The keel for the first of three diesel-powered containerships under construction for American President Lines (APL) was laid recently at Avondale Shipyards, Inc. (ASI) near New Orleans. These three containerships will be the largest ever built in the United States, and the first domestically owned and built with diesel propulsion.
Each of the 860-foot, single-screw vessels will be powered by a slow-speed, direct-coupled, Allis Chalmers/Sulzer 12RND90M diesel engine, also constructed in the U.S. With an output of 43,200 bhp at 126 rpm, they will be capable of sustaining a maximum service speed of 25 knots at the design draft of 29 feet 7 inches. Each ship will have a carrying capacity of 2,500 twenty-foot containers.
Attending the keel-laying ceremonies for the first vessel were: Eugene K. Pentimonti, APL vice president-engineering; Lt. Cdr. Don Tunstall, U.S. Coast Guard inspector; Rick Adler, ASI project manager; R. Bloom, MarAd construction representative; Robert Adams, APL construction representative; Buddy Roberts, ASI lead production engineer; and other officials from the shipyard and APL.
American President Lines, Ltd., based in Oakland, Calif., is a subsidiary of Natomas Company of San Francisco.