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(d) Effective date. This order shall become effective at 5:00 p. m., June 14, 1956.

(e) Expiration date. This order shall expire at 11:59 p. m., December 31, 1956, unless otherwise modified, changed, suspended, or annulled by order of this Commission.

(f) This order shall not change Demurrage Rule 8 of Tariff I. C. C. No. 4677 as amended or as reissued, or similar rules in other tariffs adjusting, cancelling, or refunding demurrage charges arising from the unusual conditions or circumstances described in said Rule 8 or similar rules in other tariffs.

It is further ordered, That a copy of this order and direction be served upon the Association of American Railroads, Car Service Division, as agent of the railroads subscribing to the car service and per diem agreement under the terms of that agreement; and that notice of this order be given to the general public by depositing a copy in the office of the Secretary of the Commission at Washington, D. C., and by filing it with the Director, Division of the Federal Register.

(40 Stat. 101, Chap. 23; 41 Stat. 476, Sec. 402; 485, Sec. 418; 54 Stat. 901, Sec. 4; 912, Sec. 10; 49 U. S. C. 1(10)–(17), 15(4))

By the Commission, Division 3. [SEAL]

HAROLD D. McCoy, Secretary.

Senator MANSFIELD. Mr. Chairman, first, I want to compliment Mr. Smith on an excellent statement.

Then I want to agree with the statement which reads as follows:

Service orders can be no more than stopgaps, and the only way to end a car shortage is to build cars.

The railroads have been very derelict in seeing to it that the cars should be in the West to take care of grain harvests and other commodities, and the cars have not been there at the time of the year they are needed.

We, in Montana, the Rocky Mountain area, are looking forward to the building of the seaway and the increased use of the ports of Duluth-Superior to facilitate moving the grain and other products from our part of the country elsewhere.

Mr. Smith, you recognize, of course, that there is a great connection between the Rocky Mountain West and the northern part of the Midwest and the ports of Duluth and Superior.

Mr. SMITH. Yes, sir.

Senator MANSFIELD. I want to assure you this committee will do all it can to be of assistance to you in this matter about free-time allowance. We recognize the problem, and will do all we can as a committee to help alleviate it.

I would suggest, Mr. Chairman, that any further witnesses who are concentrating on this matter of free time and demurrage restrict their remarks sharply and bring out other aspects of the problem affecting the St. Lawrence seaway, because we have a lot of information on the free-time problem at this time.

Again, thank you, Mr. Smith.

Mr. SMITH. Thank you.

Senator WILEY. Just a moment.

EFFECT OF SEAWAY ON EMPLOYMENT

I might say I expect to be in Superior on Labor Day. You know that several new companies are moving in there with an additional labor force of about a thousand. That, I believe, is a good

example of how the seaway will attract new industries to places like Superior, Duluth, and elsewhere.

In view of the fact that we are approaching Labor Day, you might very well give us your ideas as to similar instances, if you know of some, and the effect of the seaway in providing jobs.

Mr. SMITH. We certainly need that in our area and, as you point out, the new industries which have moved to Superior contribute substantially toward that result.

I have no other specific instances which I can give you, Senator Wiley.

Senator WILEY. Thank you very much, sir.

Mr. SMITH. Thank you.

Senator WILEY. Louis F. Zwartverwer, manager of the Chicago office of James W. Elwell & Co.

STATEMENT OF LOUIS F. ZWARTVERWER, MANAGER, CHICAGO OFFICE, JAMES W. ELWELL & CO., INC., CHICAGO, ILL.

Mr. ZWARTVERWER. Mr. Chairman, distinguished Senators, and members of the committee, my name is Louis F. Zwartverwer, manager of the Chicago office of James W. Elwell & Co., Inc.

I am very happy to testify up here since, at the various other meetings concerning the Great Lakes, I have heard a lot of testimony by port authorities and affiliated service organizations, but I do think this is one of the few times that somebody who represents the actual shipping interests, the steamship operators, have had the opportunity to testify in connection with the difficulties which we encounter in our Great Lakes operations.

James W. Elwell, the company which I represent, has been for 140 years in New York. They are an old eastern organization, and we function as steamship operators, as agents, and as steamship brokers.

