Page 7: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (May 15, 1974)

Letter Of Intent To Dravo

To Build Largest Man-Made

Structure Ever Placed In Ocean

The Public Service Electric and Gas Com- pany, New Jersey, has issued a letter of intent to award a contract for construction of the breakwater for its proposed offshore floating nuclear power plant to the Dravo Corporation of Pittsburgh, Pa. The American Dredging

Company and the Gates Construction Corpora- tion of Little Ferry, N.J., will be associated in the project, whose cost will be more than $200 million. The breakwater will be the largest man-made structure ever placed in the ocean and will be located 2.8 miles in the Atlantic

Ocean about 12 miles northeast of Atlantic

City.

Nine 700-Ft. Ore Carriers

Of NBC Fleet Converted To

Automated Firing While At Sea

The 700-foot ore carrier S/S Ore-Jupiter, shown above, owned by National Bulk Carriers, Inc., is one of nine ships of this fleet recently retrofitted with automated burner controls designed and built by Chas. Lowe Co.,

Control Systems Division, Cleveland, Ohio.

A quarter-of-a-million-dollar contract for conversion to automated firing of nine 700- foot vessels of National Bulk Carrier's fleet was recently completed by the Chas. Lowe

Co.'s Control Systems Division, 5845 Harper

Road, Cleveland, Ohio 44139, builders of auto- mated boiler systems. The contract is believed to cover the largest number of ships ever auto- mated under a single order.

The nine ships, under charter as ore carriers and operating on a two-week turn around sched- ule from Venezuela to Philadelphia area steel plants, were automated under way without in- terruption of their schedules. The automation system installation caused no loss in revenue- producing time. "It's the kind of job we're organized to do," said J.D. Connors, division sales manager. "We are a relatively small outfit, but have extensive experience in controls. Many of our people have sailed as licensed engineers, so we are familiar with the problems involved. We knew the importance of coordinated delivery of ma- terials, and planned accurately for it. We also detailed procurement of installations and mounting hardware. At no time did the ships lack the needed materials to complete the in- stallations under way."

An immediate result is that all nine NBC ships are now sailing with un'manned fire- rooms. System payout is projected at less than two years per ship.

The first four shipsets were designed, built and factory-tested in only 90 days. Thereafter followed a tightly-controlled program of in- stallation, tune-up, testing and light-off, with virtually no margin for error.

Systems were installed by a six-man installa- tion crew while the ships were on their regular runs between Venezuela and Morrisville, Pa.

Upon arrival at Morrisville, Chas. Lowe Co. service engineers checked out the installation, made final adjustments and put the system on line. It was imperative that no time be lost, as the single installation crew had to be available for the following ship, which sailed only two to three days after the previous ship arrived.

Chas. Lowe Co.'s project manager organized the task under five headings: (1) survey-in- depth of requirements; (2) preliminary design and discussion with owners; (3) construction; (4) pre-installation plan; and (5) installation, test and personnel instruction.

Each system had to be built and de-bugged in advance to insure zero defects, as the lay- over at the unloading port allowed only two days for testing and activation, and no time for repairs. The program called for each ship to sail on automation on the first trip following installation. To guarantee trouble-free opera- tion, each system was double-checked for all functions at the division's plant on a test-stand wired to a four-burner boiler simulator.

Working with the ships' owners, Chas. Lowe

Co. engineers prepared a pre-installation plan for each ship. This detailed all preparatory and installation tasks and designated who was to perform them. Plans were reviewed with all concerned to assure completeness and avoid misunderstanding.

Bills of materials—modified for each ship— also were prepared in advance, listing such items as foundation materials, pipe-fittings and related parts. Each item was tagged with its part number and the name of the ship, and di- rected to a specified warehouse space at the ships' docking facilities. Inventories were checked about 10 days before each sailing.

Upon arrival of a ship back in Morrisville with installation completed, Chas. Lowe Co. engineers went aboard. Their missions: to check all installation work, test and tune for optimum performance, put the system on line and instruct ship's personnel in its operation.

Sea trials were held as the vessel departed for Venezuela. 0. A. R. N.

OFFICINE ALLESTIMENTO E. RIPARAZIONI NAVI LTD.

SHIP REPAIRS-GENOA, ITALY (Fincantieri Group)

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.

P.O. BOX N. 1395 GENOA, ITALY 16100

CABLE MOLOGIANO GENOA, Telex 27090 OARN, Telephone 292541

U.S.A. CORRESPONDENT

JAMES R. PORTER, 250 Park Ave., Suite 322, New York, N.Y. 10017

Tel. Code 212-986-2278; Telex 421474 PORTER

May 15, 1974 9