"لجنة النقل في بلاد الرافدين. تقرير اللجنة المعيّنة من جانب حكومة الهند بموافقة معالي وزير الدولة لشؤون الهند للاستفسار حول الأسئلة المتعلقة بتنظيم وإدارة السكك الحديدية والنقل النهري في بلاد الرافدين" [ظ‎‎٢‎١] (١١٤/٤٢)

32
180. In order to carry out the duties enumerated in P
the post of Assistant Director, was created This o hcer is under
orders of, and responsible to, the Director of Inland W ater Transport.
The duties devolving upon the Assistant Director Port Traffic, are simpy
those of discharging cargo from vessels to quay direct and the conveyance ot load
ed Lges to the quays® The actual handling of cargo ship or barge berthed
alongside the quay is carried out by the consignee services concerned.
187 At present vessels are discharged m the stream to barges, and direc o
quay against Magil river front and at Nahr Umr-20 miles up the river.
There are practically no shore cranes or mechanical appliances m use.
During the month of November cargo was distributed from ships in the follow-
ing manner :—•
60 per cent, to barges.
40 per cent, at quay berths.
The average rate of discharge attained was about 300 tons a day.
188 It is now proposed to appoint a Port Director who will assume full res-
nonsibilitv for Port Traffic, Port Construction and River Conservancy within the
port limits, and under whom the Port Officer and Harbour Masters will be
placed.
The responsibilities of the Port Department will be extended so as to include
not onlv stevedoring but delivery from either ocean transport or barge on to the
quays into^pedaUy^reserved area's, of approximately 1,000 feet in depth from the
river front.
189 Whereas at the present time the port is worked upon a system by which
various "departments have special berths allotted for their use and in addition
hold quantities of supplies on and close to the river front, a port railway system
will be introduced in order to convey the cargo discharged at once away from the
quay front, so that congestion will not occur and vessels can make full use of the
beith without being hampered in their discharge by the presence on the quayside
of cargo discharged from the vessel previously occupying the Oerth.
It has also been decided that not only will the areas behind the wharves be m
the charge of the Port Department, but the railway operations within the port area
will also be under its direction.
190 A definite programme of wharf construction and railway lay-out is
decided'upon and it will be necessary that cranes, chutes and conveyors should
b» obtained as quickly as possible. When these are provided, it is intended that
vessels should discharge to shore by shore appliances and to barge on the ott-side
by ship's gear, the barges so loaded being brought afterwards to barge oil-loading
wharves for delivery to consignees.
191. A great deal of confusion and delay seems to have arisen in the past owing
to the operation of discharging ships, discharging barges and loading barges being
all carried out on a narrow and limited frontage.
To meet this situation a system of barge-loading wharves, separate from barge
discharging wharves, will be constructed, and arrangements will be made to dis
charge ^vessels containing cargo for despatch up river at a point where the cargo
so discharged need not enter the main dock system.
The average rate of discharge at present, as has been stated above, is about
300 tons per day. By equipping the wharves, clearing the spaces behind and
giving special consideration to the discharge of ships, it is thought that the rate of
discharge should be at least doubled.
CHAPTER IV.
Commercial Traffic,
192. The Inland Water Transport carries no commercial traffic at all.
The railways carry a little on the southern section (Nasiriyeh -Basra-Amara).
Passengers only in small numbers are carried between Basra and Amara and both