I've read that when containers were introduced to the PONY, there was labor action by the Longshoremen's Union, possibly a strike, because they felt the new technology threatened their jobs. To reach a settlement so as to get the goods moving again, the stipulation was that containers had to be unloaded by hand on the dock, then reloaded into trucks, which of course defeats the purpose of having a container. This nonsense lasted until the union realized that New York was losing business to ports where logic prevailed. Paul B From: harebridle_@_aol.com Subject: (erielack) albany traffic much the same thing happened to the Banana Traffic; instead of going to NY Cenral's Pier K in Weehawkin, or pier 39 East River, all of this moved by ship up to Albany, later in my career, 1962-1990. there was an additional cost of 3 hundred miles travel, plus the fee for the hudson river pilot from yonkers to albany and back down. the vw car carrier ships and the banana boats both were generally drawing (depth below the waterline) in the 20-25-feet range. no problem! as i recall, there was 32 feet of water up to Roseton's (central hudson) and 28 feet up to troy lock, although i was only licensed up to yonkers. the main reason for the change was the high cost of long-shoremen (stevedores), and pilferage by them, as i heard it. it was cheaper to go the extra day or so, and truck the loads back to the big city, than to dock nearer ny! these ships could and did, make 20 knots, in most places in the north river; both could be un-loaded in less than 10 hours, usually starting at 0600, often arriving at ambrose light in the afternoon and docking the next morning, so we're talking 2 extra days at the most. funny, we used to call the fruiters "rabbits"! 73's capt. charles? gerow, ny sandy hook pilot The Erie Lackawanna Mailing List http://EL-List.railfan.net/ To Unsubscribe: http://Lists.Railfan.net/erielackunsub.html ------------------------------
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