Directory_and_Chronicle_1922 — Page 1489

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NETHERLANDS-INDIA

meantime, new harbour works were planned and adopted to cost about Fls. 16,000,000. A new pier has been built in the sea from the mouth of the Kali Mas in a westerly direction, roughly parallel with the coast line. Its front coincides approximately with the natural channel and has a depth of 9 metres at lowest water. The pier has a length on the sea side of 1,200 metres and a breadth of 200 metres, and is capable of berthing ships with a draught of up to 9 metres. A harbour basin has been formed approximately 900 metres square, or 81 hectares in area. This harbour basin will be rendered accessible for ships of 9 metres draught for a space of 250 metres behind the pier; the remaining portion is provisionally intended for the use of lighters, which can moor alongside a quay on the south side of the basin. In the deep part of the harbour a sufficient area of water is devoted to the accommodation and working of two drydocks of 3,500 and 14,000 tons capacity, respectively, with a view to which the depth here is to be increased. There is available 2,360 metres of wharf for ships of 9 metres draught and 370 metres of quay along the lengthened bank of the Kali Mas projecting into the sea for small ocean-going steamers and vessels of lesser draught, while on the south side of the basin, which is about 1,050 metres long, there is 300 metres of quay-wall for the use of lighters. The harbour equipment includes two floating steam-cranes with a lifting capacity of 25 and 50 tons, respectively. In 1916 a new extension was commenced on the western side of the harbour consisting of 430 metres quay to be used as coal wharf for ships with a draught of 10 metres. This last work will cost about ils. 3,500,000. In 1918 it was decided to lengthen this quay southwards by 490 metres. Preparations are being made for further extensions.

Tjilatjap. -Tjilatjap, the only harbour of importance on the south coast of Java, is situated on a tongue of land, bounded on the East by the Indian Ocean and on the West by the river Donan, in the estuary of which there is sufficient depth of water (7.6 metres at low tide) for large steamers. Owing to the protection provided by the island of Noesa Kembangan, lying off the coast here, this estuary offers a safe anchorage, where the breakers of the Indian Ocean are not felt. There is 520 metres of pier and ships dawing 8 metres are able to berth alongside the northern part of the pier even a low tide. Preparations are being made for further extensions, in addition to which dredging is being performed in the mouth of the river Donan. Next year a new quay-wall, 300 metres long, will be built capable of berthing ships with a draught of 9 metres.

Island of Sumatra

Padang. Since the opening of the Government Railway line to the Padang up-country in about the year 1885, Emmahaven has become the chief port of Padang. This harbour is situated in the northern portion of Koninginne Bay, which is formed by the tongues of land projecting into the sea in a south-westerly direction. At right angles to a coral bank, which is exposed at ebbtide and on which a small wharf has been constructed, is a breakwater, 260 metres long, lying approximately parallel with the shore, while the harbour on the other side is enclosed by a breakwater, 900 metres long. These two breakwaters and the shore form a basin, within which are the harbour works proper.

These were constructed at a cost of more than Fls. 3.300.000. In 1893 attention was already drawn to the fact that the room available at the loading and the discharging wharves was no longer adequate for the increasing shipping traffic. In order to obtain further berthing accommodation for sailing vessels, two short piers, 9.6 metres broad and 10 and 11 metres long, respectively, were built, besides a small pier for discharging dynamite. These piers project from the long breakwater. The lack of sufficient space for ocean vessels of greater draught led in 1911 to an extension and improvement of the harbour. The depth of water within the harbour was increased to 8.5 metres at low tide, while the three existing screw-pile wharves, 85 metres long, have been lengthened. Two new electric coaling installations, with a capacity of 100 tons per hour each, have been delivered from Holland and one has been in operation since October, 1917.

Belawan (Deli).—Belawan, the most important harbour of North-East Sumatra the land of Sumatra tobacco and rubber-is situated on the Island of Belawan, which has formed at the estuary of the Deli and Belawan Rivers. The harbour, originally con- structed by the Deli Railway Company, lies on the west side of the island, where the depth of the Belawan River is more than 7 metres. In the front of the mouth of this river an extended bank has formed, in which there is a channel with originally a depth of little more than 13 feet at high water; this circumstance was the reason that hitherto only smaller vessels have been able to make use of the harbour. For the convenience of commerce there are at Belawan several landing stages and a harbour for lighters having a water area of 2.75 hectares. With the large increase in the volume of traffic the need