The Valley Line Co., a subsidiary of Chromalloy American Corporation, 120 South Central Avenue, St. Louis, Mo., has applied for Title XI guarantees to aid in financing 240 new covered hopper barges and refinancing three existing towboats and 53 used hopper barges. The proceeds of the refinancing will be used to provide equity for the new barges.
The new barges will be of two different sizes. Thirty-five will be 200 feet long, the remainder 195 feet. Jeffboat, Inc., Jeffersonville, Ind., has been named to build the 200-foot barges. St. Louis Ship, a division of Pott Industries, St. Louis, will build 130 of the 195-foot barges. Cargo Carriers Inc., Pine Bluff, Ark., will build 60, and Twin City Shipyards, St. Paul, Minn., will build the remaining 15.
The vessels are expected to be delivered by October 1981. They will be operated on the U.S. inland rivers, the East and West Coasts, in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, and in the Great Lakes.
If approved, the Title XI guarantees for the new vessels would cover $69,810,707, 87 1/2 percent of the barges' $79,783,665 estimated actual cost. The guarantees on the used vessels would cover $8,281,944, 75 percent of the towboats' and 87 1/4 percent of the barges' combined estimated actual cost of $10,329,253.