ABS announced it will donate US$250,000 to the Institute of History of the Greek Merchant Marine for the restoration of the last available Liberty Ship, the ‘Arthur M. Huddell', as a maritime museum to be located in Greece.
At a ceremony attended by US Maritime Administrator Sean Connaughton and Spyros Polemis, Chairman of SeaCrest Shipping, who has been appointed as project manager of Liberty Enterprise by the Greek government, ABS Chairman and CEO Robert D. Somerville presented the cheque and a specially-commissioned oil painting of the ship to Mr Polemis on behalf of the Board of Directors and employees of the classification society. The ship is the gift of the US government to the Greek government. It is currently in Virginia being prepared for the trans-Atlantic crossing to Greece. The importance of the Liberty ships to the resurgence of Greek merchant shipping in the post-World War II period cannot be over stated. The Greek fleet had been decimated during the war, assisting in the supply of Allied troops. With hostilities over, the US government made the surplus fleet of Liberty ships available for purchase on favourable terms with Greek owners purchasing what was to become known as the "Blessed 100" (actually 104) Liberty ships which became the foundation upon which the post-war Greek fleet was based. "The Liberties, including the ‘Huddell' were built and maintained to ABS class," said Mr Somerville. "Their acquisition by the Greek shipowners not only marked the resurgence of the Greek fleet but also represented the foundation of ABS' activities in the Greek market. The ships were retained in ABS class. The Liberties were the first ships to be built using production-line methods with one ship being constructed from keel-laying to delivery in just over four days.
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