Bay Shipbuilding Delivers M/V Columbia Star To Oglebay Norton Company

Oglebay Norton Company has taken delivery of its first 1,000- foot self-unloading vessel.

The new supercarrier was constructed by the Bay Shipbuilding Corp., subsidiary of The Manitowoc Company, Inc., at Sturgeon Bay, Wis. Construction began in the autumn of 1979 and the keel was laid on March 3, 1980. The hull was floated out of the construction dock on November 8, 1980.

Ceremonies conducted recently officially named the Great Lakes ore carrier to honor the company's Columbia Transportation Division and the brig Columbia that carried the first cargo of iron ore through the Soo Canal in 1855.

The vessels of the Columbia fleet, one of the largest on the Lakes, bear a bright red star on their stack.

After departing the shipyard, the vessel proceeded to Silver Bay, Minn., to load her first cargo, 49,244 gross tons of iron ore pellets. The Columbia Star will make Toledo, Ohio, its primary lower Lakes port.

The new Columbia Star carries 61,000 tons of cargo at maximum draft. Longer than three football fields and 105 feet wide, the vessel maneuvers with the assistance of bow and stern thrusters utilizing stainless-steel controllable- pitch propellers driven by 1,500 horsepower electric motors.

Four diesel engines developing 14,000 total horsepower move the vessel at a service speed of 15 miles per hour. A self-unloading vessel, the Columbia Star is equipped with a 265-foot conveyor boom which swings over the vessel's side to discharge up to 10,000 tons of bulk cargo per hour.

The main propulsion unit was supplied by the Electro-Motive Division of the General Motors Corporation. The KaMeWa controllable- pitch propellers were produced by Bird-Johnson Company.

The ship's service power is generated by Caterpillar diesel engines.

Master of the M/V Columbia Star is Capt. Joseph J. Toreki of Perry, Ohio, who has sailed with the Columbia fleet since 1948.

Chief engineer is Norman E. Jen- sen of Clearwater, Fla. Chief Jensen joined the company in 1954.

Addition of the M/V Columbia Star brings Oglebay Norton fleet strength to 17 vessels.

Other stories from August 1981 issue

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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.