Newport News Signs Letter Of Intent To Build 600,000-DWT Nuclear-Propelled Tankers
The largest shipyard in the United States has signed a letter of intent which could lead to construction of the world's largest nuclear-powered commercial vessels.
Tenneco's Newport News Shipbuilding and Ravi N. Tikkoo, chairman of the board of Globtik Tankers U.S.A., have signed a letter of intent for construction of up to three 600,000-deadweight- ton nuclear-powered oil tankers. Globtik Tankers U.S.A.
is a member of the Globtik group of companies, which are owned by Mr. Tikkoo. Mr. Tikkoo also owns two of the world's largest tankers of approximately 483,000 deadweight tons, which have been operating most successfully since their delivery in 1973.
The current estimated base price of each vessel is $325 million, not including escalation.
Each nuclear-powered ultra large crude oil carrier (ULCC) would be 1,303 feet in length, 240 feet in breadth and have a draft of 89.5 feet with a service speed of 18.5 knots at 110,000 shaft horsepower. Each ship would have twin screws and a double bottom, and be designed to meet or exceed all the latest IMCO marine pollution standards to carry safely approximately four million barrels of crude oil— enough to satisfy the energy needs of a city the size of Baltimore, Md., for one month. (The United States today imports about seven million barrels of oil per day.) These ships would be delivered toward the end of 1985, 1986 and 1987. It is proposed that the vessels would carry crude oil from the Arabian/Persian Gulf to the offshore U.S. terminals which are proposed for completion in 1979/1980. These tankers could also bring oil to the United States from the Arabian/Persian Gulf via the Caribbean large port transshipment terminals which are already in existence.
A formal contract between Newport News and Globtik, which the parties have agreed to develop, is subject to several factors, including favorable action by governmental regulatory agencies and the availability of suitable insurance, indemnification and financing.
A formal contract also anticipates U.S. adoption of cargo preference legislation, which would guarantee that some portion of U.S. waterborne commerce be carried in American-flag ships.
The nuclear-powered ULCCs would fly the U.S. flag.
(At present, the U.S. has no national cargo policy. As a result, American ships carry only about 5 percent of the nation's waterborne foreign trade. In contrast, nearly every other major seafaring nation has some form of cargo preference. Japan, for example, requires that 50 percent of imports be shipped in Japanese vessels, and France has set a 30 percent minimum.) The basic configuration of the ULCCs covered in the letter of intent is based upon design, engineering, safety and economic feasibility studies conducted by Newport News Shipbuilding under a Department of Commerce study undertaken in conjunction with the Maritime Administration (MarAd). Recently completed and submitted to MarAd for review, the comprehensive five-volume study details the shipbuilding project, from specifications and preliminary design to ship safety and cost/benefit analyses.
Newport News Shipbuilding has been involved with nuclear construction and refueling for more than 20 years and has built more than 30 nuclear-powered vessels for the U.S. Navy. It also is involved through its own subsidiary, Newport News Industrial Corporation, with land-based nuclear-power generating plants.
Newport News Shipbuilding has also been involved for about three years with Babcock & Wilcox and General Electric in an informal "team" approach to study the application of standardized nuclear propulsion systems to merchant ships. Technical feasibility of commercial marine nuclear propulsion was demonstrated by the construction and successful operation in the early 1960s of the nuclearpowered merchant vessel N/S Savannah, a U.S.-flag ship.
In addition, Newport News has recently assisted Babcock & Wilcox, the proposed supplier of the consolidated nuclear steam generator (CNSG) for the proposed new tankers, with a proposal to the Canadian Government for the supply, installation, test and evaluation of a CNSG for a Canadian icebreaker. Babcock & Wilcox has participated with MarAd since 1970 in the development of a standardized nuclear propulsion system based on the CNSG.
