THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 5, 1995 TAG: 9512050320
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CHRISTOPHER DINSMORE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Metro Machine Corp. is talking with a potential buyer for the petroleum product tanker it wants to build in Philadelphia.
Metro Machine President Richard Goldbach met Friday in Washington with executives of the government-owned Kuwait Oil Tanker Co.
The Kuwaitis are interested in buying three tankers, Goldbach said Monday.
Goldbach characterized the talks as serious but preliminary. ``What we had were better described as technical discussions rather than negotiations,'' said Goldbach, who expects to go to Kuwait soon for more talks.
Norfolk-based Metro Machine principally repairs Navy ships at its shipyards in Norfolk and in Chester, Pa. It employs more than 500 people in Norfolk and more than 130 in Chester.
Metro Machine has been pushing its unconventional modular, double-hull tanker design for several years. It plans to build the tanker cargo modules at the Chester yard and the bow and stern sections at the now-closed Philadelphia Naval Shipyard.
The tankers, known as Marc Guardians, would then be assembled at the former naval shipyard. Metro Machine wants to build tankers in Philadelphia because of the availability of the naval shipyard's big drydocks and its recently released labor force.
But the company must find a buyer for the tankers before it can get the financing to construct facilities to build tankers. It plans to seek about $124 million of federal shipbuilding loan guarantees from the U.S. Maritime Administration to build plants at the Chester yard and the former naval shipyard.
The talks wouldn't have been possible without the ``very substantial assistance'' of U.S. Rep. Curt Weldon, R-Pa., whose district includes the shipyard, Goldbach said.
Weldon got the signatures of 118 federal lawmakers on a letter to the Kuwait oil shipping company asking it to consider Metro Machine.
``This gives the Kuwaitis a chance to say (they're) grateful'' for the gulf war, Weldon told the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Metro Machine has estimated that its tanker project could create as many as 1,500 shipbuilding jobs in the Philadelphia area if it develops several orders and gets a full production run going.
Philadelphia has reeled from the closing of the naval shipyard and other private shipyards on the Delaware River.
Two other U.S. shipbuilders have orders for commercial tankers, Newport News Shipbuilding and Avondale Industries Inc. in New Orleans. Both yards may also be in the hunt for the Kuwaiti order.
The potential market for tanker construction is huge, according to several studies. Hundreds of old tankers need to be scrapped and replaced, and environmental regulations in some nations now require the use of double-hull tankers to prevent spills. by CNB