GL Contracts Jack-Up with Hellenic Shipyards
is the eighth in a series of 12 tankers being built by Aker Philadelphia Shipyard for Aker American Shipping. Construction will commence soon on a second shuttle tanker, also to be leased to OSG America, and time chartered to Petrobras America, Inc. Four product tankers have already been delivered and are part of Aker American Shipping's fleet.
Alion Wins $10.2m Naval Seabasing Contract
The Office of Naval Research awarded Alion Science and Technology a $10.2m task order to develop and deliver a detailed design package for the Sea Base Connector Transformable-Craft (T-Craft) program. The cost-plus-fixedfee task order No. 0003 was awarded on May 8. Under Phase II of the T-Craft
Hellenic Shipyards secured a breakthrough contract for the construction of a sea platform to accommodate offshore wind-parks for location in the Baltic and North Seas. The classification of the 70 m platform -- dubbed Thor -- has been entrusted to Germanischer Lloyd. Ioannis Manolemis, Member of Hellenic Shipyards Board of Directors, and Dr. Hermann J. Klein, Member of the Executive Board Germanischer Lloyd signed the contract at the Posidonia exhibition. The platform is 70 x 40 m with a 6-m draft, and can be operated in water depths of up to 50 m, and it is fitted with a 400-ton lifting capacity crane. Each of the windmills on the platform will be designed to produce between two and five MW of power, and delivery is scheduled for April 2009. The German-owned Greek shipyard secured the order from a German company; the first major commercial newbuilding order won by the largest shipyard in the area of the eastern Mediterranean in the last 22 years.
Construction Commences on U.S. Shuttle Tanker
Aker American Shipping representative Michelle Pinto started a plasma cutter to officially begin production of the company's first shuttle tanker. When this vessel is completed, Aker American Shipping will reportedly become the first company in the U.S. to own a U.S. flag shuttle tanker for use in the deepwater U.S. Gulf of Mexico; an area within jurisdiction of the Jones Act. Aker American Shipping President, Rob Kurz said, "This is a very significant milestone for Aker American Shipping. Shuttle tankers represent an exciting new market and we are looking forward to opportunities to own more of these vessels." Upon completion, Aker American Shipping will lease the vessel to OSG America, who has in turn time chartered the vessel to Petrobras America, Inc. for use in transporting crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico. The shuttle tanker will serve Petrobras' Cascade and Chinook fields, about 250 miles south of New Orleans. The tanker
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