I want to join, Mr. Chairman, in what Congressman Colmer said. We have the fastest developing oil State in the United States. We have got a big oil production. That is true. We produce more barrels of oil today than Arkansas.

We have no pipe lines. We cannot get steel to build pipe lines. It all has to be shipped out of the State by tank car, and they cannot get enough tank cars to ship the oil to market, and this will let some tankers come into the port there.

Those fields are in the southern part of the State, within a 75-mile radius of this port. It will certainly get oil to market.

The nitrate people tell me the new boats that bring Chilean nitrate― and you know the furore in the country over nitrogenous fertilizer-that has been the big point of entry for boats from Chile. They cannot come there-the new boats. They could if this were adopted. To go to New Orleans with the added freight rate would cost several dollars a ton for the Delta areas of the Mississippi River.

I think the project would pay for itself in a few months. I know it goes to the interests of our national economy.

Mr. Chairman, every city in our State over 5,000 population has doubled in size in the past 10 years. Our capital city, in 1920, had 22,000 people. It has over 100,000 today by the figures of the Government. We have a very fast developing State.

In the capital, which is 160 miles north of Gulfport, they built $100,000,000 in new industries since the close of the war. They have got $60,000,000 in new industries under construction there now.

This port will certainly serve that development.

There is no other State in the country that has a record in a 10-year period of every town and city of any size doubling their population as ours has, and it is just an improvement and advance we have got to have to take care of our economy.

That is all I have to say.

Senator MALONE. Senator Chavez?
Senator CHAVEZ. No questions.
Senator MALONE. Senator Stennis?

Senator STENNIS. No questions.

Senator MALONE. Thank you for coming down, Senator Eastland. Senator CHAVEZ. Have you made your statement, Senator Stennis? Senator STENNIS. I am vitally interested in the project, but I am not going to take the time of the committee.

Senator CHAVEZ. And you agree with Congressman Colmer and Senator Eastland?

Senator STENNIS. Yes. I would like to file a brief statement later, but let us utilize this time now.

Senator MALONE. You may file your statement.

Senator MALONE. We will hear now from Colonel Jewett.

STATEMENT OF LT. COL. RICHARD L. JEWETT, DEPUTY CHIEF OF CIVIL WORKS FOR RIVERS AND HARBORS, OFFICE, CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY

Colonel JEWETT. Mr. Chairman, as you know, the comments of the Bureau of the Budget on the proposed report of the Chief of Engineers on Gulfport Harbor, Miss., have not as yet been received.

The report on Gulfport Harbor, Miss., is in response to a resolution adopted May 16, 1946, by the Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the House of Representatives.

Gulfport Harbor is on Mississippi Sound, 70 miles northeast of New Orleans. Entrance to the harbor is through an improved channel extending from deep water in the Gulf of Mexico through Ship Island Pass, a natural deep-water inlet between the barrier islands defining the sound, and across the sound to the basin, a total distance of 15 miles.

The existing Federal project for improvement provides for a channel 27 feet deep and 300 feet wide across Ship Island Bar, thence 26 feet deep and 220 feet wide through Mississippi Sound to the harbor, and a depth of 26 feet in the anchorage basin. The mean tidal range is 1.75 feet.

For the 10-year period 1930 to 1939, commerce averaged 240,000 tons per year. For several years after that period the commerce declined, and from 1942 to April 1946 the Navy leased the port facilities for the shipment of combat materials and war supplies, and practically all general traffic ceased.

During normal times the commerce was predominantly foreign and consisted principally of imports of chemicals, fertilizers, creosote oil, and asphalt, and exports of lumber, naval stores, cotton, and scrap iron.

Gulfport, with a population of 15,200, is primarily a shipping and resort center. The harbor serves a tributary area that formerly was of importance for its timber production but now is chiefly agricultural.

Gulfport Harbor has two main piers and a small wharf, which provide a total berthing space of 4,700 linear feet. It has storage and warehouse facilities, including four oil tanks for storage of imported creosote oil, with a total storage capacity of 1,600,000 gallons.

