"For the past 2 months the local agents of Gulf Pacific Line have refused to book any west-bound tonnage, which has necessitated shipping about 1,000 tons of soda ash and caustic by rail to Houston as well as a large amount of canned grapefruit juice from the Rio Grande Valley Canneries. Local lumber firms have tried to double their orders for shipment on the last east-bound Gulf Pacific vessel, the Point Lobos, which we understand will arrive here April 7 and be the last."

1. "We have been seriously harassed and embarrassed by having cars at Baltimore turned down by the steamship companies who had sold their vessels." "We have learned our lesson, however, and will not send any more that way but will use the all-rail route instead. We find it difficult to get space on any steamer for the next 30 to 60 days for intercoastal shipments.”

LUMBER

1. "The greatest difficulty encountered has been in obtaining bookings for east-bound tonnage. We are making purchases of fir doors and plywood lumber at various points in the States of Washington and Oregon for movement to our Philadelphia, Port Newark, N. J., and Boston warehouses, and within the last 2 months have found it almost impossible to obtain space on any of the boats."

2. "For more than 30 days we have been unable to obtain any space at all for our shipments destined Los Angeles and San Francisco. In fact, we have had orders canceled for some 12 cars account of the fact that we were unable to obtain space for shipments."

3. "In 1939, as a whole, intercoastal lumber shipments have fallen behind the orders by an average of nearly 2 million board feet per week. During the last 6 weeks, shipments have fallen behind orders by over 8.5 million feet per week. The total volume of unshipped orders for the Atlantic coast has steadily risen and on January 20 stood at 243,725 thousand board feet. This business, awaiting movement to the Atlantic seaboard, represents 54 full lumber cargoes, of the average size moving intercoastally.

"Only during the longshore strike of 1934 and the maritime strike of 1936-37 have there been any comparable accumulations of orders for West coast lumber awaiting shipment. A number of sawmills that normally depend upon the intercoastal trade have been compelled to decline orders from Atlantic coast buyers because of inability to obtain cargo space or any assurance of available space 60 or 90 days forward. And for this reason, a considerable number of mills have been forced to reduce their operating schedules to 3 or 4 days a week, or otherwise to curtail production and employment.

"This situation would be much less serious were there any prospect of relief in the usual course of intercoastal shipping. The reason why we are appealing to the Maritime Commission is that-not only is no relief in sight; but all indications point to an increasing shortage of intercoastal space as long as the war continues. What with the transfer of ships to other American flag routes and the sale of ships to foreign flags, the picture is gloomy indeed for the West coast manufacturer, whose former markets overseas are almost wholly closed; and now finds himself unable to accept orders from the industry's largest domestic water-borne market for lack of transportation. Over 60 percent of our sawmill capacity is on tidewater; and the bulk of this production lacks the drying facilities necessary for movement by rail. The enforced curtailment of operation of these mills is again becoming a serious factor in employment."

MOTORTRUCKS

1. "Our motortrucks move from North Atlantic ports and are now being held an average of about 3 weeks at the factory after they are ready for shipment before we can secure space on intercoastal steamers, with the result that orders are constantly being diverted overland rail. Ocean rates on trucks have more than doubled the last several years."

PAPER

1. “Just recently we have experienced difficulty in securing cargo space for the movement of this paper, and, in fact, in January of this year we expected to move 300 tons from Savannah to Los Angeles, and had offered the tonnage to

one of the intercoastal lines for a steamer sailing from Savannah, Ga., on January 29. They were unable to book this cargo, and it was necessary for us to contact another one of the lines, who were also unable to move the shipment. We had already loaded approximately 150 tons of this paper into rail cars for movement to the steamship dock, and it was necessary to return the cars to our plant for unloading.

"We were unable to move any of this paper from Savannah until about the middle of February, at which time we forwarded 350 tons via one line, and 350 tons by another."

2. "We are having considerable difficulty in securing intercoastal service on our movements from North Atlantic ports. The same condition exists on movements from the mills of the Southern Kraft Corporation, a subsidiary company, on movement from the Gulf to the Pacific coast. As you know, the GulfPacific has pulled out entirely and while we have been given some promise of relief by the Luckenbach Steamship Co. and the Isthmian Line we will not know definitely whether this will be sufficient for another several months. "At the present time we are definitely handicapped at both the North Atlantic and Gulf ports."

PIPE

1. "We have had considerable difficulty since February 1 in moving cast iron pipe and fittings from Gulf ports to Pacific coast destinations.

