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The 265-foot, cutter-suction dredge Bill James is the ninth vessel of its type to be placed in service by T.L. James Company of Ruston, La. Designed by naval archi- tect Carlos A. Monje, dredge was built by Bergeron Industries, Braithwaite, La. Two Dredges For Private Industry Christened In New Orleans Recent christening in New Or- leans marked the completion of two new dredges for the growing private industry fleet. The cutter- suction drdege Bill James and the split-hull hopper dredge Atcha- falaya are being place in service by Louisiana-based T.L. James & Company, Inc., and Gulf Coast Trailing Company. Hundreds of guests and digni- taries jammed the Poydras Street Wharf on the city's riverfront to watch the vessels' sponsors, Mrs. G.W. James and Mrs. G.W. James Jr., smash the magnums of cham- pagne for the christenings. U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston (D-La.) and Maj. Gen. E.R. Hei- berg, III, director of civil works for the U.S. Army Corps of En- gineers, were principal speakers at the event. G.W. James Jr., president of T.L. James & Company and mas- ter of ceremonies for the occasion, introduced the speakers and as- sisted his mother and his wife in the christenings. The invocation was delivered by Reverend Wil- liam C. Blakely, district superin- tendent of the United Methodist Church. Mr. James said the Bill James is the ninth cutter-suction dredge built for T.L. James & Company, and that the Atchafalaya is the first split-hull hopper dredge com- missioned by Gulf Coast Trailing Company, a Kenner, La., firm owned by T.L. James & Company, Hollandsche Aanneming Maats- chappy of the Netherlands, and Dredging International of Bel- gium. He noted that completion of the new dredges underscores private industry's expanding role in helping to maintain the in- creasing flow of waterborne com- merce on our nation's inland and coastal waters. The 265-foot-long Bill James is 54 feet wide, 15 feet deep, and displaces 4,364 long tons at its maximum draft of 11 feet 8 inches. Its dredging operations are powered by three in-line, 4,400-bhp Cooper-Bessemer LSV- 16 diesel-electric engines equipped with 3,000-kw generators. The Bill James was designed by naval architect Carlos A. Monje of Metairie, La., and the hull and superstructure were built by Ber- geron Industries of Braithwaite, La. The design is characterized by a 121-foot-long cutterhead lad- der that extends from the bow, a pilothouse that rises 56 feet above the baseline, and a spud frame that towers almost 75 feet at the vessel's stern. The ladder and the spud, gan- try, and A frames were built by Williams-McWilliams Company of New Orleans, and the deckhouse, living quarters, and piping were fabricated by the Buster Hughes Company of Harvey, La. Gulf Electroquip of Houston furnished and installed the electrical equip- ment and controls, and mobile Pulley & Machine Works of Mo- bile, Ala., furnished the main pump, underwater pump-ladder and hull trunnions, spud keeper, and fore and aft hoists. The 197-foot-long Atchafalaya is 40 feet 8 inches wide and 16 feet 4 inches deep, with a loaded draft of 14 feet and a light draft of 5 feet. Disposable materials is pumped into the 1,300-cubic-yard- capacity hopper through a long dragarm that can be extended to 65 feet below the vessel. The dredge can discharge its waste material at any location by open- ing the split hull or by pumping out. The seagoing dredge has a serv- ice speed of 10 knots, and is pow- ered by two 850-bhp Caterpillar D-398 diesel engines driving two Niigata 360-degree rotatable pro- pellers. Twin City Shipyard of St. Paul, Minn., designed the vessel's deck- house and hull and built the hull. Twin City subcontracted the deck- house to Zigler Shipyard of Jen- nings, La., where it was fabri- cated and installed. The propul- sion system was designed by Niigata of New York City; EMI- Engine Monitor, Inc. of New Or- leans was responsible for instru- mentation, and SEADREC of Scotland designed the dredging system and furnished its compo- nents. L.A. Hubert Jr., general man- ager of Gulf Coast Trailing, said the Atchafalaya is one of a new group of dredges developed by private industry to meet the growing needs for dredging of coastal channels and new port areas that will accommodate more and larger deepwater vessels. He said the company has contracted for a second seagoing, split-hull hopper dredge that is expected to be completed in 1981. Electric Boat Awarded $23-Million Navy Contract For Trident Equipment General Dynamics Corporation, Electric Boat Division, Groton, Conn., has been awarded a $23,- 000,000 modification to a previ- ously awarded contract for addi- tional items of long lead time ma- terial for Trident Hull No. 9. The Naval Sea Systems Command is the contracting activity. (N00024- 78-C-2453) The seagoing, split-hull hopper dredge Atchafalaya is first commissioned by Gulf Coast Trailing Company of Kenner, La., a firm owned by T.L. James & Company, Hollandsche Aanneming Maatschappy of the Netherlands, and Dredging Interna- tional of Belgium. Vessel's hull was built at Twin City Shipyard in St. Paul, Minn. Deckhouse was subcontracted to Zigler Shipyard of Jennings, La., where it was installed. LONG-DISTANCE HEAVY LIFT —Dock Express Shipping's M/V Dock Express 10 recently discharged six offshore production plat- form nodes in Nigg Bay, Scotland, following an 11,620-mile voyage from Japan. Transportation of this unusual cargo was performed for the account of Mitsui & Company, Ltd. and was delivered to Highland Fabricators. Each node is approximately 52.5 feet long and 52.2 feet in diameter, each weighing between 500-600 metric tons. The vessel's gantry cranes, which have a total rated capacity of 1,000 metric tons, were utilized to discharge the nodes at the Nigg Bay site. The nodes will be incorporated into the base of the legs of a production platform jacket, which will ultimately be installed at the BP's Mangus Field in the North Sea. Dock Express Shipping bv, a Rotterdam-based, specialized heavy-lift shipowner, has offices in Houston. 30 Maritime Reporter/Engineering News
