FMC Marine & Rail Lays Keel For Ro/Ro Barge To Carry 374 Forty-Foot Truck Trailers

The Marine and Rail Equipment Division of FMC Corporation, Portland, Ore., recently laid the keel for the first of two large deck cargo barges being built for Crowley Maritime Corporation, San Francisco, Calif. The giant roll-on/roll-off triple-deck trailer barges will be operated in the Caribbean by Trailer Marine Transport Corporation, one of the Crowley companies.

Charles H. Johnson, Division president at FMC, said: "This barge job marks our largest construction contract since our shipyard launched the last gas turbine tanker. We expect to deliver the first barge in March 1978, and the second in June." Each barge has a capacity of 374 fortyfoot truck trailers held in place by fifth wheel devices on the barge. The barge dimensions are 580 feet long, 105 feet wide and 57 feet high, making them the largest ro/ro barges in the world.

Based in San Francisco, Crowley is a major international marine transportation firm.

In recent years, FMC has built several barges for Crowley, including oil barges and deck cargo barges. During Alaska pipeline construction, Crowley was a principal hauler of equipment to Alaska.

The Marine and Rail Equipment Division of FMC is a manufacturer of two types of transportation equipment in Portland: a wide variety of marine equipment and railroad freight cars.

Headquartered in Chicago, 111., FMC Corporation is a major producer of chemicals and machinery for industry and agriculture.

The company is one of the nation's hundred largest industrial corporations, with sales in 1976 of $2.14 billion. Worldwide, FMC has approximately 40,000 employees located at 127 production facilities in 32 states and in 13 foreign countries.

Other stories from September 15, 1977 issue

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