"The situation was bad before the sale of ships by Swayne & Hoyt. Since that time it has become quite acute. Even when taking all of the space we could secure from Gulf and South Atlantic ports, we still had on hand at Mobile, Ala., February 16, 1,700 tons of which 900 tons is still on cars as of March 21. We are hopeful that this will be cleaned up by April 6. In the meantime orders have accumulated and it has been necessary for us to ship many hundreds of tons all rail at a considerable loss. Our commodity is one which cannot pay the high transcontinental all-rail rate and successfully compete with other commodities.

"If this condition continues, and there is no assurance that it will be alleviated due to the backlog which has accumulated, while attempting to clear up the present accumulation, we will either be forced to withdraw from this market entirely or establish plants on the Pacific coast. Either of these solutions will be extremely costly."

2. "Just now, there is no westbound space available in the Gulf for March and April, and May bookings are fast closing out the available space for that period.

"We are short space for 500 tons in March and 1,200 tons for April.”

3. "We have been placed in a rather embarrassing position through the sale of the Swayne & Hoyt ships. We have contracted delivery on several carloads of pipe on the Pacific coast, which were already booked, but now everything has been thrown out of gear. Some of this pipe we will have to ship all rail on our own, and the additional expense will be for our account which, as you know, is considerable.

"We now have about ten carloads of pine at Mobile, and the Luckenbach people tell us it will be late in April before they can clear it, even though it was specifically booked for earlier sailings."

POWDER

1. "We have always experienced considerable difficulty on eastbound shipments, and while the instances are entirely too numerous to mention, we will offer incident as the most recent one, and also as an example of our experience for quite a long time. Our endeavors to obtain space during February for one carload-Oakland, Calif., to Philadelphia, Pa., resulted in obtaining space for shipment on March 21, at the very earliest, indicating delay of at least 1 full month, and we would say that in the past the delay has been from 1 to 2 months.

"As to westbound service, we have not experienced any considerable difficulty in the past, and this still holds good for the North Atlantic, but endeavoring to ship through New Orleans, we have just been informed during the past few days that we cannot obtain space for one carload until May because the steamers throughout late February, March, and April are booked full; thus evidently reflecting the shortage of ships in the Gulf intercoastal trade created by the sale of boats of the Gulf-Pacific Line."

SALT

1. "On February 9, we received an order from Seattle, Wash., for 100 tons of salt to be shipped at the earliest possible moment. Inasmuch as we had. been successful in securing space from the Isthmian Lines for the 50 tons on the steamer scheduled to clear February 28, we asked Isthmian Lines for space for this 100 tons for Seattle for their steamer the 28, as Luckenbach had previously advised us that they were booked full for the 14 and for February 28.

"On February 15, Isthmian Line advised us that they were booked full and could not handle on their steamer scheduled for February 28, and that they did not know when they would have another steamer clearing New Orleans for the Pacific coast.

"On February 9, we also asked Luckenbach for space for this 100 tons to Seattle. They advised that they were booked full for their sailing of February 28 and also their sailing of March 13; however, they did tell us that they would lift this 100 tons on their steamer scheduled to clear New Orleans March 27. This was more than 6 weeks after receipt of order.

"On February 9, we also asked Luckenbach for space for 100 tons to be shipped to Portland, Oreg., on their steamer of March 27, as they had previously advised that all steamers up to that time were booked full. They advised us that they could not handle this Portland order on their steamer of March 27. We then asked them for a booking for this 100 tons on their steamer clearing New Orleans April 10. They have finally confirmed space for this 100 tons on their steamer clearing New Orleans April 10. This is 2 months later than our first request for space."

SOAP

1. "We ship dry soda products and soap and soap products to the Pacific coast via intercoastal lines.

"We are having difficulty in securing space on those steamers. The last booking we have been able to get was for March 2 on order received by us February 15 for quick shipment.

"To test the situation have phoned the local offices of three intercoastal lines and have been unable to get any booking prior to last half of March. Wired two other lines to advise earliest possible booking 25 tons soda and have received answer from American-Hawaaian advising unable to accept before early April. No reply yet from other lines.

"The situation is certainly critical, specially for shippers of commodities similar to ours which have to absorb an out-of-pocket loss when forced to ship all rail."

SODA PRODUCTS

1. "We have had four cars for the west coast that have been here since about the 22d of February and they will not leave this port until somewheres in the neighborhood of March 10. Our commodity is bicarbonate of soda and sal soda."