Other stories from February 1977 issue
Content
- SNAME Publishes New Vibration Code page: 4
- Request Aid To Build Four LNG Carriers At Cost Of $800 Million page: 6
- Rohr Outlines Plans For Design, Construction And Component Testing Of 3,000-Ton Navy SES page: 7
- John Grimwade Francis Named President Of Asiatic Petroleum Corp. page: 7
- PFEL Requests CDS To Convert Four Vessels At A Cost Of $24 Million page: 7
- Far East-Levingston Delivers Drillship Diamond M Dragon page: 7
- MarAd Approves CDS For APL To Reconstruct Four Containerships page: 7
- Western Gear Receives $3.4-Million Contract From Deepsea Ventures page: 8
- Dravo Corporation Names C.J. Donoghue page: 8
- Earle Pitt Elected Foxboro Board Chairman page: 9
- Chesterton Bulletin Describes New Coating For Marine Maintenance page: 10
- Newport News Signs Letter Of Intent To Build 600,000-DWT Nuclear-Propelled Tankers page: 10
- Calship Receives Loan To Finance Improvements page: 10
- PRMSA Appoints Lugo Executive Director page: 10
- Platner Promoted At Bethlehem Steel Corp. Baltimore Repair Yards page: 12
- Marvin Griffin Joins Matson Navigation Co. page: 13
- Electro-Nav Installs Atlas S-Band Radar On U.S.-Flag Tanker page: 13
- Peterson Receives $33.6-Million Contract For Two Heavy-Lift Ships page: 13
- Free Literature On Fire Extinguishers Available From Kidde page: 13
- SNAME San Diego Announces Site For 1980 Spring Meeting page: 13
- SNAME Philadelphia Section Hears Technical Paper On Pipelay Barge SEMAC I At Past Chairman's Night page: 14
- U.S. Navy Awards Maritime Industries Ltd. $1.7-Million Contract page: 14
- Zapata Bulk Transport Names Skeele President page: 15
- Skagit Corporation Appoints Three page: 15
- Pakistan Nationalizes Entire Merchant Fleet page: 15
- Lemont Shipbuilding Elects Roche President page: 15
- Peterson Launches CF Industries' First Integrated Tug/Barge Unit page: 16
- Texaco Announces Three Appointments In Marine Department page: 18
- Corrosion Engineers Name Bernard Schmidt page: 18
- Halter Marine Launches 180-Foot Supply Vessel For Arthur Levy Boat page: 20
- Petro-Marine Names Easley Project Manager page: 20
- Dravo Corp. Awarded $4 Million To Build Barge Unloader page: 20
- Navy To Procure Five Boeing PHM Hydrofoils Costing $282.1 Million page: 20
- Owens-Corning Booklet Describes New LNG Containment System page: 20
- Kockums Computer System Speeds Decision Making In Ship Accidents page: 21
- Equitable Shipyards Delivers First Of Five Twin-Screw Tugs To Indonesian Government page: 22
- Puerto Rico's First Shipyard Launched With $9-Million Loan page: 23
- Newport News Launches First Commercial Ship In Eight Years—LNG Carrier El Paso Southern page: 24
- SNAME New York Metropolitan Section Holds First 1977 Meeting—Jakobson Honored page: 24
- PFEL Accepts Bethlehem Bid Of $20 Million For Ship Conversion page: 25
- Martin Named President Of Korea Gulf Oil Co. page: 25
- Newport News To Double Capacity For Repairing Commercial Vessels page: 26
- R.A. Baker To Head New Hillman Company page: 26
- Lykes Bros. Elects R. Koch And L. Guerin Corporate Officers page: 27
- General Steamship Corp. Announces Promotions page: 27
- SNAME Publishes Full Computer Analysis Of Shipping Operations page: 27
- Tano Gets Contract For Vessel Control Systems page: 32
- APL Makes Personnel Promotions Worldwide page: 32
- Bethlehem's Sparrows Point Yard Delivers 530,000 DWT In 1976 page: 32
- Hydranautics Trans-Lift Systems Move 12-Story-High LNG Spheres page: 33
- Port Of N.Y. & N.J. Directory Available page: 33
