Maritime Reporter, July 1985

<BODY> <div> U.S. Naval Ship Neptune at Burrard Yarrows (Versatile Pacific) during refit. West Coast Shipyards Gunderson manufactures and re- pairs railcars of all types at its 75- acre facility along the waterfront in northwest Portland. It also builds and repairs barges and other marine equipment. LAKE UNION DRYDOCK Circle 15 on Reader Service Card Lake Union Drydock Company is located virtually in the center of Seattle on Lake Union, a body of fresh water accessible through locks operated by the Army Corps of En- gineers. The largest lock allows ships of up to 800 by 80 feet to enter the lake, where water depth is gen- erally 35-40 feet. The 12-acre Lake Union Drydock site has operated as a shipyard for 66 years, the past 40 under the same ownership and management. The company built several ships until the end of the Korean War, but since then has specialized in ship repair, both government and com- mercial. The facility has seven dry- docks ranging up to 3,900 tons, and maintains shops in all shipyard trades that are capable of complex ship overhauls to Navy, Coast Guard, and American Bureau stan- dards. A separate ship repair division serves the fishing industry and oth- er non-government activities. Encouraged by the upward turn in the economy, Lake Union is pro- ceeding with the purchase of new equipment including lathes, air compressors, sandblast pots, mobile cranes, forklifts, and trucks. In this manner management expects to keep pace with the increasing needs of customers. Currently, the confirmed ship re- pair commitments are at about the same dollar volume as last year, and management is optimistic that addi- tional prospects under negotiation will lead to a substantial increase in the present level of employment. MARCO SEATTLE Circle 16 on Reader Service Card The Shipyard Division of MAR- CO Seattle is the "flagship" opera- tion of the firm that was founded more than 30 years ago. Though the company has made significant con- tributions in such areas as deck ma- chinery and systems, particularly for the fishing industry, shipbuild- ing and repair have long been a mainstay of the MARCO heritage. The compact, fully paved, and well-staffed shipyard enjoys an en- viable reputation for its repair work, due in no small part to its leadership role in the design and construction of vessels such as fishing boats, oil spill recovery craft, tugs, and other specialized vessels. Backed by a full complement of in-house shops and trade personnel, the Seattle yard provides complete repair services to vessels large and small, both on- and off-site. MARCO operates two floating drydocks (designed and built by the company) with lifting capacities of 500 and 1,800 tons, plus a 70-ton lift Nichols Bros. Yard with a side-tracking system that is unique in the area. Yard shops in- clude steel and aluminum, carpen- try, paint, and a variety of machine shops. MARCO also features full- time mechanical engineering and naval architecture departments among its services. In addition to fishing vessels and fleet operators, the company's re- pair clients include tug fleet opera- tors, the Navy, the Coast Guard, NOAA, and others. NASSCO Circle 17 on Reader Service Card National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) in San Diego, the largest shipbuilder on the West Coast, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Morrison-Knudson Company of Boise, Idaho. For the past 10 years, NASSCO has been the leading pro- ducer of tankers for the U.S.-flag merchant fleet, delivering more than 40 percent of all new tankers built in the U.S. The shipyard is also a leading supplier of U.S. Navy auxiliary and amphibious ships. In addition to ship-related work, the company's Offshore Division is capable of providing competitively priced deck structures and other modules for the offshore market. Steel fabrication and machine shop services to a variety of industrial customers in southern California are also provided. NASSCO's current orderbook in- cludes a $250-million contract from Exxon Shipping Company to build two 209,000-dwt tankers, with de- livery scheduled for the last quarter of 1986 and the first quarter of 1987. Major conversion work includes the reconstruction of two San Clemente Class tankers (ex-Rose City and Worth) into 1,000-bed hospital ships (T-AH) for the Navy, a job worth $186 million. Conversion of the yard's third Fast Logistrics Sup- port Ship (T-AKR) for the Navy is nearing completion, with delivery expected in August this year. Ongoing repair work at the San Diego yard includes: the tank land- ing ship Bristol County (LST-1189), the last of a five-ship LST Regular Overhaul contract awarded in Octo- ber 1982; a three-ship Navy crusier SRA (Shipyard Restricted Avail- ability) contract, with work to be completed in Januarv 1986; the de- stroyer USS Hewitt (DD-966) is the last of a three-ship DD-963 Class Navy SRA contract, scheduled for delivery in September this year; reg- ular overhaul of the amphibious as- sault ship USS Tripoli (LPH-10), to be completed in May 1986; and SRA work on the destrover USS Merrill (DD-976). The LST Phased Maintenance Program was recently awarded to NASSCO by the Navy. This three- ship contract involves a total of nine repair availabilities—three on each ship including a drydocking—over the next five years. Work is to com- mence late this month and is sched- uled to be completed in January 1990. In January this year the Pfc. Eu- gene A. Obregon, NASSCO's second Maritime Prepositioning Ship (T- (continued on page 18) E.L. Bartlett under repair at Marco Seattle. 16 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News (continued) The new company, named Gunder- son Inc., will re-establish some 400 manufacturing jobs in the Portland area. The acquisition was spearheaded by C. Bruce Ward, a former presi- dent of the FMC Division, and Wil- liam A. Furman, president of Greenbrier Leasing Corporation of Oregon City, with financial assis- tance from Standard Insurance Company and the State of Oregon. Greenbrier is a privately held railcar leasing company. In 1984, FMC and Greenbrier Leasing entered into a joint devel- opment contract, funded by Green- brier, to design, engineer, and build a new railroad car capable of carry- ing double-stacked intermodal car- go containers. The result is the new TwinStack™ railcar that is rapidly gaining acceptance from the rail- road industry and major container shippers nationwide. The success of this new railcar and FMC's subse- quent decision to divest its Portland operation encouraged the investors to make the acquisition. Propeller repair at Dillingham. 8Slj* </div> <span id="lblContents"></span> <br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.digitalwavepublishing.com/" title="Digital Magazine">Digital Wave Publishing</a> </BODY>