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Shown below is the commercial marine publication with more readers than any other marine magazine in the world Conrad Industries. Inc., located along 450 feet of Atchafalaya River frontage in Morgan City, La., has expanded its facilities to triple production. A new metal build ing (right) measuring 360 by 100 by 45 feet houses new barge construction, new drydock construction, and is equipped with three 10-ton overhead cranes, and welding and plate-bending machines. Twice each month Best Read Because It's current Total MR primary audited circulation each issue 20,324 Total readership per issue over 100,000 Two issues per month —total monthly readership over 200,000 (Based on pass-along readership study showing 5 readers average per single copy of MR.) Expansion At Conrad Industries Triples Barge Production Capacity Conrad Industries, Inc., located on the Atchafalaya River in Mor- gan City, La., has completed an expansion program enabling the company to triple its barge pro- duction capacity. A new metal building 360 by 100 by 45 feet fronting on an added 150 feet of riverfront houses new barge con- struction, new drydock construc- tion, three 10-ton overhead cranes, and welding and plate-bending machines. The Conrad yard, founded in 1948 by Parker Conrad, now pres- ident and chairman of the board, features two tilt-cradle launching platforms, two 600-ton drydocks, one 800-ton drydock, a 1,500-ton drydock, one 40-ton crawler crane, one 50-ton crawler crane, three complete sandblasting units, and three 800-cfm air compressors. Employing 85 persons, Conrad In- dustries also operates complete maintenance and carpenter shops. Reviewing more than three dec- ades of the company's operations, James Court, vice president, said steel-hull barges have dominated production since 1964. Now build- ing barges up to 200 feet in length and up to 75 feet wide, the privately owned company spent 16 years building wooden- hull shrimp trawlers. Other than the operations build- ing, Conrad's expansion and ren- ovation project included the pav- ing of the entire yard, situated along 450 feet of riverfront. The totally paved yard, according to Mr. Court, eliminates mud and contributes to the company's com- mitment in developing "tech- niques, procedures, and accurate, swift, streamlined methods of building barges with remarkable cost efficiency." As an example, Mr. Court point- ed out, the company is geared with both personnel and equip- ment to build a deck barge 120 by 30 by 7 in a two-week period. Two of the key production per- sonnel have been with the founder since the company began; joining Mr. Conrad at the time he pur- chased the company was J.C. Rat- cliff, now yard superintendent, and L.J. Vicknair Jr., purchasing agent. In addition to deck barges, Con- rad Industries specializes in fuel, spud, and self-propelled barges. The company uses semi-automatic submerged arc welding techniques to cut production time. Curtiss Wright Awarded $13.7-Million Navy Contract For Landing Craft Engines Curtiss Wright Corporation, Wood-Ridge, N.J., is being award- ed a $13,720,329 negotiated cost- plus-fixed-fee contract for design- ing, developing, fabricating, and testing parts for stratified charge rotary combustion (SCRC-2350) engines for land/water vehicles for the Marine Corps. The Naval Sea Systems Command is the con- tracting activity. (N00024-80-C- 5603) 6 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News
