DATE: Wednesday, August 27, 1997            TAG: 9708270585

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: STAFF REPORT 

                                            LENGTH:   55 lines

NEWPORT NEWS SHIPBUILDING SHIFTING INTO A CIVILIAN MODE THE PENINSULA YARD IS TRYING TO END ITS LONG RELIANCE ON THE NAVY.

Even as the first commercial ship Newport News Shipbuilding has built in 16 years is readied for delivery, parts for other tankers to be built arrive every day.

The yard's first new petroleum product tanker - American Progress - successfully completed builder's trials recently and returned to the yard to be prepared for delivery in September.

Meanwhile, the shipyard began to take delivery on Tuesday of two sets of two boilers to be installed in two other tankers. The boilers provide heating and hot water for use aboard the ships.

The boilers were shipped from Spain aboard the cargo ship Argonaut to Norfolk International Terminals. From there Miller Transfer & Rigging Co. trucked them over to Newport News Shipbuilding, which is not as easy as it sounds.

The two main boilers weighed 53 tons each, while the two auxiliary units tipped the scales at 44 tons each.

Miller Transfer's trucks had to haul the boilers down Terminal Boulevard to Interstate 64 East, around through Chesapeake and Suffolk to the Monitor-Merrimac Bridge-Tunnel, the only tunnel big enough to let the boilers through.

Ohio-based Miller Transfer is a specialized heavy-haul trucking firm that only recently entered the local market, said Steve Connolly, the regional sales manager.

The tankers mark Newport News Shipbuilding's attempt to end its long reliance on the Navy for ship orders. The shipyard has lost more than $100 million on the first four ships as it has struggled to learn commercial shipbuilding techniques.

Mobil Corp. will take delivery on American Progress next month and use it to to haul gasoline and other petroleum products between Texas and Florida.

The shipyard has orders for eight more tankers. The next three have been sold to Eletson Corp., a Greek shipping company, for use internationally. Eletson had originally ordered the first ship, but agreed to let Mobil buy it. A Dutch/U.S. partnership Hvide/Van Ommeren Shipping ordered the remaining five for the domestic trade.

The boilers are for the first two Hvide/Van Ommeren tankers, a yard spokeswoman said. ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

RICHARD L. DUNSTON/The Virginian-Pilot

A boiler for a tanker is hauled to Newport News Shipbuilding after

arriving in Norfolk by ship.

The petroleum product tanker American Progress has successfully

completed builder's trials and is being readied for delivery in

September.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu