Two Jobs in One

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 603, 4 March 1929, Page 8

Two Jobs in One

Efficiency in Cargo Handling

The two cranes which are being erected on Western Wharf to facilitate the handling of shipping are not the acme of mechanical achievement, except that they are the latest thing of their type to be employed on the waterfront. When it is said that they do two jobs at once, it is not meant that the shy is black with long arms reaching in all directions and hurling goods about the wharves like sowing seeds in the fields. This is to convey that the arrangement of the cranes by the Harbour

d- -r!- rr -r rr rr rr rr. :'r :'r rr rr rtf Board engineer, Mr. D. Holderness, is such that the cost of handling coal will be materially reduced and the contrivances will in effect perform one job where previously two were necessary. The secret of this performance is that the radius of the cranes is 70 feet, or nearly 20 feet longer than anything else operating on the wharves here, and longer than anything of the kind employed in the Dominion. The huge arms, which will tower impressively above every structure in the vicinity, will be used for transferring coal from ship to ship, and from ship to wharf. Western Wharf is used for two purposes. First it is the landing place for all case and bulk oil passing through the port, and secondly its equipment is used to unship coal for gasworks, shipping and other purposes. The oil’ most of which arrives in bulk, is largely disposed of through pipes reaching to the ship’s side, specially installed by the oil companies handling

MACHINES capable of doing two jobs iii one are the lat. >r acquisition on the workings at the waterfront. The long arm of efficiency stretches further across the harbour daily, and the board which controls these massive black shapes is bringing the Dominion's leading port closer to the point of economical perfection.

the goods, and wharf lifting is unnecessary. So far as the coal is concerned, however, the position is entirely different. The cargo for the Auckland gasworks is taken from the colliers and railed up to the works at Freeman’s Bay on a line belonging to the Auckland Gas Company, while the remainder has to be removed from the wharf and transferred into hulks for shipping companies and private concerns. The installation of the new cranes, which represents a genuine endeavour by the board to assist consignees and shipping owners, will alter this system, and the long arm will now stretch out from the wharf, lift the coal from the collier, and lower it into the hulk which waits alongside. COSTING £9,000

Each crane is of three tons capacity, lifting from 22cwt. to 2Scwt. at every grab. Each is fitted with four motors, against the usual installation of three, the extra motive power being for selfpropulsion along the wharves. The base of the first machine is in position, and the remainder will be installed within a fortnight. The second will be erected within about five weeks. Together these up-to-date machines cost the Harbour Board about £9,000 erected. Speed in handling is the declared aim of the Auckland Harbour Board. Efficiency in wharf equipment is recognised as the shortest cut to this end, and large sums of money are spent periodically to bring the port facilities into line with the most modern systems in existence. These two cranes, while in themselves appearing comparatively small, represent a big saving in time—and incidentally freight and wharfage charges—to shipping companies. BUSINESS-GETTING POLICY As Mr. Holderness put it: “If the board, by the expenditure of a few thousand pounds, can manage to turn every ship around one day sooner than she otherwise would be emptied, it has done something worth while. Big boats cost a lot of money to have standing at the wharves, and a service which might appear insignificant sometimes has the effect of saving the companies a great deal in freight and dues.”

The erection of these two long-span cranes is but one of many moves which the Harbour Board is making toward the ideal port. The installation at great cost of a system of cranes might or might not be financially remunerative to the board, but as the engineer explains, this is the secondary consideration, because facilities bring the business, and if the business is attracted, the port ultimately pays its way.

Incidentally it is claimed that the system of wharfing and lifting which is adopted on the Auckland waterfront is the most efficient in the Dominion mainly on account of the centre roadway with sheds on each side, allowing goods to be handled expeditiouslyand conveniently.