The design of the type C3-S-43a was commissioned by the US shipping company Mississippi Shipping Company (Delta Line) in New Orleans from the marine engineering firm Friede & Goldmann Inc., also based in New Orleans. The construction of the three ships, each costing 9.6 million US dollars, was commissioned by MARAD as part of the Long Range Shipbuilding Program at the Avondale Industries shipyard in West Kego, which launched the first of the ships in July 1960 and the Series completed the following July. The ships were finally used on the services operated by Delta Line from the US Gulf to the South American east coast and to West Africa. In 1968 another five ships of the extremely similar design Marad Design C3-S-76a were built. After 25 years of service, all three ships were sold abroad in 1986 and later scrapped.
technology
The Avondale shipyard built a design that differed in many respects from the usual general cargo ships, with a streamlined bridge house at the front, a heavily forward-sloping stem with a bulbous bow and a cruiser stern. The division of the cargo holds was more unusual, if not so noticeable. The ship's designer Jerome L. Goldman developed the first really "open ship" in terms of the degree of deck opening under the term " All-Hatch-Vessel " (only hatch ship) . In front of the bridge superstructure was the first hold with three decks and a hatch that was served by two cargo booms . In the central nave, between the forward and aft superstructures, there were another 5 dry cargo holds, each with three decks and no fewer than fifteen hatches in three rows. The cargo holds, which were also divided in the longitudinal direction and had a large degree of deck opening, were intended to ensure 80 to 90 percent vertical access to the cargo in conjunction with the Greer hatches on the main deck and the large hydraulic tween deck hatches. The transshipment facilities in this area consisted of five Colby 5-ton cranes and a centrally mounted stilted heavy lift gear that could serve holds 3 and 4. The Stülcken heavy lift trees installed on this series of ships were the first ever to be used on American ships. Despite their manufacturer-side design at 90 tons, the American classification society only allowed trees for 60 tons. Behind the aft superstructure was a refrigerated hold with two decks and six compartments. In addition, cargo tanks were arranged in the lower space of the fore and aft, which were also suitable for loading bulk goods through hatches between decks.
Overview
Three C3-S-43a ships were built.
C3-S-43a class
Building name
Build number
IMO number
Commissioning
Renaming and whereabouts
Del Rio
943
5087819
March 24, 1961
1986 sold → canceled
Del Sol
944
5087845
May 3, 1961
1986 sold → canceled
Del Oro
945
5087807
July 19, 1961
1986 sold → canceled
Individual evidence
Web links
Coles, Adlard: Merchant Ships: World Built . Vessels of 1,000 tons gross and over completed in 1961. Adlard Coles Limited, London 1962.
Cudahy, Brian J .: Box boats . How container ships changed the world. Fordham University press, New York 2006, ISBN 0-8232-2568-2 .
