SIU officials recently helped celebrate the official welcoming of a union-built vessel in the Keystone State.
SIU President David Heindel, Executive Vice President Augie Tellez and Port Agent Joe Baselice represented the union June 26 at the Empire State’s christening ceremony, hosted by Philly Shipyard.
The ship is the first of five in a class known as National Security Multi-Mission Vessels (NSMV). Seafarers-contracted TOTE is the vessel construction manager, as selected by the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD). TOTE also is the vessel operator for at least one year, and it is expected the SIU will provide shipboard manpower if the Empire State is activated.
As previously noted by the agency, “MARAD provides ships from the National Defense Reserve Fleet (NDRF) as training vessels for the six state maritime academies. The agency is currently working to replace these older ships with new, purpose-built training vessels that will better meet the academies training needs while also providing the U.S. with ships that can support disaster response and other critical national needs. The NSMV is designed to provide a state-of-the-art training platform that ensures the U.S. continues to set the world standard in maritime training. The ship is outfitted with numerous training spaces to include eight classrooms, a full training bridge, lab spaces and an auditorium. The NSMV has space to train up to 600 cadets at sea, maximizing the capability of the ship and its mission to provide our cadets with a world-class education.”
MARAD further reported, “In addition to being an educational platform, this vessel is a highly functional national asset. Designed to fulfill numerous roles, the NSMV can effectively support the federal response to national disasters such as Hurricanes Maria and Harvey. The vessel will have state-of-the-art hospital facilities, a helicopter landing pad and the ability to berth up to 1,000 people in times of humanitarian need. Alongside its humanitarian capacities, the NSMV has a roll-on/roll-off ramp and container storage allowing it to provide aid to damaged ports…. Investment in the NSMV will foster the growth of the Nation’s maritime transportation workforce, men and women working in the shipbuilding and repair industry, while addressing a critical shortage of U.S. merchant mariners needed to crew commercial and government- owned sealift ships during a military crisis.”
U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-Connecticut) issued a statement following the christening. He described the ceremony as “a powerful statement about the impact of a strong domestic shipbuilding policy and the potential for our nation’s hardworking shipbuilders to rise to the challenges we face today. At a time when many are rightly focused on the need to restore domestic manufacturing and shipbuilding, the National Multi- Mission Vessel program is an example of where Congress, specifically the House Seapower and Projection Forces Subcommittee, has successfully acted to do something to meet our nation’s shipbuilding demands. As a result, the Maritime Administration and the Philly Shipyard will deliver five U.S.-built ships that are largely on time and on budget. This is a dramatic change in pace as, just a few short years ago, prior to Congressional action, the Philly Shipyard had only a small number of employees and a nearly empty shipyard. Now, we have a proven contracting model and architecture to not only train mariners but boost our sealift program without relying on the vagaries of the foreign market.”
Courtney added, “To capitalize on this success, I authored amendments in the Committee- passed annual defense bill to replicate the architecture at Philly Shipyard for our entire U.S. sealift program. I look forward to seeing these provisions passed in the House…”
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