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MARINE FINANCE lease of deepwater drilling rigs Transocean Rather and Transocean Driller. Estimated revenues generated over the one-year contract period for Transocean Rather would total $63.9 million, and the rig would undergo a $5.5 million upgrade to improve its capabilities for per- forming a subsea development drilling program in 5,000 fsw in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico. Transocean Driller is also expect- ed to be contracted for one year, commencing in August, which will provide estimated revenues total- ing $52.9 million. Well Drilling Project Nixed Offshore Louisiana Rowan Companies, Inc. announced that its turnkey sub- sidiary and Pennzoil Production & Exploration Co. have agreed to ter- minate a contract for a well being drilled offshore Louisiana on South Marsh Island Block 97. Rowan's first quarter earnings will reportedly be reduced by approximately $20 million as a result. Rowan CEO C.R. Palmer said, "The drilling team on the Rowan- Juneau gave it their best for 477 days, but after a series of under- ground blowouts, stuck pipe, lost holes and finally, an uncontrol- lable, unstable, heaving shale sec- tion, it became apparent that we would be unable to reach the con- tract depth." Raytheon Announces First Quarter Earnings On April 14, Raytheon's first quarter 1997 earnings were released, showing that the Electronics segment led the com- pany's increase in first quarter sales and operating income, as seg- ment sales rose 12.8 percent and segment operating income increased 22.5 percent, compared with the first quarter of 1996. Raytheon's marine electronics business had strong orders in the quarter, including orders for new recreational marine products such as Apelco fishfinders, Autohelm autopilots and Raytheon GPS and electronic cartography products. In the high seas marine electron- ics market, Standard Radio, which was acquired in 1996, has a strong GMDSS backlog, and orders for Raytheon Anschuetz gyrocompass- es continued at a robust pace. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) also awarded the Raytheon/Bath Iron Works/SAIC team a $15 million contract for the second design phase of the Navy's Arsenal Ship. As announced previously, Raytheon has entered into agree- ments to purchase the assets of Texas Instruments' defense opera- tions and to merge with Hughes Electronics' defense operations. Midland, Inc. Anticipates Favorable Year-End Earnings El Autodesk. S o you were surprised to get the entire design package so fast! That's because you haven't visited our offices recently. Our Autoship systems have speeded up our work - and they let us use all of our knowledge, experience and creativity to develop the design that best meets the needs. How do we do it now? Once we've optimized the ship numerically, we design the hull form in Autoship. It's a full NURBS-based 3-D modeling program and it's automatically faired. Throughout, we can check hydrostatics and resistance on-line with Autopower. That saves us a lot of time, and we use it to look for extra speed. Next, we define all the tanks and compartments in Autohydro. Calculating volumes and balancing the ship is easy and quick, so we can spend more time to optimize the layout. We define the structural members in Autobuild; the program automatically checks for interference and generates a bill of materials and a complete list of weights. That eliminates manual drafting, saves the yard manhours, and reduces the usual worry about weight. To save even more, we can export directly to NC cutting machines, radically reducing lofting and nesting costs. Yes, all these programs come from the same place - Autoship Systems, the world's largest developer of Windows™-based marine software. With Autoship, the entire design process, from concept to cut plates, is a smooth, seamless flow. Autoship helps us produce better designs, faster, with lower construction costs...benefits you appreciate, and our competitive edge! Gain the competitive edge! Contact Autoship today for your free demo disk and catalog Hydrostatics Power & Resistance Construction autoship Systems Corporation 403 - 611 Alexander St. Canada V6A 1E1 Tel 604. 254 4171 Fax 604. 254 5171 Net bpedret@autoship.com NORWAY • GERMANY UK • rRANCE • AUSTRALASIA POLAND • CROATIA • RUSSIA 14 Circle 251 on Reader Service Card On April 7, Midland, Inc.'s North Maritime Reporter/Engineering News