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JAN/FEB. 1974 Page 6 The American Ship Building Company Announces ... $95,000,000 in new shipbuilding contracts. Bee Submitted by RUSSELL PARKINSON Recent announcements by Great Lakes maritime interests would in- dicate that the inclusion of Great Lakes shipping in the Maritime Act of 1970 is indeed having the predict- ed impact, and the era of complete revitalization of the aging American Great Lakes Fleet has been entered. With the average age of lakes ships pegged at 40 years, the development is long overdue. The program began rather cautious- ly with orders for the construction of five new ships, two for Kinsman, in conjubction with Jones & Laughlin Steel Corporation and one for Ameri- can Steamship Company (Boland & Cornelius) to be built by American Ship Building Company, and two more for Boland to be built by Manitowoc Ship Building Company. Since that first $70 million of new ship orders, there has followed another $70 million, and, in the words of George M. Steinbrenner, chairman and chief executive officer of Amship, it appears "that a sleep- ing giant has awakened. " On November 19, 1973, Pickands Mather & Company, of Cleveland, wholly-owned subsidiary of Moore & McCormack Company, Inc., of New York and the American Ship Building Co. reached final agreement on an order for the construction by American Ship of two 1,000-foot self-unload- ing bulk carriers for a total price of $75 million The two ships, which will be the largest on the Great Lakes, will be delivered in 1976 and 1977. They will carry approximately 59,000 tons of ore and 52,000 tons of coal and will travel at 162.0. &. Artist's drawings indicate that these ships will combine several design features of various recently built ships; forward pilot house and cabins, similar to Stewart J.. Cort; Cylindrical bow, sun lan tor We. McGiffin and H..M.. Griffith; single stack, slightly higher than on the Roger Blough; aft-mounted self -un- loader boom similar to William R.. Roesch, but mounted on a separate conveyor housing immediately ahead of the stack. Pickands Mather has also requested and been given options on drydock space for two additional 1, 000-foot self-unloaders. The ships will be operated by the Interlake Steamship Division of Pickands Mather which is headquarter- ed in Cleveland. The foresight of Pickands Mather in embarking on this largest single shipbuilding program in Great Lakes history illustrates a