Page 33: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (August 1971)

NASSCO Starts Construction

On First Subsidized OBOs

Looking at a model of the OBOs to be constructed are left to right: Capt. Leon Burger, president, Aries Marine

Shipping Co., Lake Success, N.Y.; Andrew E. Gibson,

Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Maritime Affairs, and John Banks, vice president, National Steel and Ship- building Co., San Diego, Calif.

With the signing June 30, 1971, of a $60,000,- 000 contract by National Steel and Shipbuilding

Company, Aries Marine Shipping Company, and the Maritime Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, a log jam has been broken and the 1970 Merchant Marine Act has for the first time been fully implemented for the purpose for which it was intended. The contract calls for the construction of two 80,500-deadweight-ton oil/ bulk/ore carriers (OBOs).

The key elements of the new act embodied in this contract are: (1) the qualification of bulk carriers for Government assistance; (2) encour- agement to shipyards to design and market high performance ships, and (3) reduction of subsidy levels through standardization and series produc- tion.

This revised legislation is the key to President

Nixon's goal for the revitalization of the Amer- ican merchant marine.

Economic studies sponsored by the Maritime

Administration last year pointed to the OBO type vessel as being best suited to recapture the U.S. bulk trade now largely carried in foreign-flag ships. The versatility of the OBO in being able to transport different products, liquid or bulk, between ports permits high utilization and low cost transportation.

Designed by NASSCO as the "San Clemente" class, the vessels will be 80,500 dwt, 892 feet in length, 105 feet in beam, and have a molded depth of 62 feet. This is the maximum size that can transit the Panama Canal. Propulsion will be single screw, steam turbine, for a sustained speed of 16.5 knots. The latest in automation of operational controls is incorporated in the design, including provisions whereby the engine room can be operated unattended.

Work will commence immediately at NASSCO in San Diego, Calif., with the first ship sched- uled for delivery to Aries Marine Shipping Co. in mid-1973.

Jacksonville Port Authority

Appoints Robert C. Peace

Robert C. Peace has been appointed as the new managing director of the Jacksonville

Port Authority. Mr. Peace, who resigned his

Navy commission in July 1964 to accept the post of director of engineering for the Port

Authority, was promoted to deputy manag- ing director in 1969. He has been serving as acting managing director since February 3,1971.

A native of San Antonio, Texas, Mr. Peace earned a B.S. degree in civil engineering from the University of Houston and an M.S. de- gree in engineering, specializing in ports and harbors, at Princeton.

August1 1, 1971

French Operator Building 5,600-Hp Pusher Tug In U.S.A.,

Notched Barge In Hong Kong

A two-million-dollar contract for the con- struction of a 20,000-ton barge was signed on July 9 between the French firm Union

Navale of Paris, and Hong Kong's Taikoo

Dockyard and Engineering.

The 477-foot oceangoing pusher barge will be the largest such vessel ever built in Hong

Kong. Construction work will begin in Oc- tober, and the vessel will be launched in

June 1972, after which date the Union Navale will use it for the Baltic Sea and North Sea coal trade.

The barge has been designed with a U- shaped notch in the stern into which a 5,600- horsepo'wer pusher tug fits and links with a hydraulic system to form a single integrated unit.

Southern Shipbuilding Corporation has re- ceived the contract from Union Navale to build the oceangoing tug in their Slidell, La. shipyard. The tug will be delivered to Hong

Kong in June. Alain Seligman, president of

Southern Shipbuilding stated: "We are very pleased to have secured this contract and to have opened up a new foreign market for the

American shipbuilding industry. We are pleased for the part we shall play in reducing the balance of payments deficit and in re- versing the trend of having U.S. capital create jobs abroad by having a contract that will cause Western European capital to create jobs in Louisiana."

Breit Engineering, Inc. of New Orleans and

Ingram Corporation have designed and pat- ented the pusher barge system to be employed in construction.

The New Orleans firm says the new concept barge gives a susbtantial saving on construc- tion and operation costs when compared with the conventional bulk carrier.

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