- Jeffboat Lays Keel For 200-Foot Ferryboat To Operate On Mississippi At New Orleans page: 33
- International Paint Enters Commercial Agreement With Nippon Paint Co. page: 33
- Brown & Root Names Executive Committee To Manage Company page: 33
- Roland Kjelland Named Executive Vice President Kaiser Steel Corp. page: 34
- Newport News Shipyard Apprentice School Graduates First Women page: 34
- Agri-Trans Corporation Christens New Towboat— The St. Louis-Built Cooperative Venture page: 35
- Paducah Marine Ways Names Louis J. Roof page: 35
- The Whitehall Club Honors George W. Rogers page: 35
- 630-Foot Hydranautics Portable Pier Erected And Unloading Ships In 66 Hours page: 36
- Oil Mop's Method Of Cleaning Studied By French Delegation page: 36
- Ben Nutter Retires- Port Of Oakland Appoints Abernathy page: 36
- AquaBeam Appoints Arnessen Marine page: 37
- Liberian Shipping Council Elects Liang Chairman, Presses Safety Program page: 37
- Kurz Interests And Moran Shipping Agencies Organize New Agency page: 38
- MarAd Transfers Mitchell To Washington page: 38
- MarAd Publishes Std. Specifications For Diesel Ship Construction page: 39
- Cryogenic Control Valves Offer Economies At Subzero Temperatures page: 40
- R.D. Carter Forms Intermodal Systems Co. page: 40
- PRMSA Names Irizarry Deputy Executive Director page: 40
- Abex/Denison Introduces New Trimline Family Of Hydraulic Pumps page: 41
- Offshore Technology Conference Scheduled For May 2-5 In Houston page: 41
- Alden Data Sheet Lists Marine Weather Chart Transmitting Sites page: 41
- E.M. Hood Reports Shipbuilders Optimistic Over Long-Term Future page: 42
- Marathon Receives Contract For 300-Foot Drilling Tender page: 42
- Seatrain Agencies Names J.W. Honan VP page: 42
- Prudential Lines Appoints Assistant Traffic Managers page: 42
- Astilleros Espanoles Designs Versatile 12,000-DWT Ro/Ro Ship For Multiple Production page: 43
- SNAME Los Angeles Section Told Of Plans For Commercial Development Of The Oceans page: 43
- Maynard Designs Two-Year Expansion Plan For Venezuela Shipyard page: 43
- Cali Furnishing Tacoma NC Lofting Services page: 43
- Graduate Students Present Papers To SNAME New England Section page: 44
- Delta Steamship Lines Names Dale Miller page: 44
- Winthrop A. Wyman Named Executive Vice President Gulf Marine Management page: 44
- Western Shipbuilders Elect Alfred Moloney Association President page: 44
- Gulf Trading & Transportation Promotes W. Stark And J. Allen page: 45
- Velodur Coldwelding Can Cut Costly Repairs page: 45
- Security Bureau Elects W.J. Shields President page: 45
- ICHCA Appoints Finlay New Secretary General page: 46
- Staff Additions And Changes Announced By ACBL page: 47
- Harold Neville Named Chief Design Engineer Portsmouth Naval Yard page: 48
- Saint John Shipbuilding Completes Trials Of 38,000-DWT Tanker M / V Dolores Swann page: 48
- First Of Two New Tugs Joins Wijsmuller Fleet For Servicing North Sea Oil Production Units page: 49
- San Francisco Area Sections Of SNAME And ASNE Told Of Business Problems In Ship Maintenance page: 49
- Spiltrol Harbor Skimmer Delivered page: 49
- Rep. McCloskey And Patterson Address California Chapter Of Kings Point Alumni Assoc. page: 50
- ASARCO Donates Lead For Full-Scale Replica Of Famous Colonial Sloop page: 50
- Equitable Ships First Tug To Indonesia On Louise Lykes page: 51
- International Paint Appoints Two Specialists In Coatings page: 52
- SNAME Pacific Northwest Section Honors Members And Views 'Arctic Sealift Expedition, 1975' page: 52
- MacGregor Describes Cost Saving Hatch Cover page: 52