HOW GREEN COFFEE IS BOUGHT AND SOLD Page 9

Handling Coffee at New York

The handling of the cargoes of coffee when they arrive at their destination is a source of wonder to the layman. There is probably no better place to study the handling of coffee than in New York City—the world's largest coffee center. Millions of bags of coffee pass into consumption every year through its docks, and scarcely a day goes by when there are not one or more ships discharging coffee upon the docks lining the Brooklyn shore, the center of the coffee-warehouse district for New York. In 1921, the New York Dock Company alone had 159 bonded warehouses with a storage capacity of some 65,000,000 cubic feet; and 34 piers, the longest measuring 1,193 feet and containing more than 175,000 square feet. These piers have a total deck space of sixty-one and a half acres. The wharfage distance is more than nine and a third miles. More than twenty steamship lines berth their vessels there regularly, and many of them are coffee ships. The warehouses have direct connections with all the principal railway trunk lines running into the New York district; and the whole property of the company stretches along the waterfront opposite lower Manhattan for about two and one-half miles.

Although coffee is admitted to the United States free of duty, it is subject to practically the same formalities as dutiable goods. Before the cargo can be "broken out," a government permit to "land and deliver" must be placed in the hands of the customs inspector on the dock. This done, the ship's samples, which consist of the samples sent by the exporter to the importer, are taken to the United States appraiser's office for inspection, and are then delivered to the importer's representative. Meanwhile the shipping documents covering the cargo, including bills of lading and consular invoices, have been sent to the post office for delivery to banks and bankers' agents, who check and deliver them to the customs officers for entry. The government requires that this entry shall be made within forty-eight hours of the vessel's arrival, else the cargo will be stored in a United States bonded warehouse under what is known as "general order" which makes the consignee liable for storage and cartage charges.

Unloading Coffee at One of the Covered Piers of the New York Dock Company

When a coffee ship arrives in New York, not much time is lost in discharging the cargo. As soon as the vessel is securely moored to the pier, and the government's permission to "land and deliver" is secured, the hatches are removed, the coffee is hauled out of the hold by block and tackle and swung off in slings to the pier, where dock laborers carry the bags to their proper places. If each cargo consisted of one consignment to a single importer, and contained only one variety of coffee, unloading would be a comparatively simple affair. In general practise, however, the cargoes consist of a large number of consignments and a variety of grades, necessitating a careful sorting as unloading progresses. Accordingly, even before the unloading begins, the dock is chalked off into squares, each square having a number, or symbol, representing a particular consignment. As the bags come up out of the hold, the foreman of the laborers, who has a key to the brand marks on the bags, indicates where each bag is to be placed. Coffee to be reshipped, either by lighter or rail, is heaped in piles by itself until loaded on to the lighters or freight cars.

Storing Coffee by Marks and Chops

Hoisting Coffee into the Storage Warehouses Adjoining the Brooklyn Piers
RECEIVING AND STORING COFFEE AT NEW YORK