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$1.3-Million Contract Awarded To Dravo For Traveling Ship Loader A $1.3-million contract for an ad- vanced design, traveling ship loader to serve the export coal market has been awarded Dravo Corporation by Alabama State Docks, Mobile, Ala. The rail-mounted ship loader— to be designed, manufactured and erect- ed by the Pittsburgh, Pa.-based firm —will be located at a new coal-han- dling facility under construction at McDuffie Island in Mobile Bay. It will be capable of loading ships up to 100,000-deadweight-ton size at a peak rate of 5,000 tons per hour. Metallurgical coals from Alabama mines will be the primary material shipped from the new facility when completed. Delivery and operational checkout of the ship loader are sched- uled for completion by Dravo in February 1974. An existing dockside facility lo- cated five miles away on the Mobile River will continue major loading and unloading operations for ore, bauxite, and other bulk materials handled by the Alabama State Docks. Advanced design features of the Dravo ship loader include a counter- balanced tubular boom, and a tele- scoping load-out chute with a rotating spoon. These features represent ad- vances in the state-of-the-art from standard shuttle-boom truss structure ship loaders. The 95-foot boom will be buffed by means of hydraulic cylinders. The boom movement, coupled with the hy- draulically actuated telescopic chute, gives the ship loader the capability to work with vessels of a wide variety of sizes and configurations. Consulting engineer for installation of the new Alabama dock facility is R.L. Reid, Inc., Houston, Texas. Da- vid Volkert and Assoc., Mobile, Ala., is the consulting engineer for adjacent storage yard facilities. Kockums Net Profits Increase 40% In 1972 Kockums Mekaniska Verkstads AB more than doubled its gross earnings in 1972 and increased its net profits by 40 percent as against 1971 results, according to the of- ficial report issued in Malmo, Swed- en,by managing director Nils-Hugo Hallenborg. Principal contribution to Kock- um's banner year was made by its shipyard operations—Sweden's largest—which specialize in the very large oil tankers and the LNG carriers. Kockums and Swedish shipyards in general operate with- out Government subsidy. Although overall sales of $245.7 million in 1972 were $16.3 million less than those of 1971, gross earn- ings totaled $26.3 million, as against $12.7 million the preceding year. Net profit for 1972 amounted to $1.54 million after taxes, deprecia- tion, writing off $13.5 million in extraordinary costs for liquidation of unprofitable industrial subsidi- aries, and setting aside substantial funds for employee benefits and company reserves. The board of directors, pleased with the 1972 result and the out- look for the next few years, recom- mended distribution of $1.32 mil- lion to shareholders. Magnavox Research Announces Underwater Color TV Systems The Marine Electronics Division of Magnavox Research Laboratories announced the availability of a shal- low-depth and a deep-depth under- water color television system. Both systems are specifically de- signed for applications in petroleum, scientific, and oceanograpic industries. The shallow-depth system is capable of being operated by a single diver with complete safety while under water. The deep-depth system is ca- pable of being operated totally from the surface. Both systems feature the single-tube technique which eliminates registration problems normally asso- ciated with color television cameras. The Magnavox underwater color televisions are priced starting from $13,500 and up, depending on depth and options. For additional information, send inquiry to Marketing Manager, Ma- rine Electronics Division, Magnavox Research Laboratories, 2829 Marico- pa Street, Torrance, Calif. 90503. M/CZ, 2/P PAjery. " 26 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News
