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Latest Data on New Marine Work Information on New Ships Ordered—Building and Repair Con- tracts Let—Shipping Board Loans Made, Authorized or Pending HATTAN and WASHINGTON, and in order to make weekly sailings possible the United States lines has decided to go ahead with a third ves- sel if the financing can be arranged. Since the building of such a ship for an established and essential service is a self-liquidating project, no difficul- ties are anticipated in making the nec- essary financial arrangements. As this is written there is nothing definite to report on the taking of bids for a third vessel, but it now looks favorable for action at an early date. The new vessel will be somewhat larger and faster than the MANHATTAN and WASHINGTON. Though there would be some rather important changes in accommodations, in gen- eral, it may be said that the new vessel will possess all of the fine points of the first two with certain improve- ments and _ additions. The MANn- HATTAN and WASHINGTON each cost about $10,500,000, and the contem- plated third vessel will probably cost somewhat more than this. D™ to the success of the MAN- To Install Refrigeration Bids have been received by the Clyde-Mallory line and contracts have been awarded for the installation of refrigerating equipment of the most modern type on the vessels CHEROKEE and SEMINOLE, to permit the handling of precooled cargo such as fruit from Florida. The company has had a good deal of experience in the hand- ling of Florida perishable products and this experience will be drawn upon in making these installations effective for the purpose intended. Each ves- sel will have a carrying capacity of from 32,000 to 338,000 standard boxes of citrus fruit. The contracts for the CHEROKEE and SEMINOLE were awarded to the Atlantic Basin Iron Works, Brooklyn, N. Y., at a bid of $36,637 per vessel for the installation of the required insulation. Contracts for in- stalling refrigerating machinery and the necessary air conditioning units were awarded to the York Ice Ma- chinery Co., York, Pa., at $25,300 per vessel. Work on the CHEROKEE will start July 27 and is to be completed on Sept. 7. Work on the SeMINoLE is to start Sept. 9 and is to be completed Oct. 26. A third vessel, the ALGONQUIN, is to be treated in a similar manner, though contracts have not yet been 26 awarded. Each ship is also to have an additional 100-kilowatt generator to supply the necessary power. Another important feature to make possible transportation of fruit in this manner is an elaborate precooling plant to be erected at Jacksonville, Fla., adjoining the Clyde-Mallory lines terminal. This plant, the largest of its kind in Florida, is to be equipped with refrigerating machinery of 600 tons and will have a cooling capacity for 36,000 standard boxes of citrus fruits each 24 hours. It is estimated that including the precooling plant at Jacksonville and the refitting of the three ships, a total expenditure of be- tween $450,000 and $500,000 will be necessary. Dry Dock for Houston Tt has been reported that the Recon- struction Finance Corp. has granted a loan to the Todd Shipyards Corp. for financing a subsidiary company to construct and operate a ship repair and dry dock plant at Houston, Tex. The project, it is understood, in- cludes the installation of two floating dry docks, each with a capacity of 10,000 tons and one floating dry dock with a capacity of 5500 tons. A com- plete ship repair plant fully equipped with modern machinery will also be erected. No definite confirmation of the successful issue of this proposal has bean received. On July 12 the 12,000-ton tanker Ropert F, HAND was launched at Kiel, Germany. This vessel is being built for the German American Petroleum Co., a subsidiary of the Standard Shipping Co., New York. Steel Barges Ordered The Union Sand and Gravel Co., Huntington, W. Va., is reported to have placed a contract with the Mc- Clintie Marshall Corp., Pittsburgh, for building a fleet of six steel barges, 100 feet in length, 26 feet in beam and 64% feet deep, with a capacity of 350 tons of sand or gravel. The Texas Co. is said to have placed an order with the Leetsdale yard in the Pittsburgh district for two steel barges, each 110 feet long, 24 feet wide and 10 feet deep. -It is also understood that the Amer- MARINE REvIEw—August, 1933 ican Bridge Co. has received an order for several barges for lower Missis- sippi service. Seattle Yard Low Bidder Bids were sibmitted on July 5 to the Northland Transportation Co., Seattle, for the construction of a steel passen- ger and freight motorship for service in southeastern Alaska. The lowest bid $289,890 was submitted by the Berg Shipbuilding Co., Seattle. The contract had not been awarded as this is written. Bids were received from nine shipyards and were on the build- in, of the hull only. The Berg Shipbuilding Co. bid was $65,577 less than the next lowest bid- der. Other bids received were: Gen- eral Engineering & Dry Dock Co., San Francisco, $392,278; Lake Washington Shipyards, Seattle, $355,467; Wallace Bridge & Structural Steel, Seattle, $355,467; Moore Shipbuilding &. Dry Dock Co., San Francisco, $368,639; Winslow Marine Railway & Shipbuild- ing Co., Winslow, Wash., $385,041; The Pusey & Jones Corp., $445,000; Beth- lehem Shipbuilding Corp., $474,000; New York Shipbuilding Co., $518,500. The completed vessel, it is expected, will cost approximately $160,000 in ad- dition to the figure of the successful shipyard for building the hull. The new vessel will be 231 feet in length; 40 feet, 10 inches in beam; 23 feet in depth; and is to be propelled by two diesel engines each of 1000 horsepower. Status of Giant Cunarder It is now reported that work is likely to be resumed in the near fu- ture on the giant Cunard liner, No. 534, on the stocks at the shipyard of John Brown, Clydebank, Scotland. Questions put to the chancellor of the exchequer recently in parliament brought out the information that ne- gotiations toward the resumption of work were proceeding steadily and that the greatest difficulties had been overcome. Some details are still to be settled by the Cunard and White Star lines. When the conditions laid down by the government have been met, the matter of financial assist- ance will be assured. It is expected that some definite word on the resumption of work on the new Cunarder will be given be- fore the end of the present session of parliament, by Aug. 1.