wish to locate storage facilities at this port. The portion of Bridgeport Harbor known as Johnson's Creek is the only area available in Bridgeport Harbor for such development. It is ideally located as a central distribution point for petroleum products. The brief being submitted by the Bridgeport Chamber of Commerce indicates that the majority of these savings would accrue from the use of deep-draft ships, and this in my opinion is a correct statement. The turning basin and the deepening of the main channel requested by local interest is the main factor in order to realize these great savings. The deepening of Johnson's Crek is only incidental at the moment. The benefit which would accrue from the establishment of two terminals in Johnson's Creek is sufficient to warrant the provision of a 15-foot channel. It is, therefore, urgently requested that the modification of the Bridgeport project be approved to provide for the 30-foot turning basin in the main harbor and the 15-foot channel in Johnson's Creek, contingent upon the establishment by local interests of suitable public terminals. J. H. DOCKENDORFF, President. Distribution of petroleum products, Bridgeport area, 1941, showing present minimum transportation costs and savings, tankers via barges Estimated minimum discount on purchases of petroleum products via tankers over barges $0.10 per barrel, 5,350,000 barrels.. Total annual savings... $28,000 112,000 80,000 152, 000 16,000 18,000 18 36,000 442,000 535, 000 977,000 SUN OIL Co., Subject: Bridgeport Harbor, Conn. project. The HONORABLE CLARE BOOTH LUCE, Philadelphia, Pa., March 29, 1946. House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. MADAM: The following is a brief summary of the economic factors involved in the proposed dredging of the Johnson's Creek Channel, so far as Sun Oil Co. is concerned: 1. The city of Bridgeport is the industrial capitol of Connecticut and the focul marketing point for an area of approximately 760 square miles. The population embraced within this area is approximately 285,000. (See letter from the Secretary of War, 76th Cong., 3d sess., Doc. No. 819.) 2. The normal volume of petroleum products handled by Sun Oil Co., through Bridgeport totals approximately 31,000,000 gallons, or 95,385 tons, per annum. The principal products so handled are gasoline, fuel oils, and industrial oils. At present this volume is handled principally by barge, with a relatively small proportion being delivered by tank cars and rail shipments of drums. 3. The potential volume to be handled in the post-war period by Sun Oil Co., following completion of the proposed harbor improvements, will total approximataely 51,000,000 gallons, or 156,932 tons, per annum. (The figures herein set forth, together with those referred to under item 2, were contained in a detailed report given by us to the United States engineer, Providence, R. I., on February 27, 1945.) 4. In anticipation of the dredging of Johnson's Creek Channel, Sun Oil Co. entered into an agreement, dated March 6, 1945, for the purchase of approximately 10 acres of land in the area of Eagle Nest, Bridgeport, Conn., the consideration being the sum of approximately $35,000. This agreement is contingent upon congressional approval of the harbor project. 5. Upon acquisition of the above lands, it is the intention of Sun Oil Co., to construct a modern terminal and bulk plant with dock facilities, the same to involve an ultimate expenditure of approximately $200,000. 6. The existence of such a terminal would provide a more economical and efficient petroleum distribution center for the entire Brideport area. The above statements represent the basic outline of our position regarding the proposed harbor improvements. We would be only too happy to furnish such detailed information as you might desire. Very truly yours, SUN OIL Co. |