Local interests request that the existing project be modified to provide for a channel 32 feet deep and 300 feet wide across Ship Island Bar, a channel 30 feet deep and 300 feet wide across Mississippi Sound, and a depth of 30 feet in the harbor basin.

Deepening of the entrance channel and basin is considered necessary for the accommodation of modern steamships which have drafts when fully loaded of 28 to 30 feet, and widening of the channel across Mississippi Sound from 220 feet to 300 feet is requested for the reason that the present width is considered too narrow for ships to pass safely during fog or rough weather.

The district engineer finds that additional depth of water is required in the channel and basin to accommodate the larger vessels now in service. On the other hand, he considers the present width of 220 feet in the channel across the sound as sufficient, since no collisions have been reported and it appears unlikely that there will be enough traffic through the channel to make passages hazardous.

He recommends deepening the present entrance channel to 32 feet across the bar and to 30 feet in the sound and deepening of the basin to 30 feet. The division engineer concurs.

After careful consideration of these reports, the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors concurs in the views of the reporting officers. While the prospective commerce is comparatively small in volume, it is predominantly foreign. Many vessels now engaged in

this traffic require a depth of 30 feet for full loading and when handicapped by inadequate depth are either required to carry part loads or pick up and deliver their cargoes at adjacent harbors. The former results in inefficient vessel transportation and the latter is placing an additional cost on the shippers and receivers for land transportation to and from interior points. The provision of adequate depth for full loading of these vessels at Gulfport will result in greater use of the harbor and savings in vessel operation costs and in land transportation costs sufficient to justify the expenditure required for the deepening.

Accordingly the Board recommends modification of the existing project for Gulfport Harbor, Miss., to provide for a depth of 30 feet in the anchorage basin, a channel 30 feet deep and 220 feet wide from the basin across Mississippi Sound to Ship Island Bar, and a channel 32 feet deep and 300 feet wide across Ship Island Bar to deep water in the Gulf of Mexico, generally in accordance with the plan of the district engineer and with such modifications thereof as in the discretion of the Secretary of the Army and the Chief of Engineers may be advisable.

In accordance with law, a copy of the proposed report was furnished the Governor of Mississippi. The Governor, in a letter dated March 10, 1948, to Maj. Gen. Raymond A. Wheeler, Chief of United States Engineers, stated:

* * * Please accept this letter as my approval of this great improvement in our State, and I trust that your department will use its good office in the furthering and completion of this project.

*

**

*

Mr. Chairman, as previously stated, the comments of the Bureau of the Budget have not as yet been received.

The Chief of Engineers in his proposed report concurs in the views and recommendations of the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors.

The cost to the United States for construction is estimated at $496,900.

The annual carrying charges are estimated at $127,000, which includes $108,000 annually for maintenance.

The handling of full cargoes at the harbor in deeper-draft vessels is estimated to result in a saving in ship operation costs of $60,000 when compared to the cost at adjacent Gulf ports. In addition, the following estimated savings on land transportation costs on 137,000 tons of bulk commodities will accrue from the improvement: $12,000 on 66,000 tons of fertilizer and fertilizer materials; $14,000 on 35,000 tons of naval stores; $26,000 on 16,000 tons of cotton; and $18,000 on 20,000 tons of canned fruits and vegetables.

The estimated annual benefits total $130,000, which, when compared to the annual carrying charge of $127,000, provides an economic benefit-cost ratio of 1.02.

There was no opposition to the proposed improvement expressed to the Board.

Senator MALONE. Colonel, you have heard the discussion here that the necessity for deepening of the channel is due largely to the change in the size of merchant vessels.

Will you briefly give us an outline of the various sizes of the vessels in general use and the larger ones coming on now, and what is the minimum depth it should be to serve that area accurately.