We are the general agents in the United States and Canada for Cie. de Navigation et Cyprien Fabre, commonly called the Fabre Line, which, if I may bring to your attention, is one of the biggest individual French-owned companies. They are not under any French Government subsidy.

We are the general agents in the United States and Canada for Finska North Amerika Line, commonly called Finlake Line.

We function as United States agents for Poseidon Line.
We function as Midwest agents for Deppe Line.

And we function as Midwest agents for Nippon Yusen Kaisha Line, commonly called N. Y. K. Line, a line which is one of the biggest in the world, prior to World War II operated 127 vessels.

My testimony will concern itself with the Great Lakes operation of the Fabre Line, the Poseidon Line, and the Finlake Line, and the matter of railroad free time in the port of Chicago.

However, following your request, Senator Mansfield, and noting that this matter of free time has the full attention of your committee, I will try to skip that part of my testimony.

Senator MANSFIELD. Fine. We appreciate it.

SERVICES OF JAMES W. ELWELL & CO. IN GREAT LAKES REGION

Mr. ZWARTVERWER. Just to give some background material to the members of the committee, Fabre Line has been in operation for some 75 years, and has served the United States and Canada from the east and the gulf coast; in other words, they are not a small operator. In 1951, this company looked into the possibilities of inaugurating Great Lakes services and, as you all know, big companies don't move fast, but they take a lot of time to investigate.

It was recommended to our principals, the Fabre Line, at that time that the Great Lakes offered big opportunities, and consequently the Fabre Line was the first line in operating Great Lakes-Mediterranean services.

At that time, James W. Elwell & Co. utilized the services of subagents in the ports of Milwaukee, Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit, and other Canadian ports. Subagents are individual companies who represent the general agent on a commission basis.

However, as a result of the increase of trade from and to the Midwest, and also planning ahead in view of the St. Lawrence seaway project, it was decided in 1954 to dissolve the subagency operation and establish our own branch offices in the ports of Milwaukee, Cleveland, and Chicago; and I may add to this, gentlemen, that this, for a company, is quite an expensive operation.

In order to give more coverage of sailings to the midwestern international trader, we added in 1955 the Finlake Line, and we provide for regular services to and from Canada, the St. Lawrence, and Great Lakes ports, to the Baltic ports.

In 1956, the Poseidon Line, with regular services from Canada, St. Lawrence, and Great Lakes to the ports within the Hamburg-Bordeaux range; in other words, the ports like Hamburg, Bremen, Rotterdam, Antwerp, and Le Havre.

In 1954, when we opened our Chicago office, we had 5 people; and now, only some 2 years later, we have 10.

There is a reason for that, and the reason is simply that with five people we could not handle the business. In other words, there was a tremendous increase, and we cover the States of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, and Colorado.

Regular solicitation is made in these States in order to advocate the use of the Great Lakes service for export and import cargo.

In general, our solicitation efforts are mainly to procure cargo to be routed through the port of Chicago during the Great Lakes season, if such proved to be economically advantageous, as otherwise we recommend using other ports such as Milwaukee, Toledo, Cleveland, and Detroit.

PROBLEMS OF GREAT LAKES SHIPPING

And it is up there, gentlemen, it is there, gentlemen, we are placed at a distinct disadvantage, because many of the people would very much like to ship their cargo, import or export, through the Great Lakes, but we are handicapped in that we do not have the privilege of export-import rates by the railroads, and a lot of cargo that could be diverted through the respective Great Lakes ports is now being sent to the other ports.

The operational conditions of vessels plying the Great Lakes are similar to those existing at seaboard ports, but in many respects the Great Lakes trade has to be taken as a complete separate industry, since it faces a great many additional problems and conditions.

By nature of its geographical location, vessels have to enter the Great Lakes through a series of channels and locks extending from Montreal to Detroit.

For comparison, the average voyage from Antwerp to Montreal takes approximately 12 to 14 days; while from Montreal to Chicago 10 to 12 days are consumed, even though the distance in miles is considerably shorter.

In other words, it takes just as long to get from Antwerp to Montreal as from Montreal to Chicago, and the reason for the delay in respective channels is oftentimes interlake vessels have preference for passage through the locks, and, mind you, there are 29 of them.

The time-consuming process of shuttling through the locks; the navigational problems in connection with narrow channels; as also, of course, acts of God, such as fog, bad weather, and so forth.

