PORT AND HARBOR FACILITIES

PIERS, WHARVES, AND DOCKS

Ports below Philadelphia

Sixty-six piers, wharves, and docks are available at 12 localities along the shores of the Delaware River between the entrance to the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal and the lower limit of Philadelphia Harbor. The localities, listed in the order in which they are reached by upbound vessels and the number of terminals which have been provided at each locality are shown below:

Seven of the wharf facilities at Paulsboro, are located on Mantua Creek near its junction with the Delaware River, but all of the other terminals in the above tabulation are located directly on the Delaware River.

Nine large oil handling terminals are operated at these localities as well as a number of wharves or piers at industrial plants for receiving fuel oil for plant use. The Texas Co. has an oil pier at Claymont, Del.; the Sun Oil Co. operates 3 large piers at Marcus Hook, 2 of which are equipped to bunker vessels, and the Sinclair Refining Co. also has an oil handling and oil bunkering terminal at Marcus Hook. There are 4 oil handling terminals at Paulsboro, including the oil bunkering facility of the Socony Vacuum Oil Co. and the oil handling terminals of the Dealers Oil Corporation, the Patterson Oil Terminal Co., and the Curriden Oil Corporation. Detailed descriptions of these terminals are given in the following table of piers, wharves, and docks under Ref. Nos. 15, 18 to 21, incl., 57 to 59, incl., and 66.

The only large facility for handling general cargo in foreign and coastwise trade at the localities on the lower Delaware River is the Chester Tidewater Terminal, a detailed description of which is given under Ref. No. 22 in the table following. It is a modern facility, consisting of a 436-foot pier with 400 feet of berthing space 35 to 17 feet deep on each side, and is served by 9 warehouses providing 80,193 square feet of covered space and by 15 acres of open storage space back of the pier. Cargo handling equipment on the pier includes a gasoline locomotive crane with a capacity of 15 tons at 12-foot radius, a steam locomotive crane with a capacity of 40 tons at 12-foot radius, 42-inch and 55-inch magnets, lumber carriers, and fork-lift trucks. Terminal trackage connects with the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Reading Railway System and there are two tracks on the pier which extend almost its full length. Pipe lines on the pier enable deep draft tankers to discharge petroleum products to the storage tanks of the Petrol Corporation immediately below the

terminal.

Public wharves are also available at Delaware City and New Castle but they are mainly used for tying up tugs and small craft and for recreational purposes. They are described under Ref. Nos. 1 to 4, inclusive, in the table of pier, wharves, and docks. Ferry service is operated between New Castle and Pennsville from the terminals described under Ref. Nos. 5 and 6 and between Chester and Bridgeport as described under Ref. Nos. 26 and 27. A ferry slip at Pennsgrove, N. J. is no longer operated.

The Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Co. plant at Chester and Eddystone is one of the more important terminal developments on the lower Delaware River. Eleven piers serve the plant although since the cessation of the war, only 5 of them have been in operation for their normal purpose of dry docking, outfitting, repairing, and constructing vessels. The company is utilizing 3 piers in