Page 41: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 15, 1978)

American Steamship Company Elects

Three Executives To Vice Presidential Posts

Zapata Commissions Latest Of Workboats

Supporting Atlantic Coast Exploration

Louis E. Ervin D. Ward Fuller Dennis M. O'Connor

C.T. Shen, chairman of the board and chief executive officer, and Thomas W. Burke, president and chief operating officer of

American Steamship Company, a subsidiary of GATX Corporation, have announced the election of three executives, Louis E. Ervin,

D. Ward Fuller, and Dennis M.

O'Connor to new posts.

Mr. Ervin, who had been man- ager-Marine Personnel, has been named vice president-Marine Per- sonnel and Labor Relations.

Mr. Ervin joined American

Steamship Company four years ago after working 14 years in

Washington, D.C. for the Mari- time Administration in several management positions. Prior to that, he worked for several steamship companies in various positions, both ashore and aboard ocean liners. He graduated from the U.S. Merchant Marine Acad- emy, and Georgetown University.

Mr. Fuller, who had been spe- cial assistant to the chairman in

New York City, has been named vice president-Finance.

Mr. Fuller is a graduate of the

University of Southern California

School of Business, and the Boalt

Hall School of Law at the Uni- versity of California at Berkeley.

Prior to joining ASC in 1977, Mr.

Fuller was previously engaged in private law practice, corporate banking, and corporate finance, the latter position with ASC's sister subsidiary in San Francisco,

Calif., GATX Leasing Corp.

Mr. O'Connor has been elected vice president-Operations in which position he will be responsible for the direction of the engineering, vessel personnel, insurance, and purchasing functions of the com- pany.

Mr. O'Connor has been em- ployed by American Steamship

Company since 1969, and served as vice president-Finance and treasurer of the company and its subsidiaries. Mr. O'Connor re- ceived both his bachelor's and master's degrees from Canisius

College, and is a certified public accountant.

GATX provides capital equip- ment and services for extracting, processing, and distributing dry and liquid bulk materials in North

America and overseas. It owns and operates railcars, oceangoing and Great Lakes vessels, and bulk liquid terminals; manufactures in- dustrial and transportation equip- ment, and provides financing for capital equipment.

The 5,750-horsepower Pioneer Service is U.S. Coast Guard certified, and meets all current and anticipated pollution control standards for East Coast operation. It is one of five Zapata Marine Service vessels currently based in Davisville, R.I. "SHE'S BOUAJD FOR ALASKA /VORTH SLOPS/

The Pioneer Service, latest of six sophisticated tug/supply ves- sels built for operation by Zapata

Marine Service, Inc. on America's ocean frontiers, was commissioned on November 18 at Davisville, R.I. in special ceremonies. This 5,750- horsepower vessel is one of five sister ships now based in Rhode

Island.

A crowd of spectators, repre- senting Rhode Island's leading citizens and the oil industry, watched as the vessel's sponsor

Mrs. Paul L. Kelly smashed the traditional champagne bottle on the bow of the Pioneer Service to officially christen the new 207- foot tug/supply vessel. Other ele- ments in the colorful ceremonies were the replica sloop-of-war

Providence, and a Coast Guard fire boat, which saluted the ves- sel, and the Kentish Guards of

North Kingstown, garbed in Rev- olutionary War uniforms, who provided martial music and acted as color guards.

Rhode Island's U.S. Senator

John H. Chafee was principal speaker at the ceremonies. Other remarks were given by Ronald

C. Lassiter, president of Houston,

Texas-based Zapata Corporation, and Scott Eubanks, director of

Rhode Island's Department of

Economic Development, who ap- peared on behalf of Governor

J. Joseph Garrahy. Kenneth W.

Waldorf, president of Zapata Ma- rine Service, was master of cere- monies. The vessel's sponsor, Mrs.

Kelly, read a poem she had writ- ten to honor the Pioneer Service, and Miss Jenny Ventura Byrd of

East Greenwich, R.I., served as maid of honor.

Built by Campbell Industries,

San Diego, Calif., the Pioneer

Service, and her sister vessels have been completed over the past two years, and represent an in- vestment of about $5.5 million each. They were specifically de- signed for work in frontier wa- ters of the U.S. Outer Continental

Shelf, providing the ultimate in operating efficiency under the most demanding conditions.

The Pioneer Service joins its sister vessel Liberty Service in awaiting commencement of fur- ther operations in the Baltimore

Canyon. Three other vessels in the class are now supporting drill- ing operations there. The Consti- tution Service and Independence

Service, part of the initial con- tingent of marine service vessels to arrive in Davisville in March 1978, are now contracted to Gulf

Oil Corporation, in support of the semisubmersible New Era. The

Freedom Service, which began op- erations in June, is under contract to Mobil Oil Corporation in sup- port of the semisubmersible Pace- setter III. Zapata Marine Service currently employs about 100 peo- ple in its Baltimore Canyon oper- ations, of whom 40 percent are from New England.

This month, the Zapata Marine

Service vessels will be joined by the giant semisubmersible rig Za- pata Ugland, which is being mo- bilized from the North Sea to the

Baltimore Canyon area, where it will work for Tenneco Oil Com- pany. Built in 1974, the semisub- mersible will be the largest off- shore drilling rig working on the

U.S. Atlantic Coast. It is operated by Zapata Off-Shore Company.

The addition of the Pioneer

Service brings to 48 the number of vessels in the worldwide fleet of Zapata Marine Service, Inc.

Forty-one of these are tug/supply vessels ranging from 2,000 to more than 7,000 horsepower. Zapata's fleet transports supplies, equip- ment and crews; tows rigs, han- dles anchors, hauls pipe and sup- ports construction. In addition to the U.S., present operations in- clude waters of 10 countries in the

North Sea, offshore West Africa, the Middle East, South America, and Southeast Asia. The company has worked in waters of more than 50 countries since it began in the mid-1950s.

Features of the Pioneer Serv- ice include outstanding bollard pull, top speed in excess of 15 knots and cruising speed over 13 knots, and equipment for handling 20-ton anchors and related chain (continued on page 38)

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