Page 49: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1969)

Port Of Philadelphia Orders

Second Kocks Pittsburgh 45-Ton Container Crane

Kocks Pittsburgh Corporation has received a contract covering a second 45-ton capacity container crane for the City of Philadelphia.

Among the largest of its type in the world, the crane will be a duplicate of the Kocks unit scheduled for operation at the end of this year.

The second Kocks crane will be installed by

March, 1970. The unit will serve a land backup area of 94 feet. It is a wide gauge model with 90 feet between tracks.

Featuring self-contained diesel power, the

Kocks crane will handle 20- and 40-foot con- tainers and also will provide for quick adapta- tion to general cargo use, bucket handling and scrap handling by magnet.

SS Manhattan To Use

Collins Communications

On Alaskan Voyage

Humble Oil & Refining Company, Dallas,

Texas, has selected Collins Radio Company equipment for use in long-range communica- tions connected with an experiment to develop transportation for bringing oil out of the Alas- kan North Slope oil field. The Alaskan field is the newest, and forecasted to be among the largest oil fields in the world.

The Collins equipment will be installed aboard the SS Manhattan, a 115.000-dwt ves- sel and the largest oil tanker in the U.S.-flag merchant fleet. Within a few months the SS

Manhattan will begin a testing program to ob- tain data necessary to design ships which could routinely navigate the Northwest Pas- sage above the Arctic Circle.

Humble Oil is spearheading an industry ef- fort to develop the sea route approach through the Northwest Passage. This appears to be one of the most economical and practical methods of getting the oil out of Alaska to refineries bordering on the Atlantic.

Humble Oil is converting the SS Manhattan into an icebreaking tanker for the project. The

Manhattan will begin its maiden voyage into the Arctic from the East Coast later this year and proceed northward through the ice to

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, a distance of 4.427 miles.

Collins was selected to furnish the communi- cation equipment because of the company's ex- tensive experience in long-range communica- tion, especially into the Arctic Zone. Collins' experience in long-range communication dates back to the Adm. Byrd expeditions to the Ant- arctic in the early l930's, and most recently the company has designed and developed the long- range communication equipment used in the

Apollo program.

The USS Manhattan will be equipped with two helicopters for ice reconnaissance missions and Collins will provide communication equip- ment for these, as well as for landing parties sent out from the Manhattan to test the ice along the tanker route.

Collins equipment to be installed aboard the

Manhattan includes the MR-104A high-fre- quency single sideband shipboard communica- tion system, complete S-line (30S-1 linear am- plifier, 32S-3 transmitter, 312B-4 station con- trol, 75S-3C receiver), a log periodic antenna and vertical antenna. Equipment to be used on the helicopters and by the landing parties will include very high frequency transceivers, locator beacons, homing devices and emer- gency beacons.

Besides supplying communications equip- ment, Collins also will be performing the sys- tems engineering work necessary to tie the communication systems together.

Using the Collins equipment, the Manhattan will be able to communicate with Collins' fa- cilities in Cedar Rapids for relaying to Humble

Oil Company headquarters in Houston, Texas.

Approximately 30 scientists, engineers and technicians will be aboard the Manhattan to chart and study ice thicknesses, temperatures, icebergs, "whiteouts" (blinding hazes caused by ice crystals floating in the air), and the ef- fects of these conditions on the performance of the ship.

Several hundred sensors will be located throughout the ship to assist in studying stress conditions as the ship plows through the ice.

These sensors will be monitored continually by a computer.

Data gathered during the voyage may be used in designing larger ships twice the size of the Manhattan to go through the passage.

If the test is successful, the oil industry antici- pates using a considerable number of ships with 250,000 tons capacity and more on a year- round basis to transport oil from Prudhoe Bay to oil refineries on the East Coast of the United

States. The industry has announced a trans-

Alaska pipeline for supplying West Coast re- fineries.

Sun Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Yard in

Chester, Pa., is prime contractor for convert- ing the SS Manhattan for Arctic operations.

The modifications include installation of a new ice-breaking bow, reinforced hull, new high- strength propellers and tailshafts and addi- tional navigation equipment.

Two other shipyards, Newport News Ship- building and Dry Dock Company, Newport

News, Va., and Alabama Dry Dock & Ship- building Co., Mobile, Ala., are also modifying major portions of the ship which has been cut into four sections to speed the conversion. 0. A. R. N.

OFFICINE ALLESTIMENTO E. RIPARAZIONI NAVI LTD.

SHIP REPAIRS - GENOA, ITALY

On the oil route Genoa awaits tankers returning from discharging.

Overhauls and repairs of any kind and size of main and auxiliary engines (steam turbine, diesel and electric).

Hull Repairs and Conversions.

O.A.R.N. U SA- CORRESPONDENT

P.O. BOX N. 1395 GENOA, ITALY 16100 JAMES R. PORTER

CABLE MOLOGIANO GENOA 17 Battery Place, N. Y„ N. Y. 10004

Telex 27090 OARN Tel. Code 212 WH 3-8795

Telephone 292541 Telex 421474 PORTER

Fincantieri Group Affiliated with Ansaldo, Ltd.

June 1, 1969 51