$70.8-Million Conversion Contract Awarded AMSHIP

A $70.8-million contract for the conversion of four Moore McCormack Lines, Inc., general cargo ships into self-sustaining cargo/ container vessels has been approved by the U.S. Maritime Administration.

The reconstruction work, to be financed in part under the Mar Ad construction-differential subsidy (CDS) program, will be done by The American Ship Building Co.

at Tampa, Fla., and Lorain, Ohio.

The C-4, Constellation-class ships are the Mormaclynx, Mormaccargo, Mormacvega, and Mormacrigel.

They were built at Ingalls Shipbuilding Corp., Pascagoula, Miss., and delivered in 1964-65. Each presently is 550- feet 9 inches long and has a cargo- carrying capacity of 12,666 dwt, including 200 twenty-foot equivalent unit (TEU) containers.

The conversion calls for insertion of 115-foot midbodies and the installation of three 40-ton cranes in each vessel. This will increase their overall length to 665 feet 9 inches, dwt to 15,726, and their container capacity to 628 TEUs.

American Ship Building's negotiated fixed price for the reconstruction of each ship is $17,477,- 995, the amount eligible for subsidy consideration. The CDS portion approved for each is $7,527,- 995, or 43.07 percent of the total.

This represents the difference between the fixed price and the estimated foreign cost of $9.95 million for each vessel. In a final order and opinion recently, the Maritime Subsidy Board approved Japan as the fair and representative foreign shipbuilding center.

In addition to CDS, totaling some $30 million, the federal government will pay approximately $200,000 for each of the fourvessels for national defense features.

Moore McCormack, on its own account, will pay the shipyard some $2 million additionally for maintenance and repair items on the four ships.

The reconstructed vessels will be designated MA Design C6-S- 60c class ships.

Addition of the three 40-ton cranes on each will give them self-cargo handling capability, one of the national defense features approved by MarAd and the Department of the Navy. The rotating cranes, with an outreach of 25 feet, would enhance the vessels suitability for wartime use.

Another defense feature to be incorporated will provide for carrying two 20-foot containers in tandem where 40-foot containers are to be stowed. Both features will be put to commercial use by Moore McCormack and, for that reason, their cost will be jointly shared as subsidized items.

Maritime Reporter Magazine, page 8, Aug 1981

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Maritime Reporter

First published in 1881 Maritime Reporter is the world's largest audited circulation publication serving the global maritime industry.