The float-out of union-contracted Aker Philadelphia Shipyard’s first Veteran Class product tanker, Hull 005, took place Sept. 18. 
The flooding of the yard’s building dock floated the vessel off its keel blocks in advance of the ship’s move to the facility’s outfitting dock for some final touches in that phase of construction. The ship’s entire structure has already been completed and its propeller and rudder also had been fitted as of mid-September. When fully completed, the 46,000 deadweight ton Veteran Class vessel will be the most modern product tanker in the U.S. domestic fleet, according to the shipyard.
Slated to be christened the Overseas Houston at the shipyard in November, the vessel will be the first in the yard’s 10-ship, double-hulled tanker build program for American Shipping Corporation, a subsidiary of Aker American Shipping, and chartered to SIU-contracted Overseas Shipholding Group (OSG). As reported earlier in the LOG, the keel for the second vessel in the U.S.-flag series—a ship scheduled for completion in 2007—was laid May 15. A week earlier, the shipyard started production on the third double-hulled tanker, cutting steel for the vessel which also is scheduled for completion next year.
All 10 of the vessels are expected to sail in the Jones Act market. Part of the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, the Jones Act (named in honor of its author, the late Senator Wesley Jones, R-Wash.) mandates that cargo moving between United States ports is carried on U.S.-crewed, U.S.-flag, U.S.-owned and U.S.-built vessels.
Each of the new tankers will be 600 feet long and capable of transporting 330,000 barrels of petroleum products. Each vessel will weigh 46,000 deadweight tons (dwt).
The tanker program was announced in April 2005. At that time the company pointed out that in the U.S. commercial shipbuilding sector, the order for 10 tankers was believed to be the largest of its kind. Also at that time, OSG President and CEO Morten Arntzen stated, “The 10-ship program is OSG’s first giant step to building a world-class U.S.-flag shipping business.”
More recently, OSG Senior Vice President Captain Robert Johnston stated that his company is exploring the possibility of investing in as many as 17 new additional U.S.-flag ships.
###
Printer Friendly Page