And then when these aspects are overcome, we have to contend with makeshift terminal facilities at many Great Lakes ports, and a limited supply of experienced stevedoring personnel, thereby making it impossible to discharge and load vessels as rapidly as experienced at seaboard ports, where necessary facilities are available as well as a vast supply of experienced stevedoring personnel.

One can easily understand from the above that it is an impossibility for the respective steamship operators and agents to accurately estimate arrival of vessels in the port of Chicago, and thus it is not uncommon that sailing schedules are revised frequently with the ultimate arrival of a vessel about 6 to 7 days beyond the original estimated time of arrival.

Then, to shorten my testimony, I have prepared for you, Senators, the sailing schedules.

Senator MANSFIELD. Mr. Chairman, I move that this material be made a part of the record, and that the witness go down to the bottom of page 4 to continue his testimony.

Senator WILEY. Motion granted.

Mr. ZWARTVERWER. I only would like to point out one thing.

On the Helsingfors, which is listed here, when she was in Chicago one trip she loaded a considerable quantity of cargo for the port of Leningrad. It took it from 8 o'clock in the morning until approximately 10 o'clock at night to get it aboard ship.

Last night when I talked to the captain, he told me they arrived in Leningrad at 12 o'clock at night. They started unloading at 1 o'clock, and next morning at 7 o'clock they were out of the port.

In other words, in 7 hours they had the complete ship discharged, as compared to what we do in 11 hours.

I thought it was rather significant that we up here work at a distinet handicap.

It is well realized-and I am reading from page 5-it is well realized that many of the above-cited problems, such as navigation

and terminal facilities, will be reduced in years to come. The United States Congress approved the widening, deepening, and building of new locks at a cost of billions of dollars to the United States and Canadian Governments; port projects to improve and develop harbor facilities, as, for instance, the testimony from Mr. Cohen.

FREE TIME AT GREAT LAKES PORTS

I do want to shorten my testimony. The balance is in connection with free time. I only would like to say

Senator WILEY. We will place it all in the record, if you so desire. Mr. ZWARTVERWER. Yes, sir.

The only thing is, I would like to point out that in view of the governmental, State and municipal public interest to develop the United States' fourth coast, for us it was rather inconceivable that the ICC took a stand that we could not be placed on a par, because there is no difference on an export movement if it goes via New York to Genoa or San Francisco to Genoa or New Orleans to Genoa or Chicago to Genoa, and that is the same for import cargo.

I thank you.

Senator WILEY. Thank you very much.

Any questions?

Senator MANSFIELD. One question.

Does James W. Elwell & Co. represent all the companies shipping into this area, or are there other companies representing other foreign nations?

Mr. ZWARTVERWER. Oh, yes, sir; there are a great many. I believe there are six steamship agents who represent Great Lakes interests. Senator MANSFIELD. I see.

Mr. ZWARTVERWER. Yes, sir, Senator.

Senator WILEY. Any questions?

Senator DIRKSEN. Have you had vessel experience?

Mr. ZWARTVERWER. Have I had vessel experience? No, sir; I have not a license to ply on water. I don't have any license. My experience is solely based upon the operational and procurement of cargo in the port as such.

Senator WILEY. Thank you.

(Mr. Zwartverwer's prepared statement is as follows:)

STATEMENT OF LOUIS F. ZWARTVERWER, MANAGER OF THE CHICAGO OFFICE OF JAMES W. ELWELL & Co., INC.

Mr. Chairman, distinguished Senators, and members of the committee, my name is Louis F. Zwartverwer, manager of the Chicago office of James W. Elwell & Co., Inc.

James W. Elwell & Co., Inc., has been active as ship agents, operators, and brokers for 140 years with headquarters in New York. We represent the following foreign-flag lines in the United States:

(1) General agents in the United States and Canada for Cie. de Navigation et Cyprien Fabre (Fabre Line).

(2) General agents in the United States and Canada for Finska North Amerika Line (Finlake Line).

(3) United States agents for Poseidon Line.

(4) Midwest agents for Deppe Line.

(5) Midwestern agents for Nippon Yusen Kaisha Line (N. Y. K. Line).

Our testimony will solely concern itself with the Great Lakes operation of the Fabre Line, Poseidon Line, Finlake Line, and the matter of railroad free time in the port of Chicago.

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