service. An official of the company expressed the view that this name might be more appropriate for service between the gulf and the Pacific coast than the name Alaska Freight Lines, Inc. Under such an arrangement, it appears that the applicant herein would continue to perform a motortruck service from and to points in Alaska, and a barge service between Alaska and Seattle; that Alaska Barge Lines, Inc., would continue to own towboats and barges to be chartered; and that the new intercoastal service under consideration herein would be performed in the name of Western Barge Lines, Inc., but whether or not it would own any floating equipment or other property is not indicated.

In past years the intercoastal service between the Pacific coast and the gulf generally has been provided by carriers operating selfpropelled vessels. The only described intercoastal voyages by towboats and barges, comparable with those operated by the applicant, pertained to a one-way trip in the spring of 1947 by the Foss Launch & Tug Company, of Seattle, Wash., and an experimental round trip by applicant in the first half of 1953 in connection with a proposed new service between Alaska and the gulf. The Foss Company operates a Miki-Miki towboat of the same type and power as the towboats used by applicant, also a molded steel barge, 210 feet long, with a 42-foot beam. The barge is employed to carry petroleum products, but when viewed at a short distance it resembles the units operated by applicant. The Foss cargo weighed 1,500 net tons, and the voyage of 4,692 nautical miles from New Orleans to San Francisco required 30 days, including a stop of 1 day at Cristobal, C. Z., in connection with passage through the Panama Canal. No hurricane or strong wind was encountered.

In March 1953 one of the applicant's barges, containing a cargo of 600 net tons, originating in Alaska and consigned to Memphis, Tenn., was towed from Alaska southward to Seattle where it was stopped pending an exchange of towboats, and on March 20, 1953, it departed from Seattle. After traveling 28 days, at an out-of-pocket operating cost (28 days times the daily charter rental of $850) totaling $23,800, and averaging $39.66 per net ton of cargo, it arrived at New Orleans on April 17, and was towed upstream by a river carrier. On April 21 the cargo arrived at Memphis where it was discharged. The barge, reloaded at St. Louis, Mo., departed May 16 with a cargo of approximately 700 net tons and reached New Orleans May 19. It left New Orleans on May 20 and, on June 24, after 35 days of travel at an outof-pocket operating expense (35 days times $850) of $29,750, and an average of $42.50 per net ton of cargo, the loaded barge and towboat, en route to Alaska, were in waters off the coast of either the State of

Washington or British Columbia, Canada. Computed from the date of departure from Seattle until the return to waters near that port, the round trip required a little more than 3 months. Neither the rates charged nor the revenues accruing on either of the cargoes were revealed. None of the lading was commercial freight.

The ocean voyages discussed next above were the initial trips in a contemplated monthly service, previously announced by applicant, for tonnage to be moved by it between Alaska and New Orleans, a noncontiguous domestic activity for which no operating authority is needed, as hereinbefore indicated, and by river carriers between New Orleans and such points as Chicago, Ill., St. Louis, and Memphis. At the last hearing herein, held in the latter part of June 1953, it was testified that, due to a very destructive fire at the port of Whittier, Alaska, and the resulting effect upon transportation service, the towboats and barges, which applicant had planned to utilize between Alaska and New Orleans, in the transportation of cargoes, moving in each direction between Alaska and river ports in the Midwest, would be otherwise fully employed for a period of weeks or months, but that applicant intends to resume that service at a later period. Shippers.-Evidence in support of the application was presented by prospective consignors and consignees who annually ship and receive, in the aggregate, many thousands of tons of freight. This evidence pertains (1) in part to tonnages which at present cannot be marketed in the Far West in competition with imported or other similar products there available, due to selling prices which are not competitive, and (2) in part and largely to tonnages concerning which speed in transit is not a necessary factor, and which could and probably would be shipped by a dependable barge service, rather than via carriers operating on the rails or highways, if the published rates for barge transportation were sufficiently attractive.

