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GE Credit Buys Third 225,000-DWT Tanker From Seatrain Shipbuilding The General Electric Credit Corporation announced it has pur- chased for $120,000,000 the 225,- 000-dwt tanker T.T. Stuyvesant, and that the vessel has been ini- tially chartered to the Standard Oil Company of Ohio (SOHIO) to transport Alaskan oil. The VLCC (very large crude carrier) was built by Seatrain Shipbuilding, a subsidiary of Sea- train Lines, at the former Brook- lyn Navy Yard, and is a sistership to the Brooklyn and Williams- burgh, which also are owned by GE Credit. The Stuyvesant, like its sister vessels, is capable of delivering 1,600,000 barrels of oil. GE Credit has arranged a 20- year leveraged lease of the vessel to the newly formed shipping corporation, Queensway Tankers, Inc., which in turn has arranged a three-year time charter to SO- HIO to transport North Slope oil from Valdez, Alaska, to Panama. Because the Stuyvesant is too large to negotiate the Panama Canal, it will offload its cargo at Balboa for delivery in smaller tankers to Gulf Coast refineries. In acquiring the Stuyvesant, GE Credit made an equity invest- ment of $33,000,000. The senior debt consists of a $29,000,000 U.S. Government Title XI loan, made during construction of the vessel, an additional $31,000,000 Title XI loan arranged by Kuhn, Loeb, Inc. and Shearson Hayden Stone, Inc., and a $27,000,000 third mortgage note. A spokesman for GE Credit said the purchase-lease-charter deal was unusual in that it was put together in just two months. GE Credit, headquartered in Stamford, Conn., is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Elec- tric Company and the world leader in leveraged leasing of industrial and transportation equipment, with more than $3 billion in such equipment on its books. GE Credit acquired its first VLCC, the Brooklyn, in Decem- ber 1973. At that time, it was the largest commercial vessel built in the United States. The Williamsburgh was purchased one year later. The Brooklyn and the Williams- burgh are under 25-year time charters to American Petrofina, Inc., a subsidiary of Petrofina S.A. of Belgium. In addition to the three Sea- train-built tankers, GE Credit also owns four other tankers and currently is arranging the lever- aged lease financing of eight ad- ditional vessels. When the 15 tankers in the GE Credit "fleet" are all in service at the end of 1978, they will have added 2,593,000-dwt to U.S.-flag tanker tonnage. Port Of New Orleans Orders Second Paceco MACH Portainer Container Lift International, Inc. has ordered a second MACH (modular automated container handling) Portainer® for the Port of New Orleans from Paceco, Inc., a subsidiary of Fruehauf Corpo- ration, Alameda, Calif. The new Portainer, equipped with latest engineering improve- ments, will be almost a "twin" in structure to the first Paceco 40- long-ton MACH Portainer in op- eration at the New Orleans port since 1974. This second crane, equipped with a telescopic spread- er, is capable of handling 20-foot, 35-foot, and 40-foot containers. It will be installed alongside the first Portainer at Berth 5 of the port's France Road Container Terminal. CLI, a private enterprise, is re- sponsible for the purchase and maintenance of the Paceco-built Portainers and will make them available to ship lines using Berths 4 and 5 at the terminal. Paceco's Gulfport, Miss., facil- ity will fabricate the new struc- ture. The giant Portainer is sched- uled to be erected at the port in the fall of 1978. now gives brighter, clearer echoes on a clutter-free screen* • Suppresses sea and rain clutter • Suppresses noise and interference • Makes echoes brighter -with more contrast • Makes echoes longer All these improvements can now be had with the unrivalled DECCA Solid State 9,12 and 16 in relative and true motion displays and the famous AC display system, on both 3 and 10cm wavelengths. ITT DECCA MARINE P.O. Box G, Palm Coast, Florida 32037. Telephone 904-445-2400. November 1, 1977 33
