Page 5: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 1980)

Quincy Yard To Build $60-Million

Collier For New England Electric

New England Electric System of West- boro, Mass., has announced plans for the construction of a 655-foot coal-carrying ship at General Dynamics' Quincy Shipbuilding

Division. The $60-million vessel is the first of its type to be built in the United States in more than 25 years.

Viewing model of coal-carrying, coal-fired ship that

General Dynamics' Quincy yard will build for New

England Electric are (L to R): Gary S. Grimes, general manager of the Quincy shipyard; Governor Edward J.

King of Massachusetts; and Guy W. Nichols, chairman and chief executive officer of New England Electric.

The coal carrier will go into service in 1983 and will transport 2.2 million tons of steam coal annually to New England Elec- tric's Brayton Point Station in Somerset,

Mass., from ports on the U.S. East Coast, probably Norfolk and Baltimore.

The collier will be the first coal-fired steam turbine vessel to be built in a U.S. yard since 1953. Four others were ordered recently by Australian interests, two to be constructed in Japan and two in Italy.

The machinery plant, which will be sup- plied by Foster Wheeler and General Elec- tric, will feature mechanical stoker and ash disposal systems, and will incorporate the latest technology in coal-fired boilers. A self- unloading system will enable the ship to dis- charge its cargo of about 36,000 tons of coal in 11 hours.

Keystone Shipping Company of Philadel- phia will operate the carrier for New Eng- land Electric.

Dravo Launches First Towboat

For People's Republic Of China

The first of four Friendship class river pushboats ordered by the Chang Jiang Ship- ping Administration of the People's Repub- lic of China from Dravo Corporation was launched into the Ohio River recently at

Dravo's Neville Island shipyard near Pitts- burgh. The twin-screw 6,000-bhp vessel, measuring 150 by 42 by 11.5 feet (45.7 by 12.8 by 3.5 meters) is named Long River.

It will operate on the lower Yangtze River upstream from Shanghai.

When all four towboats are completed, they will be towed down the Ohio and Mis- sissippi Rivers to New Orleans, where they will be loaded on a submersible deck barge and shipped via the Panama Canal to China.

The vessel is powered by two General Mo- tors Electro-Motive Division turbocharged diesels. The power plant system includes special fuel heating and treatment equip- ment to enable the engines to burn the ex- ceptionally heavy diesel fuel used in China.

December 1, 1980 7

Several custom features were designed into the vessel by Dravo's Engineering

Works Division. The main deckhouse has been outfitted with portholes instead of win- dows, and the deckhouse has been made wa- tertight because the boat will operate in near-open water at wide portions of the

Yangtze River.

Special navigation lights have been in- stalled to conform to the navigation system in China, which differs from that used in the United States. The vessel's galley has been fitted with a wok and steam kettle for

Chinese cooking. Normally, a crew of 14 operate the boat.

In addition to the four pushboats, Dravo is furnishing a fleet of 30 barges that will be assembled in China for river transpor- tation.

Pushboat Long River makes big splash in Ohio River during recent launching at Dravo's Neville Island yard.

First of four ordered by People's Republic of China, vessel is powered by two General Motors EMD engines.

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