Public Document No. 94 REPORT Directors of the Port of Boston Year ending November 30, 1914. BOSTON: WEIGHT & POTTER PRINTING CO., STATE PRINTERS, 32 DERNE STREET. 1915. Approved by The State Board op Publication. CONTENTS. Report. Sximmary of Report and Recommendations, 7 Introduction, . 16 Cost of Commonwealth Pier No. 5, . 20 Income of Commonwealth Pier No. 5, . 25 Duty of the Future, ...... 27 Commonwealth Pier No. 6 (Fish Pier) and Proposed Market in South Boston 37 Dry Dock, ........ 39 Commonwealth Pier No. 1, East Boston (Eastern Railroad Pier), 42 Port of Boston, Dredging, ..... 43 Land Holdings under Control of Directors, 46 Wharf and Pier Frontage of Boston Harbor, below Bridges 50 Rivers, Estuaries and Tidal Inlets of Boston Harbor, 53 Switching Charges, .... 54 Boston as a Transfer Port, 56 Boston's Handicap in the Differential Rate, 56 Belt Lines, ...... 57 Pier Rentals in Boston and Other Cities, . 59 Publicity Bureau, ..... 64 Public Hearings, ..... 65 Erie Canal, ...... 66 Panama Canal, ..... 66 Anchorage Basin, . 68 Wrecks and Obstnictions, 68 Importing and Exporting Commission Houses, 70 Mystic River Channel, near Maiden Bridge, 71 New Steamship Lines at Boston, 72 Taxation of Water-front Property, . 82 Appendix. Report of the Clerk of Board, ........ 87 Licenses granted during the Year, ....... Miscellaneous Permits, . 90 Agreement — Directors of the Port of Boston with Boston Fish Market Cor- poration relative to Breakwater, Commonwealth Pier No. 6, 92 Agreement — Directors of the Port of Boston with Boston & Albany Railroad relative to lightering Grain, ....... 95 Agreement — Directors of the Port of Boston with Boston & Maine Railroad relative to lightering Grain, ....... 96 Agreement — Directors of the Port of Boston with Hamburg-American Line in re docking "Amerika" and "Cincinnati" at Commonwealth Pier No. 5, . 97 Agreement — Directors of the Port of Boston with North German Lloyd ' Steamship Company in re docking ' Kronprinzessin Cecilie" at Commonwealth Pier No. 1, . Contracts awarded and in Force during the Year, ..... 100 Rent Roll, .» . 102 CONTENTS. Foreign and Domestic Exports and Imports from August to November, in- clusive, of Years 1913 and 1914, Report of the Chief Engineer, Commonwealth Pier No. 6 Commonwealth Pier No. 5 Viaduct, . Repairs to Bulkhead, Railroad Freight Yard, Grain Elevator, Dry Dock, Development of the South Boston Flats, Junction Railroad, . Dredging Minor Channels Floating Grain Elevator, East Boston Flats, . Commonwealth Pier No. 1 In General, Letter from United States Engineer Officer, Commonwealth Pier No. 5: — Maintenance and Repair Charges, Revenue from use during the year, . Wharfage rates, .... Number of passengers and tons of freight handled during the year, Revenue — Freight, Passenger and Other Sources, Estimated Annual Charges for Interest, Repairs, Operation and Re placement, ..... Statement of Port Funds: — Commonwealth Flats Improvement Fund, Wollaston Channel, .... Town River, Quincy, Income of Harbor Compensation Fund, Expenses of Directors of the Port of Boston, Port of Boston Fund, .... Development of the Port of Boston Loan Fund, Boston Harbor Minor Channels, Publicity, ...... Recapitulation, ..... Commonwealth Pier No. 6: — Estimated Annual Charges for Interest, Repairs, Operation and Sinking Fund, . Special and Consulting Services, Dredging Records, . Plan of South Boston Flats, Face Directors of the Port of Boston — Number of Employees and Total Salaries, Port of Boston — Imports and Exports, Tables of High and Low Tides, Boston Harbor, Wind Diagram for Boston Harbor, . Widths of Draw Openings in Bridges, Statistics: — Pier Accommodations: — Commonwealth Piers, South Boston and East Boston, . 167 Boston & Albany Railroad Terminal, East Boston, 168 Boston & Maine Railroad, Hoosac Terminal, Charlestown, 168 Boston & Maine Railroad, Mystic Terminal, Charlestown, 168 New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Terminal, Soutli 169 Boston, . Privately owned- Piers, ........ 169 • CONTENTS. Statistics — Concluded. Grain Elevators at Boston, ........ 169 Dry Docks at Boston, ......... 170 Tonnage of Shipping, Foreign and Coastwise, entering the Port, . 170 Comparison of Entrances and Clearances of Shipping in the Foreign Trade 171 Customs Duties collected at Boston; Comparison with Other Ports, . 171 Exports and Imports at Boston, ....... 172 Grain Exports, United States and Canadian, at Boston, Series of Years, 173 Transatlantic Passenger Business at Boston, . 175 Rates of Pilotage for Boston Harbor, ...... 176 Steamship Lines at the Port of Boston: — Berths and Sailings, ......... 177 Services by Ports, . 179 Services by Lines: — Register of Vessels, with Dimensions and Tonnage, . 