Puerto Rico's First Shipyard Launched With $9-Million Loan
Puerto Rico has won U.S.
Farmers Home Administration approval of a $9-million loan which paves the way for immediate construction of the Island's first shipbuilding yard, to be located at a 68-acre site on Guanica Bay.
This new venture into heavy industry is expected eventually to create about 800 direct jobs in job-hungry Guanica.
Establishment of the south coast shipyard, incorporated in Puerto Rico as Ocean & Inland Waterways Corporation, was hailed by officials of Fomento, Puerto Rico's Economic Development Administration, which actively promoted the project.
Fast installation of the most modern machinery and equipment will enable Ocean & Inland Waterways to begin small-scale production by summer 1977, building at first tugboats of about 105 feet in length, and employing about 450 workers by the end of its first year of operations.
Ocean & Inland Waterways has already developed a substantial seed order book.
Design and construction of the shipyard are being handled by A & P Appledore International Limited, a leading British firm which conducted a feasibility study of the project in 1975. Appledore has designed and is developing modern shipyards in South Korea, Southeast Asia, and South America, and is the market consultant for British Shipbuilders.
Clearing of the Guanica site is expected to begin immediately, followed by a 20-month construction program.
A total of $11.5 million in financing for the first phase of the shipyard is being arranged by Wertheim & Company, Inc., a New York investment firm. This includes a $9-million loan which will be 90 percent guaranteed by the FmHA.
The shipyard project is expected to provide a needed boost to the local economy. The official unemployment rate in Guanica is placed at 25 to 30 percent of the work force.
In its first phase, the shipyard will build tugboats, barges, supply craft and special lifeboats.
The company will also actively seek orders in the export market.
The Appledore study revealed that the U.S. coastal fleet is a sizeable sector of merchant shipping.
It is protected from the current depression in world shipbuilding by the requirement to build American-flag vessels in the United States (including Puerto Rico).
This market is estimated to have an annual demand of 200 vessels for fleet replacement and 400 vessels for growth tonnage.
Tugs and towboats constitute about 22 percent of annual tonnage requirements. Of the U.S.
coastal fleet of 5,700 vessels, the Puerto Rico yard would require only a fraction of the total market.
To help supply the shipyard with skilled workers, some 120 trainees will soon start three-tosix- month courses at a Fomento industrial building at Yauco, near Guanica. The training program will include courses for steelworkers, welders, pipeworkers, burners, chippers, grinders, marine fitters, electricians, and joiners.
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