CHAPTER 1IV

PORT SERVICES AS REGARDS SHIPPING
Tue services rendered to shipping on arrival in port by
the staff of the Port Establishment have been indicated,
in part, in the preceding chapter, but they cover a
much ampler field than the mere routine involved in the
reception and discharge of ships and cargoes, and it
will now be well to consider them in greater fullness and
detail.

The range, in fact, is so wide as to render it necessary
to divide the subject into two sections, the first relating
to shipping and the second to goods. In this chapter we
will confine our attention to Port Services to Shipping.

It must be explained, at the outset, that the scope and
extent of both sets of services vary considerably at
different ports, and that only rarely are they discharged
in their entirety by a single body. Private enterprise
supplements, in many cases, the operations of a port
authority and there is no clear line of delimitation. We
shall find it convenient, however, to deal with the services
as a whole.

THE PORT ENTRANCE AND APPROACHES

Starting with the entrance channel, there is the duty
of maintaining it, defining it, lighting it by night, clearing
it of wrecks and other obstructions, improving it by
regulation works, deepening it by dredging operations,
and, generally, keeping it in a state of improved efficiency
in order to meet the requirements of navigation and the
demands of shipbuilders. While no hard and fast rule
can be laid down for the depth of water required for the
reception of modern shipping, it may be said in a general
way that no port can be regarded as a first-class port

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