COLONNA MARINE RAILWAY CORPORATION
COLONNA MARINE RAILWAY CORPORATION
THE revival of shipbuilding is the most important feature of recent industrial progress in the United States, and the large amount of new construction in the past two years, greater than that produced by any country during the same number of months, has made a very large addition to the American merchant marine. The development is still in progress and will put the United States with the foremost nations in deep-sea traffic.
This increasing number of ships means a great accession of business to the repair yards of the country, and of those yards there are many, located in various sections of the country convenient to the principal ports. The shipbuilding interest has entered upon its most progressive and important phase, with a future of great promise.
The southern ports, especially, have felt the im-pulse of shipbuilding progress and have provided a very large share of the great construction pro-gramme for our American merchant marine.
The great development of foreign trade that is now going on means not only a great increase of tonnage used by United States shippers, but also a wider distribution of the trade to the several ports of the country. This is due to the fact that in the larger ports the business has grown faster than the harbor and wharf facilities, and that southern ports on the Atlantic Coast States are better equipped than ever to harbor ships and to make repairs. In addition to this, the southern ports in themselves, by their location and connections, are more convenient for many classes of interior freight than those located further north, and are also nearer to South American, Gulf, and via Panama destinations. The statistics of its growth show that Norfolk is one of the busiest and most thriving and progressive of the seaports of the South.
Among the ports that have thus, year by year, taken on added importance is Norfolk, Virginia, a port with all facilities for ocean-going ships of all kinds and provided with excellent harbor conven-iences. In connection with shipwork a leading and well-known enterprise is that of the Colonna Marine Railway Corporation, which for forty "ears has been in active and successful business.
The founder was Charles J. Colonna, a man of prominence in the business life of Norfolk, who built his enterprise up to success by the excellence and efficiency of the work turned out in his yard, and doing a very large amount of important ship- repair work. In 1907 he was succeeded by his three sons, who incorporated it under its present style of Colonna Marine Railway Corporation.
The officers of the company from its incorpora-tion and now are W. W. Colonna, president; B. O. Colonna, vice-president; and Carl D. Colonna, secretary and treasurer. They have all been reared in the business under their father's experienced and able supervision, and are all thoroughly familiar with the shipbuilding and ship- repair industry. Under their management the business has steadily grown and developed, the yard being kept busy up to capacity. In order to increase its facilities for meeting enlarging demands, the company is now engaged in building a 4,500-ton Crandall Railway Dry Dock.
The yards of the Colonna Marine Railway Corporation are located on a favorable site on the eastern branch of the Elizabeth River, and the company are at present operating three marine railways, the largest with a capacity of 1,500 tons. The equipment of the yard is complete, with all requisites for ship repairs on both steel and wooden vessels, repairs on boilers and engines, ship-fitting work, and all kinds of work on ships. Every effort is put forth to satisfy their customers with work of the most thorough efficiency and highest quality.
The company also builds lighters and have light-ers in stock for sale or charter. With the added facilities which will come with the completion of their new dock the development of the business will continue with added momentum. Naturally and vitally interested in their home city, the Messrs. Colonna have contributed in an important degree to its development as a port and shipbuilding center, their firm being one of the best known of all those connected with maritime interests in that Virginia city. The patrons of the firm include leading owners of ocean-going ships, and they also do a large business in the building and repair of bay and harbor craf
