Page 55: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 15, 1969)

Alaska's Oil Rush Produces Large Order For Armco Steel And Arctic Marine Freighters Oil industry activity in Alaska's North Slope? site of the largest oil discovery in recent years? is booming. Latest development, announced by National Supply Division of Armco Steel Corpor-ation, is an order received from BP Oil Corpor-ation for almost 10,000 tons of Armco Seal-Lock casing. Armco is shipping the casing from its Am-bridge, Pa., works, which is about 5,000 miles by rail and oceangoing barge from the frigid North Slope. The North Slope, locked in ice except for a brief six-week period each year, has presented a tremendous logistics challenge to the oil industry. Temperature drops to 70°F. below zero. The site is more than 800 miles by land from the nearest warm-water port. Supplies have been hauled in overland over a makeshift highway and by the largest airlift or-ganized since the Berlin crisis. From Armco's Ambridge plant, the casing will travel by rail to Seattle, a trip of about 2,000 miles. It will then be transferred to barges for the 3,000-mile trip around Alaska to the North Slope. Route of the voyage will be past the Aleu-tian Islands, through the Bering Straits, then around the northern tip of Alaska to Prudhoe Bay. The flotilla of barges carrying casing and other equipment will be taken to the North Slope by Arctic Marine Freighters, a joint venture of Puget Sound Tug & Barge Co. and Alaska Barge & Transport. The shipment is scheduled to arrive in late July. Timing of the shipment by water is critical because of the brief six-week period dur-ing which the route is free of ice. The 10,000 tons of Seal-Lock ordered by BP Oil totals 386,000 feet of casing: 100,000-feet of 13%-inch Seal-Lock, 216,000-feet of -inch and 70,000-feet of 7-inch casing. Barge Construction American Bridge Division of United States Steel Corp., Ambridge, Pa., is building a hop-per barge for Ohio Barge Line, Inc., Dravos-burg, Pa. Designated Hull No. 3686, it will have the following dimensions: 200 feet by 35 feet by 12 feet. Bethlehem-Beaumont Yard was contracted by Storm Marine Drilling Co., Corpus Christi, Texas, to build an offshore oil-well drilling barge. The barge to be of 5,200 gt and equipped with 5,000-bhp diesel-electric power units, will have dimensions of 166 feet by 109 feet by 16 feet. The barge has been designated Hull No. 4846. Hillman Barge & Construction Co., Pitts-burgh, Pa., was awarded a contract by Valley Line, St. Louis, Mo., to build a 1,400-dwt deck cargo barge. Designated Hull No. 6941, it will measure 150 feet 1^2 inches by 50 feet by 10 feet. Nashville (Tenn.) Bridge Co. will build two 3,600-dwt tank barges for Thomas Barge Co., 3858 Market St., St. Louis, Mo. Designated Hull Nos. 1992 and 1993, each barge will have the following dimensions: 264 feet in length, 54 feet in beam, and a depth of 12 feet. Paducah Marine Ways, Inc., Paducah, Ky., was awarded a contract to build six 3,000-dwt oil barges by National Marine Service, Inc., St. Louis, Mo. Each barge will have dimen-sions of 298 feet by 54 feet by 12 feet. Wall Shipyard (M & W Marine Ways, Inc.), Harvey, La., is to build a 3,200-dwt deck cargo barge for Sause Bros. Ocean Towing Co., Inc., Portland, Ore. Designated Hull No. 105, it will measure 230 feet in length, 55 feet in beam, and 15 feet 3 inches in depth. Barges For Sale! Our business is barges and we design, build and deliver to suit you. Stock designs or custom de-signs, single units or a fleet ? Hillman builds 'em. The quality is tops, your dead-lines will be met and the price will please you. Let us tackle your next barge assignment. (Rllman /ID A MT HI III I BARGE & CONSTRUCTION CO. GRANT BUILDING, PITTSBURGH, PA. 15219 ...write for your free copy of this NEW WELDC0 CATALOG Details on Weldco shipboard sewage disposal units... pipe, tube, and fittings ...job shop fabrication of countless other components for surface and under-water vessels and installations - in stainless steel, high nickel alloys, copper nickel, titanium, etc. Many other Weldco products are also featured. They have served a multitude of uses for over 50 years, on land and underground, in the air, in outer space, afloat and in the ocean's depths. This catalog will tell you all the ways Weldco might serve you. Write today. THE Y0UNGST0WN WELDING AND ENGINEERING COMPANY 3708 Oakwood Ave. Youngstown, Ohio 44509 Gentlemen: Please rush?_?copies of your general catalog No. 169. (Individual's name! J :" '' (Titla) __ (Company name) (Street Address)__ (City) ? (State) ^_CZip) June 15, 1969 57