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JB Artist's conception of the 209,000-dwt Alaska-Class tanker. NASSCO Receives Exxon Contract For Two Alaska-Class Tankers National Steel and Shipbuilding Company (NASSCO) of San Diego, Calif., announced it has received a contract for approximately $250 million from Exxon Shipping Com- pany for construction of two 209,000-deadweight-ton Alaska- Class Tankers. The NASSCO-designed tankers will be the largest ships yet built on the West Coast. Each will be 987 feet in overall length, 166 feet in beam, 88 feet in depth, and will have a 641/2-foot draft in loaded condition. Propulsion will be by slow-speed diesel, capable of maintaining an average speed of 16% knots. Keel-layings will take place dur- ing the third and fourth quarters of 1985, with deliveries scheduled for the fourth quarter of 1986 and the first quarter of 1987, respectively. The contract is the first new con- struction contract received by the shipyard since 1980, according to C.L. French, chairman and chief executive officer of NASSCO, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Morrison-Knudsen Company, Inc. of Boise, Idaho. Repair and conver- sion of existing ships have been the yard's principal activities in recent years. "NASSCO is acutely aware of the fact that the current demand for new ships, both military and com- mercial, is far less than is needed to maintain the current shipbuilding base," he said. Mr. French said the contract was awarded NASSCO after direct de- sign and price competition with sev- eral East Coast yards, and that NASSCO has priced the ships using estimates of manhours based upon production techniques employed extensively in foreign yards, partic- ularly Japanese shipbuilding yards. "We are confident that the em- ployees of NASSCO will accept the challenge of these more advanced methods of shipbuilding and there- fore maintain jobs at NASSCO," Mr. French said. "NASSCO has bid very aggressively to obtain this contract because our employees de- serve the opportunity to prove they can master the higher productivity methods currently pursued in suc- cessful foreign shipyards." As transporters of Alaskan crude oil, the tankers will operate between Valdez, Alaska, and Panama where the crude will subsequently be transported to Gulf and East Coast ports. The ships will also be capable of delivering crude to West Coast ports. They are designed with the most modern equipment available and will meet the latest safety and environmental protection stan- dards, including a protectively lo- cated clean segregated ballast sys- tem, inert gas system, safeguards to prevent the pumping of oily waste to the sea, sewage treatment system, collision avoidance radar, and a back-up steering system. The ships will also meet the latest Safety-of- Life-At-Sea regulations. Since 1971, NASSCO has estab- lished itself as the predominant tanker design and construction yard in the United States with its design, construction and delivery of a total of 33 tankers to date. NASSCO's current work force to- tals approximately 4,900, although a decline is anticipated before the end of 1984, extending well into 1985, as converted maritime prepositioning ships and converted fast logistic support ships are delivered. Production work on the Exxon Shipping Company contract is ex- pected to start late in the second quarter of 1985, Mr. French said. On average, the new contract is expected to maintain employment at NASSCO during the construction cycle for about 1,100 oeople in addi- tion to the yard's otner work. On this basis, it is expected that em- ployment will regain its present lev- el in late 1985. Mr. French ex- plained that for every job created at NASSCO, about three to four addi- tional jobs will be generated throughout the economy. It is ex- pected that many of these jobs will be created in California and in par- ticular in San Diego. NASSCO's current backlog, in- cluding the Exxon Shipping Compa- ny contract, is approximately $820 million. Ingram Barge/Potashnick Form Fleeting Services Company In Cairo Area Morton B. Potashnick and In- gram Barge Company of Nashville have announced the formation of Great Rivers Marine Services in the Cairo, 111. area. The new firm will provide fleeting and all related sup- port services at Mile 950 on the low- er Mississippi River, three miles south of Cairo. Mr. Potashnick said: "We will of course be competitive with other fleets in the area but more impor- tantly, we will offer service and rate packages tailored to the specific needs of individual barge lines." Ingram Barge president Peter J. Kopcsak commented: "We have joined with Mr. Potashnick to es- tablish this commercial fleet on 20,000 feet of riverfront because no barge line can operate efficiently in today's environment without cost- effective staging areas at locations like Cairo." For full details on Great Rivers Marine Service, Circle 64 on Reader Service Card Navy Awards Paul V. Wright $4. 7-Million Contract For Mare Island Yard Facility Paul V. Wright Incorporated of Santa Rosa, Calif., has been awarded a $4,681,000 fixed-price contract for the construction of a painting and blasting shop at the Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Val- lejo, Calif. The Naval Facilities En- gineering Command, Washington, D.C., is the contracting activity. Tacoma Boat Division Gets $210,000 Contract To Build Propeller Hub Assembly Tacoma Boatbuilding Company's Northern Line Division has been awarded a $210,000 contract by the Naval Sea Systems Command for the manufacture and testing of a 9- foot-diameter propeller hub assem- bly, according to a recent announce- ment by B. James Lowe, presi- dent and chief executive officer. "Successful test results would represent a major step in Tacoma Boat's position in competition for a number of Navy programs," said Mr. Lowe. Among these is the con- tract for the manufacture of all con- trollable-pitch propellers for the Navy's DDG-51 Arleigh Burke Class guided missile destroyers. The hub assembly will be of the Escher Wyss trunnion type design. Northern Line is the sole U.S. licen- see for West Germany's Escher Wyss propulsion systems. A world leader in propeller systems for more than 50 years, Escher Wyss has in operation the world's highest-pow- ered ship propeller, 46,000 shp, and has developed the world's largest, 36 feet in diameter. For free literature describing Ta- coma's Northern Line Division full line of propeller systems, 28 Circle 22 on Reader Service Card
