Page 8: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (April 1972)

Central Gulf To Order

LASH Ships And Barges —Total Cost $80 Million

Two additional lighter-aboard-ship (LASH) cargo vessels are to be or- dered by Central Gulf Steamship

Corp., it was announced by Trans

Union Corp., parent company of the steamship line.

The new ships, designed by Friede & Goldman, Inc., New Orleans, La. firm of naval architects, will be built by Avondale Shipyards, Inc., New

Orleans, from which Central Gulf has already ordered a single LASH- type vessel.

Central Gulf already operates two barge-carrying cargoliners in the Gulf-

North Atlantic trade. The two ships, built in Japan, were the first LASH ships in the world when they entered service in 1969. Of Norwegian regis- try, they are under charter to the company.

The three new vessels Central Gulf has ordered, scheduled for delivery in

July, October and December 1974, will fly the American flag.

Along with the two new ships, Cen- tral Gulf will order 600 barges from an American yard.

The forthcoming order will involve an estimated $80 million, $55 million of which will be for the two new ves- sels and $25 million for the barges.

The total cost of Central Gulf's three- ship construction program, including barges, is put at $108 million.

The new ships will be 893 feet long, have a 100-foot beam, and a deadweight capacity of 40,000 tons.

Each will be able to handle 89 light- ers, which are loaded and unloaded by a gantry crane.

The three-ship order involves Fed- eral construction subsidy assistance under the 1970 Merchant Marine

Act. The vessels will not however, be under the Government's operating subsidy program.

James Hughes, Inc.

Names J.J. Hughes VP

James J. Hughes

The 'board of directors of James

Hughes, Inc. has nominated James

J. Hughes vice president of opera- tions as of March 1, 1972.

James Hughes, Inc. is a well- known East and Gulf Coast I.C.C.

Water Transportation Firm which has been in operation since 1896.

The new vice president represents the fourth generation of ownership and control of the expanding fleet of coastwise and harbor vessels.

A 1964 graduate of Boston Col- lege and a graduate of Naval Offi- cer Candidate School, Newport,

R.I., Mr. Hughes served three years with the Navy in Vietnam waters, followed 'by assignment to the At- lantic and Mediterranean areas. He joined the Hughes organization in 1970, after having received his

M.B.A. degree from Columbia

Graduate School of Business.

His new duties at Hughes will primarily be concerned with the expanding operations of the James

Hughes, Inc. fleet of I.C.C. water carriers involved in the transpor- tation of oversized or extremely heavy pieces, such as nuclear and electrical power components, fabri- cated steel and prestressed con- crete units.

Nashville Bridge Gets

Contract For 2 Barges

From Magnolia Marine

A contract to construct two tank barges has been awarded the Nash- ville Bridge Company, Nashville,

Tenn., by Magnolia Marine Trans- port Co. of Jackson, Miss. One of the barges will measure 300 feet by 54 feet by 12 feet, and the other 295 feet by 54 feet by 12 feet.

St. Louis Ship Awarded

Contract For 2 Barges

National Marine Service, Inc., St.

Louis, Mo., has awarded a contract to St. Louis Ship, St. Louis, for two 195-foot by 35-foot by 12-foot tank barges. £ SMIT INTERNATIONAL Head Office: 5,Westplein - Rotterdam 3002 P.O. Box 1042 Telegrams: Smittug Rotterdam Telephone: 362700 (day) 144388 (night) Telex: 22247 (attended day and night) Agents in U.S.A.

EAST: Phs. van Ommeren Shipping (U.S.A.) Inc.

New York

SOUTH: Biehl & Co. Inc. New Orleans (La.)

WEST: Transpacific Transportation Co.

San Francisco (Cal.) 10 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News