The Maritime Administration has approved in principle applications from subsidiaries of Beker Industries Corporation, Greenwich, Conn., for Title XI guarantees to aid in financing the construction of two dredges and the reconstruction of three sulfur barges. The builder of the dredges is Ellicott Machine Corp., Baltimore, with deliveries scheduled for May and August 1981. One will be a 275-foot overburden dredge, the other a 230-foot matrix dredge. Both are to be owned by Beker Maritime Company and used in connection with the affiliated Beker Phosphate Corporation operation in Manatee, Fla.
Geosource, Inc., Harvey, La., is reconstructing the three sulfur barges with new midbodies for Beker Transportation Company. Two will be 260 feet in length, and one 240 feet. One was delivered in January and the other two are scheduled for delivery in April and May. They will be engaged in the dedicated carriage of liquid sulfur between Beker facilities at Marseilles, Ill., and Taft, La.
The approved guarantee is for $10,768,000, which represents 75 percent of the actual cost of the dredges and 87½ percent of the actual cost of the barges.