Harbor Dredging
Begins To Pay Off
According to industry sources,
the billions of taxpayer dollars
spent on dredging America's har-
bors in the last four years are
already paying off for U.S. coal
exporters. But the full benefit will
come in the future.
According to Joseph Lema, vice
president of the National Coal Asso-
ciation, a Washington lobby group,
"We are in great shape now."
Referring to the harbor and chan-
nel deepening projects done since
passage of the Water Resources De-
velopment Act of 1986, Mr. Lema
asserts that U.S. coal exporters are
more competitive with Australian
and South African sellers, now that
many projects are completed, or are
near completion.
The reason is that the deeper
channels allow the buyers and sell-
ers of U.S. coal to hire large ships
capable of carrying huge volumes of
cargo in a single voyage.
The larger ships, which require
deeper channels, mean U.S. export-
ers can unload coal in European and
Far Eastern ports at prices not pos-
sible using smaller ships.
A shipping executive in the mid-
Atlantic region, C. Richard Fos-
ter, vice president at John S. Con-
nor Inc., Baltimore, has seen the
theory work in practice. Mr. Foster
has overseen coal vessel loadings in
Baltimore and Hampton Roads,
Va.
Mr. Foster said, for example, "In
Baltimore right now we have 41 feet
of fresh water" as the depth in the
channels connecting the coal piers
at Curtis Bay and Sparrows Point to
deep water. "But we are loading to
41 feet 6 inches, since we have
brackish water," the salt content of
which makes the ships more
buoyant, he said.
Mr. Foster explained that just
an extra few inches in the draft of
the vessel can make a big difference
to the ship operator. Each vessel
carries a customized chart showing
the relationship between tons of
cargo carried and how much water
the ship draws.
This measure, known in maritime
circles as "tons an inch," can
amount to 300 tons an inch on a so-
called Cape Class vessel—those too
large to transit the Panama Canal,
Mr. Foster said.
A channel connecting the massive
coal-loading complexes in Virginia's
Hampton Roads area was deepened
to 50 feet precisely to accommodate
Cape Class vessels.
Marathon LeTourneau Announces
Organizational Changes
Carl A. Wendenburg N. Pharr Smith Francis J. Fair
Three key personnel changes
have been announced by Dan C.
Eckermann, recently appointed
president of Marathon LeTourneau
Marine Company, division of Mara-
thon LeTourneau Company.
Carl A. Wendenburg, formerly
vice president of engineering for
Marathon LeTourneau Marine
Company, has been named vice
president of marketing, with the
primary responsibilities of defining
and coordinating marketing efforts
with engineering technology to sa-
tisfy the demands of customers and
various regulatory agencies.
N. Pharr Smith, formerly man-
ager of engineering, will assume the
title of vice president of engineering
with the primary responsibility of
all administrative management of
the Houston marine engineering de-
sign group, including the coordina-
tion from conceptual design to ship-
yard support engineering.
Francis J. Fair has been ap-
pointed to the new position of proj-
ect director to capitalize on his 33
cumulative years of management
experience in the shipyards. He will
provide the liaison for assigned rig
repair and newbuild contracts.
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