2. "On January 5, we were advised that the sailing of January 10 was canceled and learned of the sale of their vessels to a foreign country by Swayne & Hoyt. Since then there has been more or less stalling and keeping shippers in suspense as to whether or not the service would be restored and things of that kind. Altogether, of course, it is most unsatisfactory.

"In the meantime, it has been necessary to forward shipments from Corpus Cristi to Houston or New Orleans, and the vessels which have been serving those ports naturally are crowded, which has caused some difficulty in securing booking, even after going to the expense of forwarding the shipments to those points.

"Our commodity is soda products (alkalis). The situation today is that Corpus Cristi, after having enjoyed a west-coast service for several years, is now without any."

STEEL

1. "Although we have not been shut out from the west coast entirely, we have been compelled to resort to "A" Line shipping which has proven unnecessarily expensive to us.

"We wish to go on record as opposing any harmful curtailment of intercoastal service, and further state that every possible step should be taken

to restore the intercoastal service to adequately take care of all interested shippers."

2. "We have not actually been shut out on any bookings recently, although the present situation has caused us a considerable amount of inconvenience. In many cases our shipments were delayed as much as two or three weeks. We will certainly welcome any steps taken to relieve the existing conditions. Our competition makes it necessary to use the intercoastal lines, and unless conditions improve, it may result in the loss of future business to us."

3. "We manufacture all kinds of flat rolled steel sheets and plates and over a period of years have worked up a fairly large business on the Pacific coast which we are very desirous of retaining, but it can only be retained through sufficient service by the intercoastal lines. It is impossible for us to ship by rail because of the transportation charges.

"In the week ending January 27 this year we had a total of 1,280 tons which we wanted to ship on the Luckenbach, sailing from New Orleans February 14, but they would only accept from us 507 tons, leaving 773 tons delayed and unshipped. The next sailing of the Luckenbach was on February 28, and by that time we had accumulated a total of 1,590 tons, but the Luckenbach would only accept from us 255 tons, leaving 1,335 tons delayed and unshipped. The next Luckenbach sailing is March 13 and between February 18 and March 13 we have accumulated an additional 559 tons, making a total of 2,667 tons, but out of this total we did manage to secure space for 500 tons on the Isthmian Line, sailing of March 9, so that our unshipped tonnage as of March 1 was 2,167 tons. We have space from the Luckenbach on their sailing of March 13 for 918 tons, which leaves us still with 1,249 tons which we have been unable to move or book up to the present time.

"The next Luckenbach sailing is on March 27, and we have been allotted 336 tons space on this vessel which will still leave approximately 900 tons unshipped at the end of this month, irrespective of what becomes available at the mill between now and the end of the month. The Isthmian Line tell us that they have no sailing in sight and cannot tell us when they will have another boat from New Orleans, although they have told us that they have so much tonnage ahead, that if and when they do have their next sailing they will very likely be unable to give us any space.

"This is a very serious situation with us, because if we expect to continue in business on the Pacific coast we must have sufficient water service. We have spent a great many years and considerable money in building up this Pacificcoast business, and if we were forced to give up now it would mean considerable loss to us. We hope that you will keep us informed of any further developments in this intercoastal trade."

4. "We are vitally interested in the continuance of adequate intercoastal service and feel that some effort should be made by the league to obtain additional ship assignments to this trade.

"Competitive conditions on the Pacific coast on our products are so severe as to compel us to use water transportation. There are a number of competitors located in California who are in a position to purchase steel on a delivered basis in California. Such steel generally moves via the Isthmian and Calmar Lines, subsidiaries of the United States Steel Corporation and Bethlehem Steel Co., respectively. This hook-up has a tendency to place steel on the Pacific coast at the lowest possible cost and where we are unable to ship our products by steamer we are at a disadvantage upward to $10 per ton in the transportation cost."

5. "After having booked sufficient space with the McCormick Steamship Co., they asked permission to divert two cars intended for the steamship Absaroka, which sailed February 8 and after we had given permission to divert the cars to the American-Hawaiian steamship Columbian sailing February 11, the McCormick Line later advised the American-Hawaiian they would take the cars but at the last minute found that they could not, with the result that they were delivered to the American-Hawaiian too late for the Columbian and did not clear Baltimore until February 20 on the steamship American, with the result these two cars were delayed 2 weeks.

