Directory_and_Chronicle_1923 — Page 1418

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NETHERLANDS-INDIA

Soerabaja. Plans were drawn up several years ago for providing Soerabaja with wharves capable of accommodating ocean-going vessels, so that these could obtain direct communication with the shore. This work, consisting of a widening of the Kali Mas, was carried out expeditiously at a cost altogether of Fls, 1,350,000. In the meantime, new harbour works were planned and adopted to cost about Fls. 16,000,000. A pier has been built since in the sea from the mouth of the Kalt Mas in a westerly direction, roughly parallel with the coast line. Its froni 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. In 1916 a new extension was commenced on the western side of the harbour consisting of 430 metres of quay. In 1918 it was decided to lengthen this quay southwards by 490 metres. This work was finished in 1922, and is used as a coal wharf for ships with a draught of 10 metres. Behind the front pier the harbour basin is accessible for ships of 9 metres draught for a space of 250 metres; 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 de- voted to the accommodation and working of three drydocks of 1,400, 3,500 and 14,000 tons capacity, respectively, with a view to which the depth here is to be increased. There is available 2,560 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, and on the quay there are electric cranes of from one to ten tons each. A new pier-the Holland pier-is projected inside the harbour basin parallel with the coal wharf. It will be capable of berthing ships with a draught of up to 10 metres. Further extensions are contemplated.

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 (8 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 drawing 8 metres are able to berth alongside the northern part of the pier even at low tide. Preparations are being made for further extensions, but the building of a quay 400 metres long has been postponed in the interests of economy.

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 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 exten- sion and improvement of the harbour. The depth of water within the harbour was increased to 9 metres at low tide, while the three existing screw-pile wharves have been lengthened and are now able to berth four big steamers. Six large sheds have been built behind the jetties. The most important export consists of Ombilin coals. The colliers moor at a special jetty, where a coaling-tip fills them at the rate of 300 tons an hour.