PORT OF JAFFA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 11 September 1937, Page 7

PORT OF JAFFA

REBUILT ON MODERN LINES IMPROVEMENTS UNDER BRITISH OCCUPATION Reconstruction of the ancient port ol Jaffa (Palestine) calls attention lo Ibis old Bible City and I lie improvements which arc being carried out here. Upon harbour improvements alone a sum of over $1,500,000 has been spent. Jaffa’s slum area is being cleared away, new roads in '.ingl out of the town have been built; in other words, Jaffa, the Joppa of the Scriptures, is being rapidly modernised. Some people deplore this westernisation of the ancient cities of the Holy Land. But so far as Jaffa is concerned, it should be remembered that it is a busy port. Its export and import trade has grown tremendously since the British occupation of the country. In 1!I22 Jaffa's exports totalled 53.000 tons and its imports 103.000 tons; by 1030 these figures bad grown to 121.000 and -187.000 lons respeclively Not least, the whole of this vast cargo was handled by manual labour. The shipping facilities were primitive and the port was terribly congested. More up-to-date methods of handling the ever-increasing cargo were imperative. TOWN LIES ON HEADLAND

What the engineers have done at Jalfa has been to reconstruct the old harbour of Solomon's days. The historic town is built on a picturesque rocky bill 130 feet high, precipitous on its seaward side which projects inlo the blue Mediterranean in a slight cape heading northwestward. This rocky headland is guarded from the violence of the waves and tempests by a rocky reel', built up bv the ceaseless contributions of tiny marine molluscn. The rocks form a holt running almost straight from north to south. They lie just awash about 300 to 400 feet from the shore. Between this reel' and the shore lies a fair-sized sheet of shallow water, capable of accommodating .200 lighters and a few small sailing craft. The entrance to this haven is a bare 20 yards wide, and not easy lo negotiate il a heavy sea is running. In Hebrew times this sheltered sheet of water was not only more commodious than it is to-day. but much better protected. Evidence indicates that the little bay extended farther inland. BUILT SEAWALL

It is this ancient refuge used by the ships of Solomon's navy which the engineers have restored. A seawall has been built on the reef. At its southern end the wall makes a return bend and connects with the shore south of the town. Some 111 acres of land have been reclaimed within the protection of this wall. The area of sheltered water enclosed I by the breakwater is lOi} acres, and It j has been dredged lo a depth of six and j a half feet. Hence the harbour is only : suitable for lighters' and small craft. : Permanent moorings have been laid down to accommodate some 200 of these ; vessels. Cargo and passenger boats must j still lie half a mile or so offshore in the open roadstead The only deep ; water harbour on the Palestine coast ts I that at Haifa NEW QUAYS

I It is the lighters at Jaffa, manned by • Arabs, which convey the cargo between ! port and ship. These native boatmen ] display wonderful seamanship in the ! way they manoeuvre their unwieldy ! craft. The lighters carry from ten to 1 fifteen tons of cargo apiece and these little craft often handle 1500 tons of , cargo a day. But they cannot operate I in rough seas. Within the harbour new quays have been built and upon the reclaimed ground a transit shed capable of holding 180.000 cases of citrus fruit has been erected. There are also warehouses and dump grounds, customs and port offices, cranes, conveyors and | other modern mechanical devices for j handling freight. j Jaffa’s chief export, of course, is the i orange, the cultivation of this fruit : being the chief industry of Palestine. The growth of the industry has been phenomenal. Whereas in 1922 the export of citrus fruit—oranges, lemons and grapefruit—totalled just over 1.000.000 cases, the quantity exported for the 1925-1936 season was no less than 10,000,000 cases. SLUM CLEARANCE During the recent six-months Arab i strike, when all work was suspended at ; Jaffa, the authorities took the oppor- ! tunity of paying attention to the pro- | blem of tlie city’s slums. In the oldest part of the town lay a maze of dilapidated hovels in which the people lived. It was badly congested and had long been condemned. Furthermore it was desirable to provide better road facilities into the town and to the new port. So the people were removed to new quarters on the otuskirts of the town, and the buildings demolished, the work being carried out by British soldiers. The area has now been cleared, and a splendid new thoroughfare ever half a mile in length is being built right in the centre of the old town.