by Guest » April 21, 2024, 5:35 pm
The early demise of the Aethur B. Homer has been discussed ad nauseaun over the years in the Information Search.
One of the reasons she was retired so early was Bethlehem Steel's shortsightedness in ordering multiple thousand footers, when only two were needed. The high-demand for steel in 1973, misled the steel industry into thinking that increased demand for steel in the U.S. would continue into the future. As a result, Bethlehem Steel went on a purchasing spree in December 1973 for three one-thousand footers from Erie Marine - sisters to the Stewart J. Cort. When Erie Marine declined to accept the orders - they were part of an option from December 1968 - Bethlehem Steel and American Steamship agreed on a sale of two one-thousand footers that ASC had on order with Bay Shipbuilding.
Lewis Wilson Foy entered service in June 1978 and the Burns Harbor did likewise in September 1980. When the later entered entered service, the Arthur B. Homer was put into layup in October 1980 and never ran again.
The year 1980 was the start of the acceleration of the decline in the steel industry, and with no self-unloading system and an increased unloading time due to her increased length and tonnage from 1976, meant the Homer wasn't an efficient ship in the trades she traded in. She became sort of the "odd duck" for Bethlehem Steel by 1980 and the steel crisis didn't help.
We talk about the Homer because of her association with the Edmund Fitzgerald and her age when scrapped, but ships such as George M. Humphrey, William Clay Ford, Johnstown, Leon Falk, Jr, Paul H. Carnahan were young and had many decades of service ahead of them, too.
I was saddened to see the Arthur B. Homer go, in fact, I went down to photograph her in Port Colborne in December 1986. It was a very tough time to be a Boatnerd and worse for those making a living working on those ships.
The early demise of the Aethur B. Homer has been discussed ad nauseaun over the years in the Information Search.
One of the reasons she was retired so early was Bethlehem Steel's shortsightedness in ordering multiple thousand footers, when only two were needed. The high-demand for steel in 1973, misled the steel industry into thinking that increased demand for steel in the U.S. would continue into the future. As a result, Bethlehem Steel went on a purchasing spree in December 1973 for three one-thousand footers from Erie Marine - sisters to the Stewart J. Cort. When Erie Marine declined to accept the orders - they were part of an option from December 1968 - Bethlehem Steel and American Steamship agreed on a sale of two one-thousand footers that ASC had on order with Bay Shipbuilding.
Lewis Wilson Foy entered service in June 1978 and the Burns Harbor did likewise in September 1980. When the later entered entered service, the Arthur B. Homer was put into layup in October 1980 and never ran again.
The year 1980 was the start of the acceleration of the decline in the steel industry, and with no self-unloading system and an increased unloading time due to her increased length and tonnage from 1976, meant the Homer wasn't an efficient ship in the trades she traded in. She became sort of the "odd duck" for Bethlehem Steel by 1980 and the steel crisis didn't help.
We talk about the Homer because of her association with the Edmund Fitzgerald and her age when scrapped, but ships such as George M. Humphrey, William Clay Ford, Johnstown, Leon Falk, Jr, Paul H. Carnahan were young and had many decades of service ahead of them, too.
I was saddened to see the Arthur B. Homer go, in fact, I went down to photograph her in Port Colborne in December 1986. It was a very tough time to be a Boatnerd and worse for those making a living working on those ships.