ENGLAND’S PORTS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20870, 9 November 1929, Page 19

ENGLAND’S PORTS.

IMPROVEMENTS AT TILBURY. READY FOR 1000 FT. LINERS. SOUTHAMPTON'S GREAT SCHEME. (Frojc Our Ows Correspondent.) LONDON, September 26. To-day the new entrance lock into the Tilbury Docks begun in 1926, is being formally opened by Lady Ritchie, wife of the chairman of the Port of London Authority.- Thereafter, it will be possible for the longest vessel now afloat to berth within the. port with a margin to spare of nearly 100 feet. It is no mere boast on the part of the P.L.A., therefore, when, they claim that the new works are calculated not only to provide adequate facilities for the largest vessels now afloat,- but also to allow ample margin for probable development for many years to come. Although the depth of the river channel from the Thames Estuary up to the Tilbury Docks and beyond is nice than sufficient for vessels of the deepest draught, it was found that the entrance lock was inadequate for the increasing size of vessels. The new lock has a length of 1000 feet, a width of 110 feet, and a depth of. 45 feet 6 inches below Trinity high water. , The longest vessel*now afloat is the JVhite Star liner Majestic,!which is 913 feet long, with 100 feet beam, and has a gross registered tonnage of 56,551 tons, io allow of the new entrance to join the river at a point about 1200 feet above tilbury Ness, the main dock has been considerably enlarged, with the result that much additional quay space has boon made available. Before the actual work of constructing the new lock was begun, some 2,000,000 cubic yards, of soil had to be removed. In the vast concreted bed and walls there have been swallowed up 100,000 tons of cubic yards of concrete, <OOO tons of granite, and 16,000 tons of steel. SOUTHAMPTON DOCKS. The present docks at Southampton, according to latest statistics, are already coping w!th 40 per cent, more shipping than it was thought possible they could handle in 1919. The limitations of the existing docks is the only thing which is checking tonnage. T[je Southern Railway Compativ’s £13.000,000 dock scheme now in progress will, however, place Southampton in an unassailable position. The huge reclamation wall on the test has already been completed, and the work of -forming the n ila y proceeds day and night. ~ rhe Hjirbour Board has indicated that f y consider widening the channel from 600 feet to 1000 feet, and deepening I[ ODl en 3 nn/ eet 45 toet to accommodate or '**>ooo ton liners, which the build l ‘* ar anc * Cunard are proposing to Nearly 50 more vessels, 15.0U0 more passengers, and 8000 tons more of cargo entered and left the port in August last as compared with August, 19->S