tions between points on both divisions. Applicant is fit and able, financially and otherwise, to conduct the operation. The volume of less-than-carload traffic tendered to the railroad for shipment to points on its lines intermediate to Cleveland and Toledo is considerable. During the last half of March 1942, there was a daily average of 55,778 pounds per day shipped to these points, of which approximately 86 percent was interstate traffic. Out-bound freight during the same period averaged 62,565 pounds per day, of which 96 percent constituted interstate business. If this traffic were transferred to applicant for transportation over the proposed route, it is estimated that from 125 to 130 boxcars per month could be released for other uses. The proposed coordinated rail-truck service will result in a saving and a more efficient handling of merchandise traffic as well as in an improvement in the handling of carload traffic. Protestant motor carriers, while not denying the existence of a need for the proposed service, contend that present facilities over the route are adequate to perform the service needed by the railroad. These competitors, although not serving all of the points individually, do serve them all as a group and appear to have equipment available to perform the service. However, the railroad is averse to having contractual relationships with several carriers in the same vicinity and covering the same operation. Because of its past satisfactory experience with applicant and because of the fact that applicant now performs a like service over portions of its lines in the same general vicinity, it prefers that applicant perform all of its substituted service to points intermediate to Cleveland and Toledo. It is the railroad's contention that the transfer of this less-than-carload freight to motor common carriers now operating over this route would not be in the interest of the railroad, as such carriers are in open competition with it, not only over this portion of the system, but over other portions as well. The service which it particularly desires is one which will be devoted exclusively to its requirements and which can be adapted to its peculiar needs. To utilize the facilities of protestant motor carriers, the railroad would be required to make arrangements with at least two of them, each performing a more or less disjointed part of the service. Any such plan of coordination must depend on voluntary cooperation, as we are without jurisdiction to require the establishment of coordinated service between rail and motor carriers. The situation here is substantially similar to that discussed in Kansas City S. Transport Co., Inc., Com. Car. Application, 28 M. C. C. 5, wherein it was concluded that coordinated service through the voluntary cooperation of all or some of the protesting motor carriers would not be practicable. A like conclusion is warranted here. In Kansas City S. Transport Co., Inc., Com. Car. Application, supra, a so-called key-point condition 3 was imposed prohibiting the handling of shipments by motor vehicle between certain designated points. That restriction was imposed to prevent the substitution of motorvehicle service, not required in the public interest, for through-train service which was maintained between the points. Such a condition is not applicable here since there is no through-train service between the proposed points. However, as previously indicated, the proposed route will connect with applicant's present authorized routes between Toledo and Cleveland and between Cleveland and Buffalo. The three points mentioned are break-bulk points. Applicant does not propose to transport shipments, over the proposed route, moving between Buffalo and Cleveland, on the one hand, and Toledo, on the other, nor does the railroad intend for applicant to handle such traffic as it now moves expeditiously by rail. An appropriate condition, therefore, will be imposed to prohibit the handling of such traffic over the proposed route. Applicant has equipment available to perform adequately the desired service and through past experience is well qualified to render it. It has specialized in this type of service for many years and because of its present operations is in a position to coordinate all of these substituted services in this general area. We are of the opinion that the benefits to be gained from the proposed operation, in the way of expedited service, economy of operation, and release of boxcar equipment which can be used to better advantage, are in the public interest. On the other hand, the proposed service will not adversely affect the operations of existing carriers, since it merely involves the substitution of a more efficient for a less efficient means of service in the handling of rail traffic, and the operations hereinafter authorized will be so limited. We find that present and future public convenience and necessity require operation by applicant as a common carrier by motor vehicle, in interstate or foreign commerce, of general commodities, except household goods as defined in Practices of Motor Common Carriers of Household Goods, supra, between Genoa and Elyria, Ohio, over the following route: From Genoa over Ohio Highway 163 to junction Ohio Highway 2, thence over Ohio Highway 2 to Vermillion, Ohio, thence over Ohio Highway 60 to junction Ohio Highway 113, thence over Ohio Highway 113 to Elyria, and return over the same route with service at all intermediate points and at off-route points within 4 miles of the designated highways which are stations on the line of the New York Central Railroad, subject to the following conditions: (1) The service to be performed by applicant shall be limited to service which is auxiliary to, or supplemental of, rail service of the New York Central Railroad, hereinafter called the railroad. (2) Applicant shall not serve any point not a station on the rail line of the railroad. (3) Shipments transported by applicant shall be limited to those which it receives from or delivers to the railroad under a through bill of lading covering, in addition to movement by applicant, a prior or subsequent movement by rail, but no shipments shall be