PORT ECONOMICS
of matters : as to what constitutes “arrival in port,”
“ delivery alongside,” “ demurrage,” “ working days,”
etc. In relation to such practices as the sorting of goods
and rate of payment therefor, there is very close connection
with another disturbing element, viz., Custom of the
Trade.

These Port Customs do not perhaps directly affect the
working of the port from the port authority’s point of
view, but they are sometimes not without a certain
detrimental effect, principally in discouraging trade,
although a distinction must obviously be made between
customs which, consecrated by long usage, if not actually
serviceable, are, at any rate, merely harmless, and those
which under modern conditions have become vexatious.
The following passage from the Report of the Port
Facilities Committee of the Chamber of Shipping of the
United Kingdom, relating to the procedure of a certain port
in Scotland, may be taken as illustrative of the class—

“The rate of discharge was found to be hindered, to some extent,
by a custom limiting the number of hand trucks supplied by con-
signees to take delivery from ship’s tackle, viz., four to each hatch.
When this number is insufficient to keep pace with discharge, other
hand trucks are provided at the steamer’s expense. It seems
unreasonable that the extra expense should fall on the steamer.
The custom should be altered and the onus of providing a sufficient
number of hand trucks should be the liability of receivers and at
their expense.” 1
VALUE OF EXPEDITION

Having briefly reviewed the routine of a ship’s stay in
port, it only remains to point out, in a concluding word,
the imperative need of celerity and dispatch from the
point of view of economy. A ship is designed for trans-
portation purposes and is only an effective and economical
instrument while she is ploughing her way across the
seas. While in port, her expensive machinery lies idle
(subject, of course, to occasional necessary attention), and
she is used simply as a temporary store or dep6t for
goods until such time as she is ready to depart on a fresh

1 Report of Port Facilities Committee, p. 24.

40