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Show An appraisal of the past effects of regulating certain classes of commodities becomes apparent by analysis of the quantitative relationship of those commodities which fall under regulation by reason of the Transportation Act of 1940. The following tables" classify the principal commodities transported by water on the Mississippi River, the Ohio River, and the Gulf Intracoastal Water- way, in 1939 compared with 1948, the latest year for which complete figures are available. This tabulation reveals the tremendous growth in the bulk classification of cargo, such as coal, sulfur, ores, and petroleum, and the static position of the regulated group, which includes sugar, grains, food products, textiles, forest products, paper, and iron and steel. These figures show that the importance of regulated traffic on inland waterways is on the decline, and would seem to indicate that the restrictions imposed by regulation are partly to blame for this decline in the relative position of such cargo. Another effect of regulatory restrictions on develop- ment of water transportation has been a tendency to decrease the use of common carrier water transportation by the small shipper, since certificate restrictions do not allow a common carrier to carry all commodities to any and all destinations. As a result, the small shipper, who cannot afford a traffic manager, after discovering that water carriers which serve his premises are unable to TABLE 3.-Cargo [In thousands of tons] Mississippi River Ohio Eiver Gulf Intracoastal Canal 1939 1948 1939 1948 1939 1948 Sugar, syrup, and molasses..... Grains_____ 1,231 1,176 1,427 1,877 Food products 1,726 718 1,747 575 15,553 2,084 737 2,137 622 2,340 532 1,286 1,208 36,541 1,687 1,486 6,521 1,050 380 Textiles and allied products___ Forest produet and paper_____ Coal and coke 14,206 3,081 1,840 21,330 10,444 1,382 485 5,370 367 Petroleum and products______ Iton, steel and other metals..... Sulfur . 23,052 538 581 Ores and nonrnetallic minerals-Chemicals and products........ Sand and gravel 671 325 5,191 962 549 7,624 546 Sea animal shells___ 2,081 480 1,134 Limestone and shale 548 462 All other commodities________ 1,200 1,193 641 501 Total. 29,506 57,148 25,955 42, 792 8,168 27,866 Percentage of total cargo-regulated vs. bulk Regulated_________________ Bulk_____________________ 29.5 70.5 8.5 91.5 9.5 81.5 4.4 95.6 22.0 7..0 6.0 94.0 Source: U. S. division engineer, Vicksburg, Miss. 6 Mimeographed Statement by J. W. Hershey, V. P., Com- mercial Petr-oleum & Transport Co., before the subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Interstate and Foreign Commerce, conducting hearings under S. Res. 50, July 25, 1950 (p. 2). provide the desired service, may turn to some other form of transport, even though water transportation might be more economical. Many Water Carriers Exempt From Regulatory Con- trol.-Only a small portion of the total transportation by water performed in the United States comes under the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Commission, be- cause there are numerous water carriers, part or all of whose operations are exempt from the provisions of the Interstate Commerce Act. So far as the nature of the exemption permits, the several exemptions found in part III are stated in terms of the transportation involved, rather than in terms of the carriers by whom that trans- portation is rendered. A given carrier may be regulated as to part of its transportation operations, or it may be engaged in wholly exempt transportation as to one voyage of a given vessel and regulated on the next voyage of the same vessel. An enumeration of the important segments of water transportation that are exempted from certificate and permit control will indicate why relatively little water transportation comes under the Commission's control. Sec. 303. (b) Transportation of commodities in bulk, when the cargo space of the vessel in which such com- modities are transported is being used for the carrying of not more than three such commodities at one time.- In the discussions over a period of years which led to the passage of the Transportation Act of 1940, much attention was given to the question of the need for regu- lation of the transportation of bulk commodities. Co- ordinator Eastman and the Interstate Commerce Com- mission favored a conditional type of exemption, under which the Commission could relieve a given type of trans- portation from regulation if it found it consistent with the requirements of the national transportation policy to do so. Representatives of the carriers, however, advocated an outright exemption, and their view prevailed. The reasons advanced for the outright exemptions at the time the legislation was passed were basically either the low cost of such transportation and the lack of competition with common carriers (most bulk tonnage is carried, it was said, by contract carriers), or the presence of Canadian competition in the export field. Sec. 303 (d). Liquid cargoes in bulk in tank vessels designed for use exclusively in such service and certified under regulations approved by the Secretary of Com- merce pursuant to the provisions of section 4417a of the Revised Statutes. Opponents of the regulation of car- riers engaged in tanker transportation of petroleum and petroleum products advanced substantially the same rea- sons as were urged by representatives of carriers engaged in the transportation of dry bulk cargoes. The exemptions provided in part III of the act apply only to all-water traffic. They do not apply to through water-rail traffic of a common carrier moving under joint rates or under through rates on the basis of combinations of water and rail rates. Section 1 (a) of the act applies to all common carriers engaged in transportation partly by railroad and partly by water when both are used under a common control, man- agement, or arrangement for a continuous carriage or shipment. Section 1 (b) similarly applies to common carriers engaged in "the transportation of oil or other 434 |