PORT ECONOMICS

for cargo handling purposes. The practice does not obtain
in this country.

CARGO ACCOMMODATION

It has already been indicated that on receipt (unless
homogeneous and ready for immediate transfer to lighter,
or truck), cargo is landed on a quay, or wharf, and taken
into a Transit Shed for sorting and dispatch. These
transit sheds are structures of varying size and material,
according to the circumstances of the trade and the
resources of the port, but it devolves upon a port authority
to provide and maintain them. They may be single,
double, or multi-storied. They may be long or short, wide
or narrow. It is impossible here to find space to lay down
conditions of design beyond stating that they should be
of ample capacity for all demands likely to be made upon
them, and pointing out the great importance of fireproof
(or fire-resisting) construction as influencing the cost of
insurance of goods, some of which are of a very combustible
nature.

One thing should be made clear. Transit sheds should
not be used for storage purposes. It is essential for the
smooth working of the berth with which they are associated,
that the shed should be speedily cleared of its incoming
goods in order to be ready for the next arrival. Otherwise,
congestion will occur, and possibly the berth may be
rendered idle through inability to find handling room for
cargo. It is usual to allow consignees a period ranging up
to seventy-two hours or more, in which to claim their goods.
Thereafter, they are charged a rental which makes it
advantageous to evacuate the shed as speedily as possible.

The proper place for the storage of goods, if and when
required, is the warehouse, and this should not be located

1 The process of sorting is often detailed and laborious. In a
cargo of a few thousand tons there may be different marks amounting
to six or seven hundred. This necessitates a considerable amount of
manual labour and militates against the employment of mechanical
appliances.

HO