180 ®l)e tfommontoealtl) oi itta00act)usett0. REPORT To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives of the Com' monwealth of Massachusetts. The Directors of the Port of Boston respectfully submit this report for the year ending Nov. 30, 1914. SUMMARY OF THE ANNUAL REPORT AND RECOMMEN- DATIONS. Subsidy vs. Extending Public Credit. The purpose for which it may be wise to spend public money in connection with the development of Boston harbor and the improvement of its water-front facilities should be divided into two classes. First, improvement which cannot be expected to yield any adequate direct return, or even any direct return at all, upon the money expended, such as a dry dock. In these cases the justification for the expenditure must be found in some important general benefit to commercial or industrial interests, in which benefit the whole community shares to some extent at least, such as the Hoosac Tunnel. Second, objects of expenditure, probably more numerous, which require only the use of the public credit, but on liberal terms as to time and rate of return on money expended. These may be classed as directly productive expenditures, because some private interest is willing to pay a direct return, by way of rental, upon the public money expended. The State can afford to be reasonably liberal with the use of its credit for the borrow- ing of money for such productive purposes wherever private capital stands ready to pay for the new facility which is to be constructed a rental adequate to meet the interest charge which the State has to pay, and to make a small payment toward 8 DIRECTORS OF THE PORT OF BOSTON. [Jan. a sinking fund. If, for instance, the State could borrow money at 3 per cent, it might well afford to be satisfied with a rental to yield a net return of 4 per cent, if the work to be constructed is of such a character that it will also be of general benefit to the community. Such use of the credit of the State, upon liberal terms, in water-front and harbor projects should be clearly distinguished from such expenditures as will remain a permanent charge upon the taxpayers of the Commonwealth. Indiscriminate subsidy, in the hope of indirect return, in addition to increasing taxes, may easily be carried to the extent of stifling private or corporation enterprise. The extension of public credit on a business basis will not increase taxes, and if properly used will encourage investment in projects of public advantage which otherwise could not attract capital. The Board propose, further, to investigate the resources and possibilities of the harbor, and will make a separate report, to be presented to the Legislature, in which a definite financial polic^^ in regard to future development will be submitted. Commonwealth Pier No. 5. Monumental vs. Utility Construction. Commonwealth Pier No. 5, South Boston, as originally planned in October, 1912, was estimated by the chief engineer to cost, for the completed structure, including a viaduct to Summer Street, $1,267,400. This structure has been enlarged and amplified as a pier and as a monument to advertise Boston until it is now estimated that it will cost over $3,598,000, which does not include pay- ments made by the Harbor and Land Commission for the original solid filled pier with its pile platform, or interest on the cost of the same. The pier has been reconstructed and equipped by the Di- rectors largely under one contract. This contract has expanded from the original bid of $896,813.20 on items used in con- struction until there has been approved for payment at the end of the fiscal year $3,121,086.45. Of this amount, $2,224,273 has been included on a basis of cost plus 7| per cent. The con- tractor has filed additional claims amounting to $194,091.55. 1915.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 94. 9 The total cost of this pier, including value of site and accrued interest during the construction, is estimated to be $4,453,048.45. Considering this pier as a business investment, it is estimated that the net loss to the State, after deducting all income, is $339,000 annually. This trebling of the estimated cost of the pier was due in part to the haste in which the work was commenced; to the change in plans after work was started; and to the hurry to get the pier ready for the first vessel of the Hamburg-American Line in the spring of 1913; but above all and inevitably, to the system under which the main contract was conducted. The experience of this construction should teach definitely the extravagance and waste of the cost plus a percentage method. Future construction should be by competitive bidding under approved up-to-date restrictions, for unit prices, with verifica- tion of quality and quantities similar to the contract require- ments of the Boston Transit Commission in Massachusetts and the board of water supply in the city of New York. Dry Dock. The Directors are most earnestly in favor of the building of a dry dock in South Boston. They believe that the cost of this project in excess of income is a justifiable subsidy which will at the beginning be about the amount of interest on the cost of construction, and is reasonably certain to decrease from year to year. While the benefits from a dry dock are indirect, they are none the less certain.