(2 of 2)
Wellhead to Pump. Always an innovator, Ludwig devised ways to spare dollars and swell loads by welding tankers instead of riveting them, launching them sideways, and using thinner decks. In all, Kure has built 2,200,000 tons of shipping for Ludwig, including the 114,500-ton supertanker Universe Apollo. When the tanker market became swamped, Ludwig last year subleased the yard, but Japanese aides still hold in awe the thrusting man who, as one says, "knew every detail and kept our brains spinning."
Some observers reckon that Ludwig would like to fashion a fully integrated oil complex—wellheads, tankers, pumps. Doing things, not basking in the glow of achievement, seems to be his goal. Like Industrialist Howard Hughes, he is usually inaccessible, rarely interviewed, seldom seen even by his lawyer. His off-hours, like any suburbanite's, are invested in fighting the crabgrass on the lawn of his modest home in Darien, Conn., where he lives with his second wife (he has one stepson). Early-morning commuters do not recognize this unobtrusive suburbanite for one of the world's wealthiest men. About the only place that Ludwig's wealth shows through is aboard his $2,000,000 yacht Danginn, on which he occasionally likes to entertain movie stars and other celebrities while he lingers over a mild drink or soberly sips buttermilk.