American Ship Building Company announced recently that work on the $73-million cargo ship conversion contract with Moore McCormack Lines will be initiated at its Toledo, Ohio, Nashville, Tenn., and Tampa, Fla., shipyards.
The schedule calls for midbody construction at the Toledo and Nashville shipyards and conversion work in Tampa. Both the Chicago and Toledo yards are heavily booked for the winter.
The contract involves lengthening four C-4 cargo vessels with the addition of a new 115-foot-long section to each, substantially increasing containerized cargo capacity. Each ship will be increased from 550 to 665 feet and the capacity from 199 to 628 twenty-foot container equivalents. Deliveries are expected in 1982 and 1983.