A shipper of freight of the class first above mentioned is the Staley Manufacturing Company, Decatur, Ill., which declares that at consuming areas along and near the Pacific coast around 200,000 net tons of soybean meal is consumed annually as a protein ingredient in prepared foods for poultry and other animals, and which estimates that it could ship annually from Decatur to the Pacific coast ports in the neighborhood of 100,000 net tons per year if rates for transportation were established which would enable it to compete with imported meals. The Staley Company shipped large quantities of soybean meal from Decatur to those areas in 1947, 1948, and 1949, when 2 delivered selling prices were quoted, based on the methods of transportation selected by consignees, who usually buy in lots of 1,000 to 2,500 tons. Some of the shipments were routed by rail to St. Louis, barge to New Orleans, and steamship beyond; some by rail to a South

Atlantic port, and thence via steamship; but the bulk went via allrail routes after a rate of 60 cents per 100 pounds, minimum weight 80,000 pounds, was established following the decision in Soya Bean Meal to Pacific Coast Ports, 225 I. C. C. 51, decided in September 1947. That rate, as modified by one or more authorized increases, was subsequently canceled by action of the rail carriers, whereupon about January 1, 1950, this manufacturer closed its selling agency on the west coast, and has made no further shipments of soybean meal to that consuming territory. The rate level now needed is not shown. Shipments over routes that required one or more transfers of the lading in transit were not always satisfactory, due in part to lack of space on steamships, and in part to complaints by consignees regarding damages to containers. The commodity generally is packed in burlap bags holding 100 pounds of meal. Under applicant's proposed service the sacks of meal would be loaded into freight cars at originating point, would be transferred at St. Louis to barges, and unloaded at ports of destination.

When the last hearing herein was held the soybean branch of the Staley Company was operating at about 20 percent of capacity because of inability to market a greater quantity of this product. A bushel of soybeans weighs 60 pounds, and when the oil is extracted by crushing there remains 49 pounds of meal.

On the Mississippi River the maximum load for 1 of the barges in use by applicant is 1,000 net tons, except at high water level, as hitherto explained. Based on applicant's daily operating cost of $800 for a towboat and $50 for a barge, and assuming a 30-day voyage from New Orleans to Seattle, the out-of-pocket expense of moving 1,000 tons between those points would approximate (30 days times $850) $25,500, and would average ($25,500 divided by 1,000 tons) $25.50 per net ton and $1.27 per 100 pounds. The latter figure is more than twice as great as the all-rail rate on soybean meal from Decatur to Seattle, minimum 80,000 pounds, which was established in 1947 prior to the general increases. The computed cost of $25.50 a ton does not include the expense of moving soybean meal by rail or truck from Decatur to St. Louis, or the expense of towage from St. Louis to New Orleans, nor does it provide any profit for the applicant.

An important consignee on the west coast which has largely discontinued the use of water-carrier service for transcontinental traffic from origins in the Mississippi Valley, due to lack of water-carrier schedules and to interruptions occasioned by labor or other difficulties, and which now generally ships by rail, is Sears, Roebuck & Company. In 1952 it shipped from various origins to Seattle about 3,000 net tons of merchandise, and to its retail stores along the west coast around 2,000 to 2,500 net tons.

This company could ship by barge to Seattle, for purpose of restocking warehouses immediately following its semiannual inventory periods, as much as 25 to 30 percent of the total consigned to those warehouses annually, but the savings in overall costs of transportation, water versus rail, including the expense of movement from point of origin to the river port or other port where the barge is loaded, transportation by water, and movement from port of destination to consignee's warehouses, would have to be as much as 25 cents per 100 pounds, equal to $5 a net ton. This company has utilized applicant's barge service between Seattle and Alaska since the first day applicant began handling commercial cargo, about May 9, 1952, is now using that service, and has found it to be satisfactory.

