Page 31: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (June 1986)

IF IT TOOK SIX DAYS

TO CREATE THE WORLD,

WHY SHOULD IT TAKE YOUR SUPPLIERS, 6 WEEKS OR 6 MONTHS TO SUPPLY

THE VALVES, FITTINGS, FLANGES,

STRAINERS, & PIPING SPECIALTIES

YOU NEED IN A HURRY????

Major commercial vessels under construction or on order in U.S. shipyards (Or 2,000 deadweight tons and over—as of June 1, 1986)

Hull Total Total Total Total Est.

Shipbuilder Owner Nos. Type No. GT (est) DWT (est) HP Deliv.

Bay Shipbuilding Sea-Land

Services 735-7 Ctr 3 47,355 48,390 66,240 86-87

McDermott Shipyards American

Dredging 276 H/Drdg 1 2,830 — 5,200 4/87

NASSCO Exxon Shipping 438-9 VLCC 2 179,460 411,792 64,480 86-87

TOTAL 6 229,645 460,182+ 135,920 hauls for the Navy. The same can be said for the Triple A yard at Hunt- er's Point, a mostly repair complex leased from the city and a former

Navy yard. The Continental

Maritime yard in San Francisco put a newly acquired, 26,000-ton drydock to work late last year with

Navy overhauls.

Early this year, Todd Pacific's

Los Angeles Division yard in

San Pedro won the coveted contract to reconstruct the Matson liner

Matsonia. The $33-million job will increase the length of the ship from 700 to 760 feet. Redelivery of the vessel is scheduled for the spring of 1987. The San Pedro yard currently employs some 2,200 people.

The West Coast's largest and bus- iest yard is National Steel and

Shipbuilding Company in San

Diego. In addition to its large vol- ume of Navy repairs, overhauls, and major conversions, NASSCO has a contract from Exxon Shipping

Company for construction of two 205,896-dwt VLCCs at a total cost of $250 million. The first of these tankers, the largest ships ever built on the West Coast, is scheduled for completion late this year and the second in March 1987.

Inland/Great Lakes Yards

Toledo Shipyard, the former

AmShip yard in Ohio, recently re- ceived a $l-million contract to build a 600-passenger vessel for the Bob-

Lo Island Amusement Park near

Detroit. Last August, the yard was awarded a contract to build a 360- foot self-unloading cement barge for

St. Mary's Holdings, Inc.

In Sturgeon Bay, Wise., Bay

Shipbuilding Corporation was winner of a prized contract to build three 16,130-dwt containerships for

Sea-Land Industries at a cost of $180 million. All three keels have been laid; the first ship was launched in May this year and will be delivered in November.

The Marinette Marine yard in

Marinette, Wise., and Peterson

Builders in Sturgeon Bay are both very busy with Navy new construc- tion. Fraser Shipyard in Su- perior, Wise., has long been involved in repairs and modernizations of big

Great Lakes bulk carriers, and has converted many of these vessels to self-unloaders.

The idle Upper Peninsula

Shipbuilding Company yard in

Ontonagon, Mich., has been pur- chased by the Wedtech Corporation of The Bronx, N.Y. According to the new owner's management, they bought the yard to develop it as a small business venture to obtain government contracts.

The Outlook For

U.S. Shipbuilding

Ideas for the revitalization of

American merchant shipbuilding range from privatization of gov- ernment-owned facilities (the eight Naval Shipyards and one

Coast Guard yard) to the ever- surfacing cargo preference legis- lation.

Among the forecasters, a con- census seems to see a recovery beginning in 1987 followed by an upturn in 1989-90. The U.S. Mar- itime Administration's near-term outlook is that some further de- cline is expected in shipyard em- ployment, although slight. This would be followed by a period of relatively stable work force re- quirements prior to the recovery expected to commence in late 1987. This outlook is contingent upon near-term economic condi- tions and future Administration and Congressional action with re- gard to continuation of the pro- posed Navy shipbuilding and conversion programs.

The Navy estimates that some 130,000 workers are needed in the nation's shipyards to meet the needs of a national emergency.

The Shipbuilders Council of

America, however, forecasts that it is possible only about 95,000 workers will be employed by 1990.

A plann proposed by Rep.

Helen D. Bentley (R-MD) would restore construction subsi- dies to encourage the building of 20 merchant ships per year—as recommended in a recent Con- gressional Budget Office (CBO) report. Together with the ongo- ing Navy programs, it is felt that this would be enough to maintain the current industrial base. "The annual production of 20 ships should maintain, over the long term, the sealift and ship- yard capacity requirements," the

CBO said. The study found that this would cost at least an addi- tional $1 billion a year over the current annual maritime support costs of nearly $1 billion obli- gated under contracts before the present Administration came into office. •

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