African Activist Archive

Memorandum by Jerry Silberman of the Philadelphia Coalition to Stop Rhodesian and South African Imports to the Southwide Coalition to Stop South African Coal about ship identification. He discusses data compiled annually by the Bureau of Census based on Customs Office receipts and bills of lading, and descriptive statistics on the amount and nature of cargo imported and exported from and to U.S. ports. Computer print-outs with these data are distributed to Port Authorities; reports may cover multiple ports in a region (e.g., Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore, and Hampton Roads (Norfolk) are on the same print-out). This information is a matter of public record, but it is best not to tell port officials your purpose for wanting it. The report contains commodity (both 2-digit and 4-digit classification - the latter will be quite specific, while the first lumps things together, e.g., non-ferrous ores), tonnage, dollar value, and port and country of origin. It also identifies the type of vessel (three types: tankers, steamers, and tramps--the latter are charted by a specific company for a specific cargo and do not have publically announced schedules as the "common carrier" types; coal may come this way). Lourenco Marques, Mozambique is a significant port for both South Africa and especially for Rhodesia; Rhodesia is never listed as the country of origin. United Nations reports on ship violations of sanctions against Rhodesia identify the commodities we import from Rhodesia; for example, a safe bet is that any chrome exported from Lourenco Marques is Rhodesian in origin. Most ships have regular schedules (Farrell ships, the African Sun and African Neptune, make three round-trips per year, usually calling at the same ports each trip). The memorandum discusses Henry Lieberg, the American Committee on Africa (ACOA), records of past violations, shipping patterns, a cargo manifest, and non-tanker goods.

African Activist Archive

Subject: Further information on cargo identification

Creator

Place Created

Date

Type of Item

Length/duration

Description

Organization

Coverage Africa

Language

Digital Format

Rights Management

Collection