Page 86: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (March 1997)

Ship Sponsor Barry Zlatoper christens

USNS Yano. Pictured are Richard and

Lillian Yano; General David Bramlett;

Richard Vortmann, NASSCO president;

Ashley Zlatoper; and retired Admiral

Ronald Zlatoper.

NASSCO Progresses On Sealift

Conversion Program

National Steel and Shipbuilding

Co. (NASSCO) joined the U.S.

Army and U.S.

Navy in a joint ceremony to name USNS

Yano, the second ship to be con- verted at NASS-

CO under the

Strategic Sealift program.

The USNS

Yano (T-AKR 297) is the second of three containerships that were bought from Maersk for conversion to

Strategic Sealift ships by NASSCO. Two addi- tional conversions are being completed by

Newport News Shipbuilding. The ships are being converted into large, medium-speed RoRo and LoLo ships that will carry U.S. Army equip- ment, vehicles and supplies.

The conversion process is creating an enor- mous increase in the capability of the ships.

The USNS Yano has six new cargo decks, inter- nal and external access ramps, new cargo hatches for each deck, two side ports and two twin boom cranes.

For more information from NASSCO

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Unithai Shipyard: Joint Venture

Provides Multi-Services

Unithai Shipyard & Engineering Ltd. — a joint venture between IMC Pan Asia Alliance (section continued from page 37)

Group, Namura Shipbuilding and Ming Wah

Shipping — is an international ship repair yard in Thailand, located at Laem Chabang, about 120 km southeast of Bangkok. The 500,000-sq- m yard commenced ship repair activities in early 1992 and presently operates a 925 x 154- ft. (282 x 47-m) floating dock, which can accom- modate vessels up to 140,000 dwt. The lifting capacity of the dock is 40,000 tons. The yard can accommodate all types of ship repair, how- ever it is known for its steel renewal and hold blasting and coating.

For more information on Unithai Shipyard

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Drew Marine Offers New-Generation

Portable Inverter Arc Welder

Ashland

Chemical's Drew

Marine Division offers two new constant current arc welding machines in four models. All fea- ture an improved inverter design that achieves high levels of output capacity.

Both the

Amerarc 1-400 and the lower output, lower priced Amerarc I-L300 series machines are durable and heavy duty, yet easily trans- portable to anywhere on the ship. All of the new units are suitable for stick welding and can be used for Tungsten Inert Gas (TIG) welding in the lift-start mode. Technological advances touted by the manufacturer include TIG-pulse and slope control.

For more information from Drew Marine

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Door Specialist Targets RoRo Market

Hellbergs devel- oped and tested a combined A60 fire and semi-water- tight door to fulfill the latest IMO stability criteria for RoRo ships. While the ingress of water or cargo movement can dam- age the stability of the vessel, Hellberg doors are designed to protect against such occur- rences. The doors feature pneumatic opening and closing control systems from Armbrecht &

Partner GmbH.

For more information from Hellbergs

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Nylon Sheaves Designed To Help Save

Maintenance Costs

DSM Engineering Plastic Products obtained

ABS approval for its line of Nylatron GSM nylon sheaves. The corrosion-resistant, low- wear nylon sheaves are designed to replace metal versions currently used on cargo ships, containerships, offshore drilling platforms and cable-laying ships. According to the manufac- turer, the nylon sheaves offer a maintenance cost savings in excess of 50 percent in some instances. One of the first shipowners to replace steel sheaves with Nylatron nylon sheaves was Serviocean International Inc. of

Miami, which operates a fleet of six cargo ships. "We are replacing the steel sheaves on our booms as part of our regular maintenance pro-

Company Profile: ASRY

The Arab Shipbuilding & Repair Yard (ASRY) dry dock, reportedly the first in the world specially designed for shallow draft VLCCs, measures 1,230 x 246 ft. (375 x 75 m) and is suitable for double dockings. A spe- cial haulage system enables docking operations to be carried out quick- ly, and with a minimum amount of workers. The dock is served by four dock arms, giving access to almost the entire surface of a VLCC for hull cutting, welding, grit blasting and painting purposes — without the need for scaffolding. Large volume dewatering pumps enable the dock to be dewatered in less than two hours, with a 350,000-dwt vessel in dock. A 100-ton crane with a 200-ft. (61-m) outreach and a 15-ton crane with a 246-ft. (75-m) outreach serve ships in the dock.

ASRY also offers floating docks with lifting capacities of 33,000 and 30,000 tons, which can accommodate vessels of up to 120,000 dwt and 80,000 dwt, respectively. Both docks were built by GHH of Germany and are served by a compressed air station, with a total capacity of 1,200 cfm.

The yard's fleet of six tugboats — each with 32 tons of bollard pull — are specially designed to maneuver large ships in the yard and open sea. Other features of the facilities include the following:

Eight portable air compressors;

Welding sets;

Inert gas generators of 2,000-cu-m per hour aggregate capacity;

Two 80-ton grit silos,

Hydraulically operated pumps for sludge removal;

Portable diesel generators;

Two 80-ton lifting platforms; and

Four, 20-ton mobile cranes.

For more information on ASRY

Circle 15 on Reader Service Card 94 Maritime Reporter & Engineering News