Page 10: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 1981)

$326-MiIIion Order

For 8 Rigs Awarded To

Marathon Manufacturing

The Penn Central Corporation's

Marathon Manufacturing Com- pany has signed $326 million in contracts with the Rowan Com- panies, Inc. for the construction of eight offshore oil and gas mo- bile drilling rigs. Marathon's marine construction order backlog

Freedom of the seas has always been crucial to strong nations. For the U.S., which is the largest trading nation in the world and largely dependent on foreign sources for many strategic raw materials, safe and open sea lanes are essen- tial to national security and economic well being. Any curtailment would have dire economic consequences.

Yet while the Soviet Union has been build- ing its Navy to a point where it outnum- bers our own, the U.S. has been going in the opposite direction. In the words of the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations, Ad- miral Thomas B. Hayward, "We are trying to meet a three-ocean requirement with a one-and-a-half-ocean Navy." And on the basis of current budget requests, the

Navy's combatant strength will actually decline so that by the 1990s our defen- sive capability may be inadequate and our trade routes vulnerable.

The U.S. merchant marine fleet, too, is ill- prepared for a global mission. And the men and women skilled in building new ships and repairing those in our existing now totals 43 rigs, valued at ap- proximately $900 million.

Included in the eight units for

Rowan are two Marathon "Gor- illa" jackup rigs designed for hos- tile environments.

Richard Dicker, chairman and chief executive officer of Penn

Central, said: "Because of the continued strong demand for off- shore rigs, we expect Marathon to set a record year in 1981."

Marathon has six additional orders for offshore drilling rigs in various stages of negotiation pre- paratory to final contract signing.

It is expected that these contracts will be signed during the third quarter of 1981.

The first rig is scheduled for delivery to Rowan in September 1983 from Marathon's Singapore yard, with the last to be delivered in December 1985 from its Vicks- burg, Miss., yard. The first Gorilla rig will be delivered in December 1983 from its Vicksburg yard, and the second Gorilla rig is sched- uled for delivery from its Singa- pore yard in December 1984. Row- an's commitment to purchase these rigs has been generally known in the industry for some time.

Marathon's rig construction yards are located in Brownsville,

Texas, Vicksburg, Miss., and the

Republic of Singapore. Marathon's offshore drilling rigs are also con- structed by three licensee yards:

Davie Shipbuilding Limited, Lau- zon, Quebec, Canada; Euroasia

Shipyard Company Limited, Hong

Kong; and U.I.E. Shipbuilding (Scotland) Limited, Clydebank,

Scotland.

Marathon Manufacturing Com- pany is one of the world's leading producers of mobile, offshore jack- up drilling rigs; a manufacturer of materials handling equipment, electromechanical drive units and other energy-related products; and provides engineering services.

HAC Names Lauth VP

Technical And Nautical

David F. Lauth

Holland America Cruises has appointed David F. Lauth vice president of Technical/Nautical

Operations. In this new senior management position, Mr. Lauth will be responsible for the stra- tegic planning and analysis of

Holland America's technical and nautical needs as well as the co- ordination of technical and nau- tical operations with other divi- sions within the company.

Mr. Lauth, a rear admiral with 31 years of service in the U.S.

Coast Guard, enjoys a national reputation as an outstanding manager, having had the respon- sibility of directing the activi- ties of over 1,400 military and civilian personnel in Hawaii,

Guam, Japan, American Samoa and other locations in the Pacific

Basin. During his Coast Guard career, Mr. Lauth worked to im- plement the National Safety Pro- gram for recreational boating. As

Deputy Director for the U.S.

Coast Guard he set policy for personnel administration on boat- ing safety, and had active com- mand of several Coast Guard vessels.

Mr. Lauth holds a degree in en- gineering from the U.S. Coast

Guard Academy and a master's degree in public administration from the University of Pitts- burgh.

HOWWILLWE KEEP THIS ISLAND FUNCTIONING WITHOUT SHIPS? fleets to keep them on station are being laid off for lack of work. If this erosion continues, we will not have an adequate shipbuilding mobilization base to rely on in any future crisis.

Ships are indispensable for commerce... for peace...for defense...for the public good. U.S. ships must be built within our own borders, at our own facilities, by our own people, under our own control. We cannot rely on foreign governments, however friendly today, to come to our aid with their ships and crews during tomorrow's emergency.

Our nation urgently needs a firm deci- sion in Washington now — by Congress and the Administration — to reverse the trend of declining maritime strength by funding a U.S. merchant and naval fleet of global dimension and capability, suffi- cient in numbers and deterrent potential to preclude any threat of economic strangulation.

As an island nation, we can't afford to wait any longer.

Despite the proven cost effectiveness and operational flexibility of the guided missile frigate (FFG). present government procurement plans call for only 54 of these sophisticated new warships instead of the 73 originally planned

Todd Shipyards Corporation

One State Street Plaza, New York, N Y 10004

NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/SAN FRANCISCO/SEATTLE

NEW ORLEANS/HOUSTON/GALVESTON

DELIVERING THE SHIPS THE U.S. NEEDS

WHEN IT NEEDS THEM. 12 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News