The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

= the Loc ~~] The Bradley boats of the U. S. Steel fleet got alate start this spring because of a_ strike by the unlicensed crewmen over a company proposal to provide them with frozen meals and eliminate the second cooks. A court order forced the men back to work and submitted the pre-prepared meal and crew reduction matters to mediation and, if necessary, to arbitration. A company spokes- man claimed that there was "ov— erwhelming" acceptance of the pre-prepared meals in a trial of them on three vessels last year and the company plans to install the system on all of its boats in the future. Outcome of the Bradley case may play a role in the company's future plans Added push is expected for the construction of larger vessels for the Great Lakes as a result of vastly increased fuel costs. Canadian prices for Bunker C are more than triple and bunker coal is about doubled in price. When the big boys can carry double the tonnage of older vessels at an insignificant boost in the fuel consumed per mile, the ton- mile cost is sharply slashed by the bigger boats. Shades of the White Star Line! The Michigan Public Transporta- tion Council has okayed a study to cost $23,000 to determine the feasibility of a commuter vice between New Baltimore and Ecorse. Under consideration is the use of hydrofoils to cruise at 35 mph. If the study shows the service to be worthwhile, two boats are to be bought. ser=- Along with the boost in Canadian price for Bunker C, Windsor has promised all the fuel oil ves- sels on the Great Lakes will re- quire. A fuel dock three-quart- ers of a mile below the Ambassa- dor Bridge is to be modified to fuel lakers and salties. Fuel cost boosts another development. in bulk cargo rates have been announced by four fleets, Kins- man, Columbia, Cleveland-Cliffs and Interlake. They average ab- out 15 percent higher than last also figure in Increases summer's rates. Kinsman has sold the A.T. LAWSON and BEN MOREELL to the S & E Shipping Corp., bringing Kins- man into technical with the Justice anti-trust ruling on Kinsman's acquisition of the Wilson fleet. Some names in S & E are involved also in the purchase of Great Lakes Towing Co. compliance Department's Rochester Portland Cement has contracted to use PEERLESS on a cement run between Picton Rochester. and NX