The record reveals that there is an abundance of freight tonnage, originating in the Midwest, and not requiring speedy transportation, which could be shipped by barge from ports on the Mississippi, Ohio, and Illinois Rivers, and from ports on the gulf to ports on the Pacific coast, if the charges for such transportation were lower by sufficient amounts than the charges for rail service. Articles and originating areas named by individuals supporting the westbound phase of the application include antifreeze, power tools, refrigerators, sewingmachine cabinets, tires, turpentine, and wallboard, collectively from Alabama, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Missouri; dichlorated phosphate from the Muscle Shoals plant in Alabama; oystershells in bags from Mobile; bagged fertilizer from Memphis; corn, peanuts, and cottonseed meal from New Orleans; packaged sheet aluminum and steel pipe from Alabama, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and Tennessee; cement asbestos from New Orleans, Mobile, and St. Louis; sheet steel, corrugated steel, plate steel, and tinplate from New Orleans and St. Louis; canned citrus fruit juice from the port of Brownsville, Tex.; drugs, chemicals, medicines, toilet preparations, cosmetics, also firebrick, from St. Louis and New Orleans; electric fans and motors, cornstarch, corn syrup, steel and iron pipe, welding tubing, steel reinforcing bars, steel joists, and steel billets from Louisiana and Missouri, and a few other items.

The amount of transcontinental eastbound tonnage which could be attracted to the proposed water-carrier service, if rate levels were acceptable, appears to be comparatively small, and embraces lumber from Oregon, Washington, and California; poles and piling from Washington; an additive for lubricating oils from Seattle; oxygen and acetylene in tanks, welding supplies, water heaters, and electric clothes dryers from Portland; canned goods from Washington and California; furniture from Washington; seeds grown in Oregon, Washington, and northern Idaho and destined to points in the Mississippi Valley.

Rail carriers.-There is now no shortage of rail transportation facilities, and no shortage of transcontinental railroad service. For shipments needed quickly, transportation service on fast freight trains, operating on specific schedules, over lines of the several transcontinental rail carriers, is available. Many of these trains are provided with only partial loads, and could carry additional tonnage at little added cost. Numerous other freight trains are also operated. In addition to through service from point of origin to point of destination, without transfer or other handling of lading at intermediate points, railroad tariff provisions frequently authorize stops in transit to partly unload, and enable consignees at different points of destination to receive partial loads at carload rates plus a small amount for the intermediate stoppage service. From any point of origin to any point of destination that is situated on a railroad, rail-carrier service is available throughout the year.

Steamship Service.-Waterman Steamship Corporation (Arrow Line), a protestant, is engaged in intercoastal steamship service between the North and South Atlantic ports and certain ports in Washington, Oregon, and California. It finds that the present demand for such service is much smaller than prior to World War II, and believes this changed condition is due in part to the construction of new manufacturing plants in western areas of the United States. For the year 1952 only 67 percent of the aggregate cargo space in its westbound vessels was utilized. A portion of its westbound tonnage consists of iron and steel products, electrical equipment, and miscellaneous items which are moved by rail from origins in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and eastern Ohio to Baltimore, Md., or Philadelphia, Pa., and thence via steamship. Protestant is apprehensive that a portion of this tonnage might be diverted to routes operating via rail or truck to river ports, via barge downstream on the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to New Orleans, and thence via applicant's proposed barge service to ports on the Pacific coast.

The overall transportation charges shown by protestant for a shipment of steel bars from Warren, in northeastern Ohio, via rail to Baltimore and steamship to ports on the Pacific coast, is composed of a rail rate of $10.12 a net ton to Baltimore and a steamship rate of $18.40 beyond, total $28.52 per net ton. This figure may be compared with an estimate of applicant's out-of-pocket operating expense of $25.50 a net ton, hereinbefore discussed, based on a maximum river cargo of 1,000 net tons, and a 30-day voyage from New Orleans to Seattle, which figure does not include any expense for rail or truck transportation from an interior point of origin to a river port, for barge movement downstream to New Orleans, nor any profit for