Sea-Land Service, Inc. is planning on constructing eight or more 944-foot, 33-knot containerships. Twin-screw propulsion will develop approximately 120,000 shp.
The ships will be constructed in U.S. shipyards and abroad, depending on prices received. At the present time, Sea-Land has held conferences with U.S. shipyards and foreign shipyards describing its plans, showing the plans and specifications to shipyard managers, and discussing delivery schedules and contract terms. Following these preliminary conferences, the plans and specifications will be sent out for bids. An award or awards of contracts for construction are scheduled for September of this year.
Sea-Land is planning on placing some of these huge containerships in service on the North Atlantic and Pacific runs from the U.S. The others would be entered in domestic-trade. The ships for the domestic runs would have to be built in the United States. All of the ships, according to Sea-Land officials, will be registered under the U.S. flag. Further, Sea-Land stated that all machinery would be of U.S. manufacture.
The plans and specifications for these new high-speed containerships were prepared by the J. J. Henry Co., Inc., New York and Philadelphia naval architects and marine engineers.