SHIPPING: More Merchantmen

The biggest merchant-ship construction program ever planned by a private U.S. steamship line was launched last week. Moore-McCormack Lines signed an agreement with the Federal Maritime Board to build 33 ships at a cost of $313 million. By the late 1960s, Moore-McCormack will almost completely replace its present fleet of 35 vessels. To pay the bill, the Government will put up about one-third of the money, roughly the difference in costs between U.S. and foreign shipyards. Among the new ships: two 18,200-ton 553-passenger cargo liners, to cost $24,444,181 apiece, which will replace the company's aging Argentina and Brazil.

This Moore-McCormack deal follows a similar one with American President Lines (TIME. Jan. 17), which called for 19 ships at a cost of $175 million. By these deals, the Maritime Board hopes to keep the U.S. merchant fleet in trim and prop up employment in U.S. shipyards.