Page 42: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (February 1968)

Paul Semack Named Director Of TTT Sales And Traffic Paul Semack The appointment of Paul Semack to the position of director of sales and traffic for Transamerican Trail-er Transport, Inc. (TTT) has been announced by R. D. Carter, TTT executive vice-president. A veteran container shipping ex-ecutive, Mr. Semack joined TTT a year ago as special assistant to the TTT executive vice-president. Pre-viously, he served with Grace Line for ten years as manager of con-tainer sales and of the Container Coordination Department. In his new position with TTT, Mr. Semack will be responsible for national cargo sales, particularly in connection with TTT trailer equip-ment. Last month, TTT ordered approximately 900 dry cargo and refrigerated trailers from REALCO for use on its express service from New York to Puerto Rico utilizing the $18-million SS Ponce de Leon, the world's fastest and largest trail-ership, which will start operating this year. In announcing Mr. Semack's pro-motion, Mr. Carter explained that TTT clients may use either TTT trailers or any kind of equipment they prefer, since the new super-ship will be able to handle any kind of trailer equipment that rolls on U.S. highways or railroads piggy-back today. Mitsui Zosen Plans 400,000-Ton Tanker Mitsui Shipbuilding & Engineer-ing Co. Ltd. (Mitsui Zosen) is planning the construction of a 400,-000-dwt tanker, as revealed in an article published in the company's magazine, "Progress in Review." Manager of Mitsui's design de-partment, Takeo Takaynagi, au-thor of the article, states that a 1,990-foot-long ship?almost twice the length of the largest ship now in operation, the 210,000-dwt Idemitsu Maru (1,122 feet long)? is on the drawing boards. The de-sign calls for a beam of 204 feet and a 110-foot depth, operable at a draft of 80 feet. The vessel will have twin-screw, twin-engine pro-pulsion to provide a 15-knot serv-ice speed. Since its 80-foot draft would be too deep for transit through the Strait of Malacca, between Sumatra and the Malay Peninsula, the new ship would not be suitable for Jap-anese owners. Its chief market would be among shipowners and oil companies operating to Europe, Mr. Takaynagi pointed out. He further stated that many problems, such as hull vibration and the re-lationship between the main en-gine output and the ship's speed still needed solution. Research by a European ship-owner, Mr. Takaynagi reported, in-dicates that if the Suez Canal were deepened to allow fully-loaded 200,000-ton vessels to pass through, then 400,000-ton tankers would have to be used on the Cape of Good Hope run in order to com-pete. Around the Cape from the Per-sian Gulf to Northern European ports is about 4,500 miles longer than the Suez route of 6,500 miles. Before the Arab-Israel conflict when the canal was closed in June 1967, the canal had an operable 38-foot depth, permitting vessels of 80,000 tonnage to make the passage fully loaded. Tankers of 200,000 tons could use the waterway only on return trips in ballast, after us-ing the Cape passage on their out-bound leg.' Egyptian authorities announced earlier in 1967 plans to deepen the canal to 60 feet by 1975, which would allow many 200,000-ton tank-ers to use it fully loaded. A study completed by Lloyd's Register of Shipping reports that 500,000-ton tankers can be built. Mr. Takaynagi said that Mitsui has a joint research project underway with Lloyd's, resulting in some major differences from the speci-fications reported early in 1967. Lloyd's sees a 500,000-ton tanker of 1,375 feet in length, breadth of 225 feet, depth of 112 feet, and draft of 80 feet. Slater Boat Services To Use Dutch Diesels Slater Boat Services of Belle Chasse, La., has purchased ten Stork RHO 218 K diesels?develop-ing 660 continuous bhp at 700 rpm ?for five new 165-foot supply boats now under construction. Delivery of the engines will be made over a period of 18 months, with the first set underway, according to Charles Slater, owner of the firm. A most interesting feature of all Stork engines is that the pistons may be removed sideways without removing the cylinderheads?mak-ing it possible to inspect or change piston rings without difficult dis-mantling and in a fraction of the time usually required for such a job. Stork-Werkspoor diesels are manufactured in the 36- to 36,000-bhp range. In the Gulf area, service and parts are handled by Marine Engi-neering, Inc., New Orleans, La. Herman Oosterhuis, Inc., New Orleans, La. 70130, (phone 529-2723), is agent for Stork. Bobber Named To Head Underwater Sound Div? Naval Research Lab Robert J. Bobber Robert J. Bobber has been named head of the Naval Research Labor-atory's Underwater Sound Refer-ence Division in Orlando, Fla. An-nouncement of Mr. Bobber's ap-pointment was made by Dr. Alan Berman, director of research at the Laboratory. As head of the Underwater Sound Reference Division, Mr. Bobber will administer a program of research and development in the field of underwater acoustics. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin where he received a B.S. degree in mathematics and an M.S. degree in physics, Mr. Bob-ber has been employed at the Or-lando installation since 1947. His scientific interests are in acoustics, undersea warfare and technology, and electroacoustic transducers and measurements. The new head of the Underwater Sound Reference Division spent four years as an engineering officer in the Marine Corps during World War II. He is a Fellow of the Acoustical Society of America and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engi-neers. He has published numerous papers in the Journal of the Acous-tical Society of America. Dravo To Fabricate Operating Machinery For Hannibal Locks Dravo Corporation, Pittsburgh, has been awarded a contract to fab-ricate all the operating machinery and valves for Hannibal Locks, un-der construction on the Ohio River near New Martinsville, West Vir-ginia. The contract is with Blount Brothers Corporation, Montgom-ery, Ala., which is building the locks for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Dravo will fabricate eight sets of miter gate-operating machinery, six sets of tainter valve-operating ma-chinery and six tainter valves. De-livery is scheduled for late in 1968. The locks at Hannibal and a dam to be constructed there under a separate contract are part of the Engineers' modernization plan for Ohio River navigation and flood control. This program will reduce the number of locks and dams from 46 to 19 larger and more effective facilities. $2-Million Contract Awarded Halter Marine Of bids received last September for the construction of three com-bination units, the U.S. Coast Guard awarded a $2,173,313 con-tract to Halter Marine Services, Inc., New Orleans, La., the lowest bidder. The combination units con-sist of 75-foot pusher towboats with 100-foot barges. "ACC0&P/W TP CVMW7ZZ, 1/zktAr /y 44 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News