"We booked 200 tons for the Pacific coast direct line steamer Hegira sailing February 18. They asked that we discontinue shipping for this steamer after we had shipped only about 75 tons. A further instance was 3 cars shut out by Quaker Line steamer San Rafael which sailed February 22. We had booked 400 tons for this steamer but were able to ship only 280 tons. The three cars shut out were not cleared until on the steamship Vermont on March 3.

"In addition to the above specific examples of delays and shut-outs, we also experienced considerable inconveniences and annoyances in securing bookings for specific tonnage. Altogether the.removal of so many ships from this intercoastal trade has produced a very unsatisfactory situation."

5. "For years we have been a steady shipper of iron and steel articles, particularly pipe, to the Pacific coast ports from New Orleans, and recently we have experienced serious difficulties in booking shipments from New Orleans to the coast. On January 29 we asked Luckenbach to book 43 tons of pipe for shipment on your steamer sailing February 14 for Los Angeles. The next day, the 30th, we had 45 tons to book on the same steamer. On that day your representative advised us that you would not accept the 43-ton booking on the 14th boat, and that you had more tonnage booked for that boat than you could handle. "We were obligated under a contract to deliver at a certain specified time on the Pacific coast the tonnage to which I have referred, and I was able to get your New Orleans office to accept for shipment on the 14th boat, the 88 tons referred to. On the 30th of January we asked that 861⁄2 tons be booked on your steamer sailing from New Orleans on February 28, 32 tons for Seattle and 531⁄2 tons for Los Angeles. We were advised that we could not book on your boat of the 28th because we were too far in advance of the sailing. Since our booking of January 29 was 16 days in advance of your February 14 sailing, and our attempted booking of the 30th was 28 days in advance of the February 28 sailing, we are in the peculiar predicament of wanting to know on what day in advance of your sailings we must book tonnage. It appears that we are either too late or too early.

"I am being advised by other shippers in this district that the service out of the Gulf is becoming wholly inadequate. It appears that not only is this true, but that your method of booking shipments is also such that industries in this section cannot properly serve accounts on the Pacific coast. You, no doubt fully realize the fact that we must tell our accounts on the Pacific coast when we can ship their goods, and if it is a fact that you have a sailing every 2 weeks, I cannot understand how we can be too early in booking our shipments for any sailing. In other words, if today we signed a contract for the delivery of goods to a customer on the Pacific coast within a certain specified time limit, or for the shipment on a certain boat, when are we to know on what date bookings for such boat is open. I shall appreciate your advice in the matter."

6. "We ship annually approximately 20,000 net tons of iron and steel articles, that is nails, barb wire, galvanized and plain steel wire, steel posts, wire fencing, and wire mesh concrete reinforcement, to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Portland, and Seattle, routing all cars via New Orleans and the steamship companies operating from New Orleans to the west coast.

"Prior to the discontinuance of Gulf-Pacific sailings from New Orleans, we had a regular booking of 500 net tons with Luckenbach for each vessel that they sailed from New Orleans to the west coast and approximately 350 net tons with Gulf-Pacific for each of their sailings, the total bookings aggregating 1,700 net tons per month.

"The discontinuance of Swayne & Hoyt's operation of the Gulf-Pacific Line and the resultant curtailment of service from New Orleans has left us in an extremely bad condition in our movement of materials from New Orleans.

"As of February 27 we had a total of 53 carloads of iron and steel in New Orleans that were shipped by us between dates January 8 and January 26, and that had been held at New Orleans for some time because of the impossibility of securing bookings. We understand that the Luckenbach sailing of February 28 cleared 25 of these cars, leaving on docks at New Orleans 28 cars. The tonnage now on hand at New Orleans is approximately 644 tons.

"We have booked 350 gross tons for Luckenbach sailing March 13 and 300 gross tons for Luckenbach sailing March 27. In spite of the tonnage on hand at New Orleans, this is all the booking that we can get of Luckenbach for these two sailings. They will not schedule a booking for their April 10 sailing and we have no assurance of what this sailing will be able to take.

"We have booked for Isthmian sailing March 23 a total of 50 net tons and it is impossible for us to get additional bookings via this vessel.

"We have orders on hand here for in excess of 100 cars (2,300 tons) and we have not made any shipments since February 9, 1940. Customers are clamoring for goods and present indications are that we will not be able to clear any additional shipments from New Orleans until at least April 10.

"The situation is extremely bad and something definite should be done promptly to correct it."