transported over the route authorized herein by applicant as a common carrier by motor vehicle between Buffalo, N. Y., and Cleveland, Ohio, on the one hand, and Toledo, Ohio, on the other. (4) All contractual arrangements between applicant and the railroad shall be reported to this Commission and shall be subject to revision, if and as we find it to be necessary in order that such arrangements shall be fair and equitable to the parties. (5) Such further specific conditions as we, in the future, may find it necessary to impose in order to restrict applicant's operation to service which is auxiliary to, or supplemental of, the rail service. We further find that applicant is fit, willing, and able properly to perform such service and to conform to the requirements of the Interstate Commerce Act and our rules and requirements thereunder; that a certificate authorizing such operation should be granted; and that the application should be denied in all other respects. Upon compliance by applicant with the requirements of sections 215 and 217 of the act and our rules and regulations thereunder, an appropriate certificate will be issued. An order will be entered denying the application except to the extent granted herein. 42 M. C. C. INVESTIGATION AND SUSPENSION DOCKET NO. M-2139 MINERAL WOOL, FROM SOUTH PLAINFIELD, N. J., TO CONNECTICUT, MASSACHUSETTS, AND RHODE ISLAND Submitted May 3, 1943. Decided August 30, 1943 1. Proposed motor common carrier commodity rates on mineral wool from South Plainfield, N. J., to points in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island found just and reasonable. 2. Rule proposed in connection with such rates, providing a minimum weight on less-than-truckload shipments loaded to the capacity of vehicle, found unlawful. Rule ordered canceled without prejudice to the establishment of a new rule in conformity with views expressed, and proceeding discontinued. John T. Money for respondent. I. C. Bailey and S. W. Earnshaw for protestants. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION DIVISION 2, COMMISSIONERS AITCHISON, SPLAWN, AND ALLDREDGE BY DIVISION 2: Exceptions were filed by protestant The New England Motor Rate Bureau, Inc., to the order recommended by the examiner, and the respondent and a supporting shipper replied thereto. Our conclusions differ somewhat from those recommended. By schedules filed to become effective November 25, 1942, Eastern Motor Freight Lines, Inc., proposed to establish reduced truckload and less-than-truckload commodity rates on mineral wool, in batts, and loose in bags, from South Plainfield, N. J., to numerous points in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island. Upon protest of The New England Motor Rate Bureau, Inc., and of the New England Freight Association on behalf of the interested rail carriers, operation of the proposed schedules was suspended until June 25, 1943, and subsequently was postponed by the respondent until August 24, 1943, when the schedules became effective. Rates will be stated in amounts per 100 pounds. Mineral wool, otherwise known as rock wool because it is manufactured from rock or slag, is used principally as thermal insulation in buildings and, as such, is marketed either in the form of loose wool or batts. It's market value is about $35 a ton for plain loose wool and $45 a ton for loose wool in granulated form. The average market value of the batts is $42 per 1,000 square feet or approximately $61 a ton. Loose wool is generally packed in bags of about 35 or 40 pounds each, having a density when loaded of 12 to 15 pounds a cubic foot. In the form of batts, varying from 1 to 3 inches in thickness, 15 inches in width, and from 2 to 4 feet in length, it is shipped in cartons having loading densities ranging from 6.5 pounds to about 9.8 pounds a cubic foot. On exceptions, the protestants question the foregoing estimates of density which were supplied by a shipper appearing in support of the proposed rates. Shipments of batts made by this shipper have weighed from 7,843 to 8,500 pounds and those in loose form from 16,000 to 18,000 pounds. Using these weights and assuming that the shipments moved in open-top vehicles of "average" dimensions, the protestants contend that the average weight densities of the batts and loose wool are approximately 5.9 and 12.4 pounds a cubic foot, respectively. The record does not establish the maximum carrying capacities of the vehicles customarily used in the transportation of mineral wool or of the respondent's vehicles. Shipments of loose wool transported by the respondent from another origin point have weighed 16,200 pounds, but the vehicles were not fully loaded. The proposed rates, examples of which are shown in the appendix hereto, are generally the same as those maintained by the respondent and certain other motor common carriers from Manville, N. J., to the same destinations. The protestants also except to the finding of the examiner based on evidence submitted by the respondent and supporting shipper, to the effect that rates to the destinations here considered, generally the same as those proposed from South Plainfield, are maintained from Manville by motor carriers other than the respondent. The rates maintained by these carriers from Manville are in less than truckloads, second class on the batts and third class on loose wool in bags, and, in truckloads, column 37.5 (37.5 percent of the first-class rates), minimum 16,000 pounds, on the commodity in either form. The class-rate tariff is subject to a rule providing so-called minimum class rates, or "stops," applicable on all commodities, for the account of the carriers parties thereto. This is the basis for the exception of the protestants just referred to. The record, however, discloses that five carriers do not observe these "stops" in the class-rate tariff as minima. The principal production of the commodity in this territory is at South Plainfield, Manville, Netcong, Dover, and Trenton, N. J. From the competitive producing points other than Manville, the rates maintained by the protestant motor carriers on this traffic are in a majority of instances somewhat higher than those maintained from Manville, |