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Aker Philadelphia announces milestones (3/23)

Aker Philadelphia Shipyard has issued the following news release, which also is available on the yard’s web site HERE Two Major Milestones Occur in Aker American Shipping Tanker Series Second and fifth vessels reach significant construction benchmarks within days PHILADELPHIA, PA (March 23, 2007) – Just weeks after successful delivery of the first ship in the series of product tankers under construction at Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, major milestones were achieved on two subsequent vessels. Hull 006, the second product tanker in the series, has been floated from its berth in the yard’s Building Dock. Four days later, steel cutting began for Hull 009, the fifth vessel in the series, marking start of production on that ship. With two other tankers also in production, the yard now once again has four of the 600-foot long MT 46 Veteran Class tanker vessels under construction simultaneously. On Monday, March 19 the yard’s Building Dock was flooded, floating Hull 006 off its keel blocks in advance of the ship’s move to the nearby Outfitting Dock, where testing and commissioning of the vessel will take place. When completed this summer, the ship will join its predecessor, the Overseas Houston, in American Shipping Corporation’s (ASC) fleet. The series of up to 16 double-hulled, environmentally friendly product tankers are owned by ASC, a sister company of the yard, and are bareboat chartered to Overseas Shipholding Group, Inc. (OSG) as part of a visionary arrangement to bring these vessels to U.S. waterways. In addition, steel cutting for Hull 009 commenced on Friday, March 23 on one of the yard’s two state-of-the-art plasma cutting machines, with Ms. Raeleen Geeslin of OSG’s shipyard site office ceremonially activating the process. The fifth tanker vessel is scheduled to be completed in 2008. Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Inc. is the shipbuilding subsidiary of Aker American Shipping. In conjunction with affiliated subsidiaries, the state-of-the-art shipyard located on the site of the former Philadelphia Navy Yard is in the midst of a project to build, own, and lease product tankers for the U.S. Jones Act market. Aker American Shipping and Aker Philadelphia Shipyard, Inc. are members of the Norwegian-based Aker family of global companies, industry leaders in the fields of shipbuilding, fishery, and technology-based solutions for customers in oil, gas, energy, and process industries. ###