Colonel JEWETT. During the war a large fleet of Liberty and Victory ships were built which draw 27 and 28 feet. When fully loaded, these vessels require a 30-foot channel.

Senator MALONE. What is the depth now?

Colonel JEWETT. The depth now is authorized to be 27 feet.
Senator MALONE. What is it actually?

Colonel JEWETT. About 26 feet.

Senator MALONE. Right at this time, the depth of the channel will take vessel that draw 26 feet of water?

Colonel JEWETT. The channel depth is 26 feet. That means the vessel is about 2 feet lighter. As a result, the Liberty and the Victory ships cannot load fully and come into the port.

In addition to that, the larger type cargo vessels, C-3's and C-4's, draw more than that. So even this 30-foot channel will not take all of the merchant-type vessels but will take the bulk of them.

Senator MALONE. Take a vessel that draws 26 feet of water. Το use the 26-foot channel, it would mean a 24-foot depth?

Colonel JEWETT. That is right.

Senator MALONE. What percentage of its load would normally take 24 feet of water? Are you familiar with that?

Colonel JEWETT. I do not have those figures in front of me, but I believe it would have to be off-loaded until only about 80 percent of its capacity could be used. There is a vast difference there.

Senator MALONE. I wish you would get some figures on that, Colonel, because it may be valuable to the committee for other projects. Colonel JEWETT. I would be pleased to do so, sir.

(The figures referred to are as follows:)

The following table lists the types and principal dimensions of vessels representative of the United States postwar merchant fleet:

Source: Miscellaneous data prepared by U. S. Maritime Commission. Sixth column computed by multiplying figures in fifth column by 1.12.

The following statement shows the percentage relationship between total dead weight and the dead weight per foot of draft, commencing with the 24-foot load line, of a typical dry-cargo ship (Liberty) and a tanker (T-2). Deadweight tonnage is the carrying capacity of a ship usually expressed in tons of 2,240 pounds and includes the weight of the fuel, stores, etc., necessary for a voyage plus the weight of the cargo to be carried. The actual cargo-carrying

capacity in tons thus varies with the length of the voyage and composition of the cargo. The weight of the fuel and supplies usually represents a comparatively small percentage of the total dead weight; therefore the percentage figures below are roughly indicative of actual cargo-carrying capacity.

As stated above the Gulfport Channel is 26 feet deep and accommodates a vessel loaded to approximately 24 feet. At 24-foot draft the dry-cargo ship could carry 81 percent of its capacity and the tanker 71 percent of its capacity. By the same comparison the recommended channel depth of 30 feet would accommodate a Liberty ship fully loaded and a T-2 tanker loaded to 28 feet or 90 percent of its capacity.

The relationship between vessel draft and required channel depth ranges upward from 2 feet depending upon such factors as the range of tide, character of channel bottom, and size and speed of ships normally using the channel.

Senator MALONE. What is the nature of the shipping now that is going out there? You have studied it.

Colonel JEWETT. Yes, sir.

The essential commodities now being employed in ordinary times are imports or exports of chemicals, fertilizer, creosote oil, and asphalt. Senator MALONE. Does that fertilizer include the nitrates from Chile?

Colonel JEWETT. Yes, sir; it does. And in addition, exports such as lumber, naval stores, cotton and scrap iron, and other commodities of that nature.

Senator MALONE. Is there much oil being shipped out?

Colonel JEWETT. There was none, but that is increasing.

Senator MALONE. With increased production in that area?
Colonel JEWETT. Yes, sir.

Senator MALONE. And, as I understand it, production is on the increase, Senator?

Senator STENNIS. Very much so.

Colonel JEWETT. Gulfport serves a large area behind the port which is not convenient to other ports.

Senator MALONE. With these new tankers in general use now, the port as it is at the present moment would be of little use for full cargoes in these new tankers?

Colonel JEWETT. Little use as it now stands: yes.

Senator MALONE. What tankers could use it?

Colonel JEWETT. Only the older prewar tankers.

That is all I have to offer unless there are other questions.