Page 44: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (November 1977)

Kaiser Building Fifteen Mammoth All-Welded

Aluminum LNG Tanks For Ships At Avondale

Complexity of construction of the liquefied natural gas tanks being fabricated by

Kaiser Aluminum at its Mobile, Ala., plant can be seen in this aerial photograph.

In the background is a tank nearing completion, and the "Mobile giant" derrick which will lift the tanks into the LNG ships.

A series of huge aluminum tanks nearing completion in Mo- bile, Ala., soon will be playing a significant role in helping the na- tion meet its energy requirements.

The 15 mammoth all-welded containers are being assembled by Kaiser Aluminum & Chemical

Corporation on nearby Pinto Is- land for eventual use in three liq- uefied natural gas (LNG) ships under construction at Avondale

Shipyards in New Orleans, La.

The 125,000-cubic-meter ships will be operated by subsidiaries of El

Paso Natural Gas Company to transport natural gas at cryogenic temperatures (minus 260 degrees

F) from gas fields in Algeria to

East Coast markets.

The multimillion-dollar project is the largest of its type in LNG history, and the tanks are the first of their design ever built in this country.

TV»o +or>V Himpnsinns are im- ect. Aluminum plate up to IV2 inches in thickness is provided by the company's Ravenswood,

W. Va., Works. Extrusions are from Kaiser Aluminum's Hale- thorpe, Md., plant; forgings from

Erie, Pa., Works; and the total welding wire requirements of some 500,000 pounds are being supplied by the company's New- ark, Ohio, Works.

The largest of the Conch-design rectangular containers weighs ap- proximately 950 tons, while the smaller ones weigh approximately 700 tons. They are being assem- bled at ground level and will be lifted into place in the ships by a huge twin-boom derrick which has been specially constructed for the purpose at the Mobile site.

The first tank is scheduled for lift in approximately 30 days, according to T.H. Johnson, Kaiser

Aluminum LNG project manager, and the ships are expected to be

Drew Marine customers. Mr.

Smith served previously as tech- nical director, Marine Division, and will continue with this re- sponsibility for all technical sup- port to the division's sales activ- ities worldwide.

A graduate of the State Uni- versity of New York Maritime

College at Fort Schuyler, Mr.

Smith joined Drew in 1976. He served previously as manager of power generation and distribution for Allied Chemical Corporation.

Prior to that, he was employed by E.I. du Pont de Nemours, and also by Exxon Affiliates as a util- ities advisor in Holland, Singa- pore, the Philippines, Thailand, and Okinawa.

Mr. Smith is a licensed profes- sional engineer in the states of

New York, New Jersey, and South

Carolina.

Drew Chemical, a subsidiary of

United States Filter Corporation, is a major supplier of products and services for water manage- ment and specialty chemicals for the industrial and marine markets.

Has The Answer To Ibur Corrosion Problems

Drew Chemical Corp.

Promotes Walter Smith

Walter A. Smith

Raymond M. Burke, group vice president, Drew Chemical Corpo- ration, Parsippany, N.J., has an- nounced the promotion of Walter

A. Smith to director, consulting and technical services, Marine

Division. In his new position,

Mr. Smith will be responsible for establishing technical support groups in both Europe and the

Far East. This will provide more effective and efficient service to

Avondale To Install

Iron Cargo Piping

Aboard U.S. Tankers

Clow Corporation, manufac- turer of cast and ductile iron pressure pipe, has announced it has received a contract from

Avondale Shipyards, New Orleans,

La., to supply 14-inch, 18-inch, i and 20-inch-diameter ductile iron ] pipe for cargo piping in four | tankers.

Although centrifugally cast 1 ductile iron pipe has been used for ships' piping for several years ( by Europeans, the Avondale use, i it is believed, will be its first in- stallation on a U.S.-flag vessel.

Pipe selected is standard 60,000 tensile ductile pipe which is in widespread use for underground I pressure piping, except that the ' ductile iron will be alloyed with 2 percent nickel for added corro- sion resistance. PiDe will be plain

Clow Ductile pipe and fittings, alloyed with 2% nickel, offer the most economical corrosion resistance for a. Kniioot nininn Fnr rriirlp versatile and economical world-wide trader...