Edmund F. Martin, chairman and chief executive officer of Bethlehem Steel Corporation, has announced that directors have approved the expenditure of more than $15-million for the construction of a large shipbuilding basin at the Sparrows Point, Md., shipyard.
The new facility, Mr. Martin said, will enable the yard to construct tankers ranging to more than 200,000 dwt in capacity. It will have a length of more than 1,000 feet and a width greater than any ship built to date, and is scheduled for completion late in 1970.
"The present active market for new ship construction and favorable forecasts for new business indicate a trend toward ship sizes beyond the dimensions of our present shipways at Sparrows Point," Mr. Martin said. "We must now plan for the construction of ships with greater lengths and beams to participate in the market we foresee for the next 10 years."
To be built in the southern area of the yard, the new basin will complement the existing five major launching ways at the yard which are capable of handling ships up to 830 feet in length.
The huge capital expenditure also provides for a new sandblasting and painting building, and comes on top of a multi-million dollar program already underway at the yard. That program will provide a system in which precoated plates, shapes and webs will be transported by conveyors and assembled in large units.
The Sparrows Point yard is now building ships ranging up to almost 70,000 dwt. This program, which includes deliveries extending to 1971, consists of 16 tankers, two containerships and two U.S. Navy ammunition ships, or a total of 20 vessels.
Aerial view of Bethlehem Steel Company's Sparrows Point, Md. shipyard with steel mill in background. Broken white line indicates location and size of new shipbuilding basin for constructing ships of 200,000 dwt or more and over 1,000 feet long.