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SS KS Liners Convertec RASS. J Into Porto Rico Line Makes Extensive Repairs to Steamers San Juan and Ponce--Oil-Burning Will Replace Coal-Burning Vessels \ VERY shipowner in the world K today faces the problem of re- . pairs. And these same owners are confronted with undeniable eco- "momic reasons why the repairs should 'be postponed. A _ step recently taken iby the Porto Rico line, therefore, in regard to two of its leading passenger 'boats stands out as a case of peculiar interest to the shipping world. Over- night, almost, the repair work on these 'two vessels doubled the capital invest- ment therein, and yet these ships are to be placed back on a run which has 'been maintained practically the same as it was previous to the war. In repairing the vessels, both the 'passenger and. the freight accommoda- 'tions have been considerably enlarged. In addition, the liners have been con--- ~verted from coal-burners to oil-burners. East coast steamship lines have been scomposed of coal-burners. Despite the "popular and accepted economies of oil- 'burners, these lines have not adopted this kind of fuel. The war has taught 'the lesson of oil burning, it has en- 'couraged an increased production of oil and has brought the shipping prob- lem forceably to the attention of the 'oil companies. Many shipping lines 'have long been willing to adopt oil 'as the natural bunker fuel, but up until this time the oil companies had not 'been willing to lend the proper encour- agement. An explanation of this situa- 'tion and a tangible example of how it has been altered is shown in the repair work which is being brought to 'a conclusion at the yards of the Staten Island Shipbuilding Co., New. York. The public was quietly informed a few days ago that the New York & Porto Rico line has repaired and placed in the New York-Porto Rico service the steamships San JuAN and Ponce. 'The announcement would not cause "great surprise during normal times and 'even at the moment it is doubtful whether the shipping world is actually -cognizant of the reasons which led to 'the repair of these ships. The curiosi- ty of the steamship world would not 'be raised necessarily because the Porto Rico line did not choose to make 'known at the same time the full extent -of the repairs nor to give any indica- tion of their cost. The repairs made cost more than 'the original building cost of the vessels about 20 years ago. The original cost of the ships was approximately $300,- 000 each, so it is not difficult to figure generally what the company has done. In view of this expense, the questions naturally arise, why was it attempted and why does repair work cost so much today? Generally speaking, the repairs consisted in a complete overhauling of the hull and machinery, transforma- tion from coal burning to oil burning, and additions to the passenger accom- modations. The passenger and cargo capacity of the two ships has been increased about 25 per cent and the speed has been increased approximately 2 knots. Repair Yards Are Busy Repair work, on the Atlantic coast at least, is confined almost exclusively to government requirements. A total of 89 merchant ships have been taken over by the transport service and made into Hundreds of ships are being turned back to their owners and . troop carriers. before this return can be completed, the government is compelled to recondi- tion the vessels. Repair and drydock work, therefore, is booming and all departments are working overtime, es- pecially the drydocks. is costing more than actual shipbuild- 'ing. One promifent naval architect estimated that whereas shipbuilding has increased two and one-half times the prewar cost, repair work costs three times as much as before the war. This - was the reason the Porto Rico line was compelled to make an abnormal outlay on the San. JuAN >and: Ponce. It is also an explanation why, aside from the work done on these two vessels, little commercial drydocking or fepair- ing is being attempted at the present time. cae The company had three passenger ships in the New York-Porto Rico serv- ice and two in the. New Orleans-Porto Rico service prior to the war. The steamers Brazos and Coamo were per- -mitted by the government, when ships were requisitioned during the war, to continue running out of New York and they are still in this service. The CAROLINA, however, was. shelled and sunk in July, 1918. The other two vessels have not been adequate to take care of the trade, so the San Juan and- the Ponce, previously on the New Or- leans run, were taken off and repaired for the New York service. Had this 231 Repairing today ~ By V. G. Iden done, it is. .doubttul - i the company could have maintained its prestige in the Porto Rico trade. The remainder of the fleet of the Porto Rico line are freighters. The company obtained permission from the government during the war to un- dertake the repair work on these two vessels. Contracts for the new boilers were let with the Newport News Ship- building & Dry Dock Co. on March 2/7, 1917. The San Juan did not go into drydock until Sept. 20, 1918. It required five months to complete the work. She was delivered to her owners and started on her first voyage out of New York on March 9. The Ponce went into the repair yard on Oct. 20, 1918, five months also being required not been for the work. The time on the dry- dock for these two ships is between six and eight weeks. This is an im- portant item because drydocking is ex- tremely expensive just now.. Practi- cally all the fleets of the world are waiting to be drydocked, surveyed and patched. up,. now that the war :is over and it is necessary to work overtime on all these vessels. This item is what -is running up the cost of repairing to 'a level greater than new construction. The task' of repairing the Porto Rico line's two vessels was entrusted to the Staten Island Shipbuilding Co. Consid- 'erable satisfaction has been expressed - by the owners over the quality of the work done and they consider proper recognition due the repair yard. © The boilers contracted for in 1917 which replaced the old boilers in these two vessels are of the Scotch marine type. There are two in each ship. They are 14 feet 9 inches in diameter and 11 feet 5 inches long and are al- lowed 180 pounds working pressure. There are three furnaces 'to each boiler. These have a heating surface of 5100 square feet, and a grate surface of 131 square feet. used in connection with forced draft. The original triple-expansion engine, driving a single screw was retained and rebuilt. This has rendered the engine room practically as good as new. ~ By changing the vessels to oil-burners their steaming radius has been increased to 6000 miles, an addition of 2500 miles over their former steaming radius. The ships, therefore, could bunker with oil at New York, go to Porto Rico, re- turn and make half of a second voyage Mechanical burners are