Rio Marine, Inc., Houston, has applied to the Maritime Administration for a Title XI guarantee to aid in financing the construction of eight 200-foot-long, double-skinned chemical tank barges. Each is to have a capacity of 10,000 barrels and will be operated on inland rivers and the intracoastal waters of the U.S. Gulf area.
Platzer Shipyard of Houston is building the vessels, with the first to be delivered July 1 and the others at one-month intervals thereafter. The estimated cost of the barges has been set at $4,860,519, with the requested guarantee for 87 1/2 percent of that amount, or $4,200,000.