COAL BUNKERING Bunker coal at Port Arthur is furnished by the Sabine Towing Co., Inc. The plant is located on the northeasterly side of the West Turning Basin and has open storage space for 1,000 tons. Vessels do not berth at this plant, but are bunkered from a barge alongside by use of ship's tackle. Arkansas and Oklahoma coal of good quality can be furnished upon advance notice. Service of this nature is seldom requested as vessels usually bunker at other nearby ports. However, there is considerable demand for coal by harbor craft and for galley use. PORT AND HARBOR FACILITIES PIERS, WHARVES, AND DOCKS There are 13 wharves at the port of Port Arthur and 2 at Sabine Pass, which provide a total berthing area of 16,468 feet with depths of water ranging from 20 to 45 feet at mean low water. The wharf of the Gulf Refining Co. is of concrete construction throughout; one of The Texas Co. wharves has a concrete deck on wood piles, and the Sabine Towing Co. wharf is solid fill back of steel-sheet interlocking piling. All of the other wharves are of open pile and timber deck construction. Eight of the facilities are used almost exclusively for handling petroleum products; one is used for the storage of coal and for coal bunkering, one serves a grain elevator, one is used as a tie-up for floating plant, while four are used for the handling of coke, lumber, natural gasoline, and general merchandise. The wharf of the McEwan Oil Terminal & Transportation Co., located on the west side of the west turning basin near its entrance, is 65 feet on the face with berthing area increased to 500 feet with dolphins, and has a depth of 28 feet. The Kansas City Southern Railway Co. operates four docks on the two slips dredged off the east turning basin and, in conjunction with the Great Lakes Carbon Corporation and the Warren Petroleum Corporation, one dock located on the northeast side of the west turning basin at the mouth of Taylors Bayou, all five of which are owned by the Port Arthur Canal & Dock Co. The Mexican dock, the one under joint operation, is used for handling coke, natural gasoline, lumber, and general cargo in foreign and coastwise trade. It has a frontage of 1,765 feet and depths alongside of from 32 to 33 feet. It supports two large transit sheds with trackage on the apron and in the rear of the sheds in an approximate total of 6,000 feet. The meal export dock, which is used for handling general cargo, is on the east side of slip No. 2 and is the only facility on that slip. It is 1,287 feet long with 31 feet of water alongside and supports a frame transit shed extending practically the full length of the wharf. There is one surface track on the apron and seven depressed tracks in the rear of the transit shed. The three remaining wharves are on the west side of slip No. 3 and have a combined berthing area of 1,832 feet. The coastwise dock, nearest to the slip entrance, is 821 feet long and has a frame transit shed and trackage both on the apron and in the rear of the shed. Above and adjoining the coastwise dock |